Association for Contemporary Music (ACM) (, ''ASM - Assotsiatsiya Sovremennoy Muzyki'') was an alternative organization of

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

s interested in

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

music. It was founded by

Nikolai Roslavets Nikolai Andreevich Roslavets (23 August 1944, also Mykola Andriiovych Roslavets) was a modernist composer active in the Russian Empire and later the Soviet Union. Roslavets was a convinced modernist and cosmopolitan thinker; his music was offic ...

in 1923. ACM ran concert series and published magazines promoting the modernist music of

Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...

Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-century classical music, ...

Berg Berg may refer to: People *Berg (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) * General Berg (disambiguation) * Berg Ng (born 1960), Hong Kong actor * Berg (footballer, born 1963), Ninimbergue dos Santos Guerra, Brazilian footba ...

Webern Anton Webern (; 3 December 1883 – 15 September 1945) was an Austrian composer, conductor, and musicologist. His music was among the most radical of its milieu in its lyric poetry, lyrical, poetic concision and use of then novel atonality, aton ...

, Krenek, and

Hindemith Paul Hindemith ( ; ; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German and American composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major ad ...

, as well as the work of its members. Its leading members were

Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and thereafter was regarded as a major composer. Shostak ...

Nikolai Myaskovsky Nikolai Yakovlevich Myaskovsky (; ; 20 April 18818 August 1950), was a Russian and Soviet composer. He is sometimes referred to as the "Father of the Soviet Symphony". Myaskovsky was awarded the Stalin Prize five times. Early years Myaskovsky ...

Vissarion Shebalin Vissarion Yakovlevich Shebalin (; 29 May 1963) was a USSR, Soviet composer, music pedagogue. Rector of the Moscow Conservatory (1942-1948). People's Artist of the RSFSR (1947). Biography Shebalin was born in Omsk, where his parents were school t ...

Alexander Mosolov Alexander Vasilyevich MosolovMosolov's name is transliterated variously and inconsistently between sources. Alternative spellings of Alexander include Alexandr, Aleksandr, Aleksander, and Alexandre; variations on Mosolov include Mossolov and Mosso ...

, Gavriil Popov, and Vladimir Shcherbachev. The organization's enthusiasm for avant-garde Western music and for experimentation met with opposition from the

Russian Association of Proletarian Musicians The Russian Association of Proletarian Musicians or RAPM () was a musicians' creative union of the early Soviet period. It was founded in June 1923, by Lev Shul'gin, Aleksei Sergeev, and David Chernomoridikov. RAPM's members advocated "mass songs" ...

(RAPM), which by the late 1920s had eclipsed the ACM in terms of cultural influence. ACM was formally disbanded in 1931, whereas RAPM existed until 23 April 1932, when it was abolished by the Decree on the Reformation of Literary and Artistic Organizations.''Music for the Revolution'', p.242 Russia's New ACM (or ACM-2), the revival of the previous organization, was established in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

in 1990. Its chairman was composer

Edison Denisov Edison Vasilievich Denisov (, 6 April 1929 – 24 November 1996) was a Russian composer in the so-called " Underground", "alternative" or "nonconformist" division of Soviet music. Biography Denisov was born in Tomsk, Siberia. He studied math ...

. The co-founders of the new ACM were

Elena Firsova Elena Olegovna Firsova (; also ''Yelena'' or ''Jelena Firssowa''; born 21 March 1950) is a Russian composer living in the UK. Life Firsova was born in Leningrad into the family of physicists Oleg Firsov and Viktoria Lichko. She studied music ...

, Dmitri Smirnov, and

Nikolai Korndorf Nikolai Sergeevich Korndorf (, January 23, 1947 – May 30, 2001) was a Russian and Canadian (from 1991) composer and conductor. He was prolific both in Moscow, Russia, and in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Biography Born in Moscow, (Russ ...

. Its members included

Leonid Hrabovsky Leonid Oleksandrovych Hrabovsky (also Hrabovsky or Hrabovs'ky, ; , ''Leonid Alexandrovitch Grabovsky'') (born 28 January 1935) is a contemporary Ukrainian composer, now living in the United States.Роман Юсипей"Останній з а ...

Alexander Knaifel Alexander Aronovich Knaifel (; also ''Knayfel'', ''Knayfel'', or ''Kneifel''; 28 November 1943 – 27 June 2024) was a Soviet composer from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, known for his operas '' The Ghost of Canterville'' and ''Alice in Wonderland'' as w ...

, Sergei Pavlenko,

Alexander Voustin Alexander Kuzmich Vustin, also Voustin or Wustin (; 24 April 1943 – 19 April 2020) was a Russian composer. His works, including the opera '' The Devil in Love'', were played and recorded internationally. Biography Vustin studied composition fi ...

Vladislav Shoot Vladislav Shoot (, ''Vladislav Alekseyevich Shut' '' (also spelled Chout, Schut, Sciut, Shut or Szut); 3 March 1941 – 9 March 2022) was a Russian-British composer of contemporary classical music. Born in Voznesensk, Soviet Union, now Ukraine, ...

, Viktor Yekimovsky, Faraj Karayev,

Vyacheslav Artyomov Vyacheslav Petrovich Artyomov (; born 29 June 1940) is a Russian composer. Early life and education Vyacheslav Artyomov was born on 29 June 1940 in Moscow, Soviet Union. He initially pursued studies in physics while also receiving formal musi ...

, Vladimir Tarnopolsky,

Alexander Raskatov Alexander Mikhailovich Raskatov (Russian: Алекса́ндр Миха́йлович Раска́тов; born 9 March 1953, in Moscow) is a Russian composer. Life Alexander Raskatov's father was a leading journalist of the magazine ''Krokodil'', ...

, Ivan Sokolov, and

Yuri Kasparov Yuri Sergeyevich Kasparov (born 8 June 1955, in Moscow, —his name is variously transliterated) is a Russian composer, music teacher and a professor at the Moscow Conservatory where he had studied for his doctorate under Edison Denisov. Under t ...

. Eminent composers like

Sofia Gubaidulina Sofia Asgatovna Gubaidulina (24 October 1931 – 13 March 2025) was a Soviet and Russian composer of Modernism (music), modernist Holy minimalism, sacred music. She was highly prolific, producing numerous Chamber music, chamber, Orchestra, orch ...

Alfred Schnittke Alfred Garrievich Schnittke (24 November 1934 – 3 August 1998) was a Russian composer. Among the most performed and recorded composers of late 20th-century classical music, he is described by musicologist Ivan Moody (composer), Ivan Moody as a ...

Valentin Silvestrov Valentyn Vasylyovych Sylvestrov (; born 30 September 1937) is a Ukrainian composer and pianist, who plays and writes contemporary classical music. Biography Valentyn Vasylyovych Silvestrov was born on 30 September 1937 in Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR, th ...

, and Tigran Mansuryan were invited to join the ACM. ACM became affiliated with the

International Society for Contemporary Music The International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) is a music organization that promotes contemporary classical music. The organization was established in Salzburg in 1922 as Internationale Gesellschaft für Neue Musik (IGNM) following the ...

(ISCM). After the collapse of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in 1991, many members of the ACM emigrated to the West, and Denisov died in 1996. The ACM was split into two parts. One, based in the Union of Composers and led by Victor Yekimovsky, adopted the title "Russian National Section, the International Society for Contemporary Music" (RNS-ISCM); it supported the "Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble". The other, based in the

Moscow Conservatory The Moscow Conservatory, also officially Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory () is a higher musical educational institution located in Moscow, Russia. It grants undergraduate and graduate degrees in musical performance and musical research. Th ...

and led by Vladimir Tarnopolsky, took the name "Centre for Contemporary Music, Moscow" (CCMM). CCMM was the ISCM Associate Member, and supported the "Studio of New Music".

References

* Nelson, Amy (2004). ''Music for the Revolution: Musicians and Power in Early Soviet Russia''. Pennsylvania State University Press. * Faiclough, Pauline (2006). ''A Soviet Credo: Shostakovich's Fourth Symphony''. Ashgate.

Notes

External links

Association News of Contemporary Music Union-SPBCCMM page

{{DEFAULTSORT:Association For Contemporary Music Modernism (music) Music organizations based in Russia