Music
The music collection reflects the important role played by music
in Russian and Soviet culture. It offers a wide range of recordings,
printed scores, and books about music and musicians, including
many that are difficult to obtain elsewhere. The collection is
of interest to music specialists and performers.
The extensive recordings collection includes folk music from
different ethnic groups and former Soviet republics, popular music
and romances, and works from 19th and 20th-century Russian and
Soviet composers. Alongside the classics are little known works
by famous composers, as well as lesser known composers from the
former Soviet republics. Recordings are predominantly on vinyl.
The music scores range from Agafonov to Shostakovich. The Soviet
Union published many scores but print-runs were often small and
few copies exported. The Society is fortunate to hold some rare
items. As some of this music has not been recorded, the collection
offers a unique opportunity to discover unknown gems - from operas
and symphonic works to chamber and vocal pieces.
The book collection covers the history of Russian and Soviet
music, theatre music, music criticism (Stasov, Asafiev and others),
music dictionaries, musical education and theory, as well as biographies
of composers and performers.
Campbell Creighton Bequest
The Campbell Creighton Bequest covers Soviet ballet, music and
theatre. It includes a large collection of Soviet theatre and
concert programmes, covering Bolshoi opera and ballet seasons,
ballet and concert graduation finals, and cultural festivals.
This eclectic and personal collection provides details of productions
and casts, but also offers an insight into cultural life in Moscow
in the 1960s-70s. Campbell Creighton (1913-1990) was born in Canada,
came to England as a Rhodes scholar in the 1930s, and saw active
service in World War II. A Marxist and journalist, from 1957 to
1965 he was General Secretary of the Society for Cultural Relations
with the USSR (now the SCRSS). He moved to Moscow in 1967, staying
for 23 years, where he was the Moscow correspondent for the Society's
Anglo-Soviet Journal.
Dance
The small dance collection covers Russian and Soviet ballet and
folk dance. It includes books on the history of dance, encyclopaedias,
memoires and biographies, and is of interest to general readers
and dance researchers.
The 150 titles that make up the collection form part of the loan
collection and are predominantly in English. They are supplemented
by a large photographic collection going back to the earliest
days of Russian ballet (held in the photo
library).
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