Vladislav Zolotaryov

What life has passed the artist, the music of whom Sofia Gubaidulina, a world-renowned composer, calls a "piercing musical gesture" that remains forever in life? What person stands up for this emotionally charged and deep music, which marks the beginning of the avant-garde in the bayan repertoire?

His life began in the heat of World War II, when an officer, Andrey Zolotaryov, and his wife Agrafena had a son whom they named Vladislav. The exact year of his birth is not established. Some sources specify 1942, while others name 1943 as the year. The composer himself refers in his diaries to both years. The date of his birth, the 13th of September, coincided with the birthday of A. Schoenberg, which would later have great importance for Vladislav. 

The first years of his life were spent in the settlement of De-Kastri in the Khabarovsk Territory in the Far East of the USSR, which was then an important military base with a population of just over 10,000. Even as a child, it was apparent that Zolotaryov's life would be restless. In 1947, the family moved to Gudauta in Abkhazia, where Vladislav witnessed and remembered military refugees and contracted malaria. In 1948, he moved in with his maternal grandmother in Ust-Nera in Yakutia, the coldest region of the Northern Hemisphere. In 1953, the family settled in Essentuki in the Northern Caucasus, but by 1955, they had returned to Ust-Nera.

Vladislav spent a lot of time alone in nature during his childhood. The songs and fairy tales he heard from his grandmother inspired his later compositions, as he wrote in his diaries. In 1953, Vladislav's father bought him a bayan and taught him the basic skills he had learned in the army. In his childhood, which took place in Ukraine, Andrey Zolotaryov played at rural holidays with locals on various musical instruments such as the accordion, guitar, and mandolin. Vladislav did not receive professional training on the bayan before his 16th birthday; prior to that, he played by ear and improvised. 

In 1958, the family moved to Magadan on the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk. This city played a significant role in Vladislav's life. Upon arriving in Magadan, it was shortly after the city's face had been shaped by the close proximity to the vast "corrective-labor" camps of the Soviet Union. Magadan, the "capital of the Kolyma edge," became a symbol of the Soviet camp system. Although by 1958 the Sevvostlag had been abolished, and the atmosphere in the city was optimistic due to the "thaw" promising more freedom, Zolotaryov inevitably encountered the city's camp past, embodied in its camp buildings and former prisoners living in the city. In the vicinity of Magadan, where Zolotaryov went, he encountered barbed wire, destroyed barracks, and watchtowers. As a very sensitive person, he could not simply pass by.

In the 1960s, many well-educated experts moved to Magadan, seeking to escape extreme conditions and experience freedom and romance. The city had a special and interesting atmosphere that Zolotaryov absorbed. Additionally, there were former political prisoners in the city, many of whom were representatives of the intellectual community. Despite the distance from the European part of the country, the city's cultural life was very vibrant. Performers from all over the Soviet Union visited approximately twice a week, and Zolotaryov, along with other students, tried not to miss these concerts.

In 1960, a music college opened in Magadan, and Zolotaryov was among its first students. Before that, he attended preparatory courses at a music school. There, his bayan teacher was Nikolay Aleksandrovich Lesnoi, who later became the director of the music college and continued to teach Zolotaryov. Zolotaryov studied purposefully, focusing all his attention on musical subjects, especially the bayan. His program included the usual transcriptions and arrangements of national songs, which would soon cease to satisfy him. Besides that, he constantly engaged in self-education: reading world literature and philosophy, spending hours listening to and analyzing music, often through the night.

From the very beginning of his studies, he wrote music and showed his works to Lesnoi. However, Vladislav was troubled that the chords for the left hand were already prepared, and he did not have any other instrument at his disposal. His first pieces were written for bayan and piano in a traditional manner with romantic and folk elements. Among them were two duets: for violin and piano, and for bayan and piano. Zolotaryov hoped that composing for other instruments and gaining knowledge of symphonic music would help him find new ways of playing and create a new language for the bayan. To achieve this, he experimented extensively with his instrument. 

Yuri Ivanovich Kazakov played a very influential role in Zolotaryov's path to becoming a composer during his concert in Magadan in 1963, which the young composer favorably reviewed in the newspaper. Kazakov introduced the public to the multi-timbre, converter bayan, which Zolotaryov saw as the future of the instrument. He wished to continue his studies in Leningrad but had to return to the Far East for military service before the academic year began, which he completed in Ussuriisk, near Vladivostok.

The three-year service in the army (1963-1966) was a difficult period for Zolotaryov. His strongly pronounced individuality conflicted with army orders, often leading to conflicts and punishment. When forbidden to write music, he composed soldier's songs and even received prizes for them. However, his desire to introduce others to classical music did not find support. To help him get through this challenging period, he maintained correspondence, such as with Yuri Grigoryevich Yastrebov, a bayan teacher from Vladivostok, with whom Zolotaryov had been friends since 1965. 

From Zolotaryov and Yastrebov's letters, we know that the composer read extensively in the army: works of world literature, philosophy, and books about music. Additionally, he found time to write a brochure on realism in art. Despite being forced to spend little time on music, he developed new ideas from his reading, which later helped him to develop an individual musical language more quickly. For example, the book by Thomas Mann, "Doctor Faustus," drew his attention to twelve-tone compositions by A. Schoenberg, which were rarely heard in the USSR. Another important composer for Zolotaryov at this time was F. Chopin. He saw great composers as embodiments of subjectivity, which contradicted the Soviet mass ideology in which Zolotaryov often felt isolated.

In the army, he thought much about the state of music for bayan, much of which he considered one-dimensional and primitive. In his opinion, the instrument's possibilities, especially polyphonic ones, were underutilized, and the content of the music was superficial. The musical result of his time in the army was the piano reduction of Concerto No. 1 for bayan and symphony orchestra.

In letters to Yastrebov, Zolotaryov mentioned his intentions to move to Moscow after finishing school, planned for 1967. However, his demobilization was delayed until the end of 1966 due to the war in Vietnam, so he did not manage to realize these plans. After returning from the army, he even considered leaving school because he believed the army had negatively affected his musical education. However, his parents bought him a high-quality multi-timbre, converter bayan  bayan, which he had seen during Kazakov's concert and which no other student in Magadan had. Zolotaryov was delighted with this instrument and became deeply engaged with it, eventually composing only for the multi-timbre, converter bayan. At the same time, he overcame the monotonous forms of accompaniment that had been typical of the bayan repertoire until then. His Chamber Suite is one of the earliest compositions for a ready-elective bayan in the history of bayan music. While the situation for progressive artists in the country worsened again, Zolotaryov worked without obstacles on a new musical language for the bayan, as in Magadan he was far from Moscow and the Union of Composers.

At least once every six months, Zolotaryov gave solo concerts at school, performing his compositions. He also performed at various cultural establishments in Magadan. His performances captivated the public because he played at a very high technical level with immense emotion. In terms of dynamics, he pushed the envelope without crossing it. The audience immediately felt that he treated the well-known instrument in an entirely new way, as if he were writing for an orchestra. 

In 1967, the school sent Zolotaryov to Vladivostok for the Far East competition. He took the risk of performing only his compositions: parts from the Children's Suite No. 1 and Concerto No. 1, accompanied by pianist Ella Orkova. The judges did not understand his music and even patronized it, but the composer did not lose hope. As in Magadan, only a few understood his advanced compositions, such as a Partita written in 1968. Nevertheless, both among teachers and students, there were musicians who supported him and performed his compositions, such as the Poem for the Orchestra of National Instruments, Introduction and Allegro for Piano, and Five Romances on Verses of Japanese Poet I. Takuboku. Admirers of his talent also included nonprofessionals in Magadan, and his concerts were always well-attended.

Verses by Japanese authors were clearly very much liked by Zolotaryov, as he began to write poems in a similar manner: without rhyme, very short, and thought-provoking. In addition to this, he also wrote more than a hundred traditional poems, as well as diaries, aphorisms, and an autobiography. 

During these years, the composer continued his education very intensively. He began studying at night by candlelight, wearing black clothes, to achieve a special state. During this time, he not only composed music but also listened to many recordings of compositions by Western modernists and progressive Russian composers, such as Edison Denisov, whom most of his fellow students did not know at all. Zolotaryov idolized music and considered it his duty to serve it. This led him to stand independently among the other students at the school where he lived after the army. However, among the students was a close friend, Vladimir Parfirevich Bolshanin, who also studied bayan, and remained a friend to Zolotaryov until the end of the composer's life. 

The only pupil of Zolotaryov in composition was Alexander Petrovich Nagaev, who still lives in Magadan. Zolotaryov taught him what he knew about dodecaphony. The Sonata for bayan by Nagaev, written after Zolotaryov's death, was dedicated to him. In it, Nagaev wished to describe Zolotaryov's tragic path, for example, in the first part, how the Soviet system had destroyed the composer. 

Another component of Zolotaryov's life in Magadan was the Club of Creative Intelligentsia, which officially met in the Palace of Culture and also informally in the homes of participants. Writers, artists, and musicians were members. They shared their compositions with each other and discussed questions of art, politics, and philosophy. Here, Zolotaryov received support and developed new ideas. The Club was monitored by the KGB, as its members aspired to individuality and did not conform to Soviet ideology. In the Club, self-published texts were circulated (reprinted compositions that had been forbidden), and Zolotaryov read them as well, such as texts by A. Solzhenitsyn and B. Pasternak. Possession of these compositions could result in imprisonment for Club members. The Club also included verses from political prisoners of the GULAG, which Zolotaryov collected, and for which he was once summoned by the KGB. The Club invited former prisoners living in Magadan to meetings where they spoke about their lives. All of this led Zolotaryov to critically view Soviet ideology.

For the final examination of the school in June 1968, Zolotaryov prepared compositions such as Chaconne by J. S. Bach/F. Busoni, two organ preludes by D. Buxtehude, and some parts from "Pictures at an Exhibition" by M. Mussorgsky, along with some of his own compositions. The level and duration of his performance stood out brightly compared to the examinations of other students. He received a recommendation to continue his studies at a conservatory. 

But for now, he decided to go as a bayan teacher to the settlement of Providence Bay in Chukotka, where, far from vanity, he could compose music. He worked there for a year starting in January 1969 and met his future wife Irina, a cellist who worked as the director of the musical school. In Providence Bay, Zolotaryov wrote a dramatic poem "Martin Eden" for alto and strings, inspired by Jack London's novel. The composer identified himself with the protagonist of the novel, and many striking parallels exist between Eden and Zolotaryov. Additionally, Zolotaryov identified with Zarathustra from F. Nietzsche and Green Henry from G. Keller. The fact that the composer was familiar with Nietzsche's texts is considered unique, as the philosopher was officially condemned in the Soviet environment. 

In 1969, bayan player Edward Pavlovich Mitchenko performed in Magadan, and Zolotaryov traveled there to hear him and to show him his compositions. Mitchenko was thrilled with Zolotaryov's music, seeing it as the future of the bayan repertoire. He took some of the compositions to Moscow and soon began incorporating them into concert programs that he performed across the Soviet Union. The Partita, in particular, caused a significant stir in the bayan world after its first performance in Moscow in October 1970. As before in Magadan, the music divided the public into two camps, but it left no one indifferent. The orchestral thinking of the composer and the new beginning in the bayan repertoire were particularly noted. Mitchenko quickly recorded the Children's Suite No. 1 and Partita on vinyl. 

In early 1970, Zolotaryov, with his wife Irina and her son Vladislav, moved to Moscow, where he worked for two months as a copier at Muzfond. In Moscow, the composer continued working on new repertoire for the bayan. He wrote an article about this in the magazine "Musical Life," published in issue No. 22 of 1970. In 1974, issue No. 6 of the magazine "Soviet Music" published his review of concertos for bayan and orchestra by K. Volkov and A. Rybnikov. 

In the winter of 1970-71, the young family returned to Magadan, where the composer worked as a theory teacher at the college. Due to housing problems, his wife and child had to leave the city and return to Moscow. Shortly before the birth of their son Henry in early 1971, Zolotaryov followed them.

In April 1971, the composer was in Magadan for the last time and completed the Sonata No. 2, which had been commissioned by bayan player Friedrich Robertovich Lips, whom Zolotaryov had met in Moscow. The composer slept and ate very little in order to write as much music as possible. He even began to chastise himself to sleep less. In the last four years of his life, he repeatedly wished to return to the nature of the Far East, whose clear nights had inspired him so deeply. 

Zolotaryov's friendship with Lips led to the creation of several compositions that greatly enriched the bayan literature. The Sonata No. 3, written in 1971, is one of the key pieces in the bayan repertoire. It led to professional composers such as Sofia Gubaidulina and Edison Denisov writing compositions for the bayan. 

In autumn 1971, Zolotaryov was accepted into the composition faculty of the Moscow Conservatory. During his studies there, he composed "Triptych" for chamber orchestra and "Diptych" for 13 performers, which were performed at the conservatory. He always worked on his compositions for a long time, often simultaneously on several works, in order to be able to complete them in a short period. Besides his studies, he continued self-education. He received many parts and scores from E. Denisov and also consulted with him about his compositions. During his time in Moscow, Zolotaryov took lessons from D. Shostakovich and consulted with R. Shchedrin and K. Volkov.

Zolotaryov's professor at the conservatory was T. N. Khrennikov, who headed the Union of Composers for several decades. Zolotaryov could not find what he was seeking in Khrennikov's class; his twelve-tone style, which he developed in his later years, and his sound experiments with the prepared piano caused misunderstanding. Conflicts arose between him and Khrennikov. Among young students, Zolotaryov increasingly felt that he had started his professional composition career a bit too late. Additionally, nearly half of the subjects were unrelated to music, consisting of general educational or ideological content that wasted valuable time. In the spring of 1972, Zolotaryov left the conservatory, disappointed. He understood that this decision significantly complicated his path to the Union of Composers, but he saw no point in continuing his studies. 

Membership in the Union of Composers was a prerequisite for a composer's existence in the Soviet Union. The Union enforced Party decisions that contradicted Zolotaryov's artistic concept. Conflicts with Khrennikov likely complicated his acceptance into the Union, which was already problematic as Zolotaryov lacked a composer's diploma and held views divergent from the Party's. Nevertheless, he dared to submit an application to the Union in 1972, but was rejected. In the early months of 1975, the question of his membership was reconsidered; F. Lips performed the Sonata No. 3 before the commission. It was highly praised by present composers, including S. Gubaidulina, V. Artyomov, and G. Fried, all of whom supported the composer. However, the decision on his membership was interrupted by his death. 

Due to the highly competitive musical life in Moscow, it was challenging for a provincial composer to gain recognition. Zolotaryov made this more difficult for himself by wanting to achieve recognition quickly. On the other hand, he had far more opportunities in Moscow to hear advanced composers and performers, which undoubtedly influenced his music. In Moscow, he no longer performed and devoted himself entirely to composition and promoting the bayan among professional composers. 

Zolotaryov's one feature, which the last years have shown more clearly, was his religiousness, which, however, was not chained to any ritual. It was more like a feeling of attachment to the history of Ancient Russia and its sacredness. Zolotaryov visited ancient monasteries in the remote regions of Northern Russia. This religiousness he embodied in the composition "Monastery of Ferapont," and in his last years, he was planning to write six operas about old Russian icon painters and philosophers. 

Though Moscow was his place of residence in his last years, he frequently left it or stayed with friends rather than with his family. He visited his parents, who were now living in Ukraine, or went to the House of Creativity in Ivanov, or to the summer residences of friends near Moscow. This was his way of seeking peace in order to write music. He often quarreled with his wife, as in his last years, Zolotaryov did not work, and she was left to support the family. Because of this, he felt remorse, but he changed nothing or could not change, as composing music was more important to him than anything else. He earned infrequently: when his compositions were either printed or recorded, or when he managed to sell his works to the Ministry of Culture. And when he received money, he could not keep it and often bought recordings. The composer also had many disputes with his wife due to his discontent with Soviet ideology. He increasingly felt lonely, experienced more frequent depressions, and could not find peace. He sought rescue from all of this in death. 

In his last years, the composer wrote, in addition to other compositions, the Concert Symphony No. 2 for electronic bayan and symphony orchestra, titled "Curriculum Vitae," in which his loneliness and propensity for suicide are audible, as well as an oratorio "Ex Libris" written for a large ensemble (five soloists, narrators, boy choir, female choir, two male choirs, and symphony orchestra), "The Evening Cantata," and 24 Meditations that could be performed on various instruments. In 1973, he experimented with quarter-tones. He was constantly under pressure from his own high expectations. He sacrificed himself for the sake of music, which led to him being completely overworked.

Another severe blow came when his wife sold his bayan and destroyed many manuscripts in the summer of 1974 while Zolotaryov was away from home. Nonetheless, he tried to continue working, but his depressions became more frequent, and the gap between what he wished to write and what he could write grew larger. 

In the Moscow diaries, Zolotaryov acknowledges that he was born in 1942 and that in 1975 he would reach the age of Christ. This age was significant for him, like a deadline by which he needed to accomplish something important. Even back in Magadan, he had told other students that he would die at 33 years of age. He spent the last winter of his life at Vyacheslav Anatolevich Galkin's summer residence in the Moscow suburbs. He was very tired and consequently composed very little. 

When he returned to Moscow in the spring, there was another quarrel with his wife. For a short time, she went outside with Henry, and during this time, Zolotaryov committed suicide. Another factor to consider was that he was predisposed to suicide - it was not the first time he had attempted it - and he was also fragile, as many artists are, and very tired from the excessive demands he placed on himself. At that time, F. Lips performed Sonata No. 3 for the first time outside the Soviet Union in Klingenthal, making a deep impression on the listeners. 

Inna Klause

Translated by David Sherman
Edited by zolotaryov.net