The Golovanov Case in 1928, Poputchiki Recent Archival Findings

Abstract

Sergei Vasilenko (1872-1956) has been perceived as a conformist and inconsequential Soviet composer among his colleagues and in post-Soviet Russia. As a result of Vasilenko’s formal obedience many facts about him have been either misinterpreted in publications or kept under wraps until recently. Thus, due to the disinformation in the Soviet press, Vasilenko’s name has been associated with the fabricated case against the conductor Nikolai Golovanov in 1928. The archival documents reveal Vasilenko’s faithful attitude towards Golovanov and his fellow colleague-composers, who along with Vasilenko were called by the RAPMpoputchiki. The analysis and discussion of these subjects rely heavily on unpublished and little-explored materials from the archives in Moscow.