Music Journals

The first Russian music journal was the journal of sheet music entitled Muzykal’nye uveseleniia (Musical Entertainment), published in Moscow in 1774–75. Many such journals, intended for various social groups, were published in St. Petersburg and Moscow in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. They contained piano, vocal, and guitar pieces, as well as excerpts from popular operas. The first journal of sheet music to appear in the provinces was the Aziatskii muzykal’nyi zhurnal(Asiatic Music Journal), which was issued in Astrakhan between 1816 and 1818 and published folk music. Down to the 1840’s Russian music periodicals were represented by sheet-music journals, and various collections and miscellanies either entirely or partially devoted to music took the place of journals dealing specifically with the art of music. The sheet-music journal Nuvel-list (Reporter) appeared in St. Petersburg in 1842. A literary supplement consisting primarily of reprints of articles and news items from foreign periodicals, added to the journal in 1844, may be regarded as the first Russian music journal proper. During the 1850’s music material was published in such “mixed” journals as Muzykal’nyi vestral’nyi vestnik (Music and Theater Journal), whose music section was headed by A. N. Serov, and Muzyka i teatr (Music and Theater), published by V. S. Serova and aimed at the spread of music education.

From the 1860’s through the 1880’s a number of music journals were published in St. Petersburg, notably Muzykal’nyi sezon (Musical Season, 1869–71), Muzykal’nyi listok (Music Newspaper, 1872–73, 1876–1877), Russkii muzykal’nyi vestnik (Russian Music Journal, 1880–82, with a sheet-music supplement), and Baian (1888–90, with a sheet-music supplement). These journals published serious articles and were organs of the Russian music periodical press. One of the best prerevolutionary music publications, Russkaia muzykal’naia gazeta (Russian Music Gazette), appeared in St. Petersburg between 1894 and 1918. From 1913 to 1917 it included the supplement Bibliograficheskii listok (Bibliographical Newspaper). Other important journals published in St. Petersburg were Muzyka i penie (Music and Singing, 1894–1917), Izvestiia S.-Peterburgskogo obshchestva muzykal’nykh sobranii (Proceedings of the St. Petersburg Society of Musical Gatherings, 1896–1909) with the supplement Muzykal’naia bibliografiia (1903–09), and Khorovoe i regentskoe delo (Choral Singing and Conducting, 1909–1917).

Among the music journals founded in Moscow in the early 20th century were Muzykal’nyi truzhenik (Music Worker, 1906–10) and Orkestr (Orchestra, 1910–12), both of which dealt with the work and daily lives of orchestral musicians. Muzyka (Music, 1910–16), also published in Moscow, was devoted to the latest achievements in European music. Muzykal’nyi sovremennik (Musical Contemporary) and its supplement, Khronika zhurnala “Muzykal’nyi sovremennik” (Chronicle of the Journal Musical Contemporary), was published in St. Petersburg from 1915 to 1917. During these years journals began to appear in the provinces—in Tambov, Nizhny Novgorod, Odessa, Tiumen’, and other cities. The first music journal in the world to deal with phonograph records was Grammofon i fonograf (Gramophone and Phonograph), published in St. Petersburg between 1902 and 1904.

After the October Revolution of 1917 a number of music journals were founded in Moscow, including K novym beregam (Toward New Shores, 1923), Muzykal’naia nov’ (Musical News, 1923–24), Sovremennaia muzyka (Contemporary Music, 1924–29), Muzykal’noe obrazovanie (Music Education, 1925–30), Muzyka i revoliutsiia (Music and the Revolution, 1926–29), Proletarskii muzykant (Proletarian Musician, 1929–32), and Muzykal’naia samodeiatel’nost’ (Amateur Musical Activities, 1933–36). Muzyka (Music, 1923–25, 1927) and Radians’ka muzyka (Soviet Music, 1933–34, 1936–41) were issued in Ukrainian in Kharkov. Sovetskaia muzyka (Soviet Music), intended primarily for professional musicians, has appeared since 1933. Muzykal’naia zhizn’ (Musical Life), designed for music lovers in general and devoted to amateur musical activity, has been published in Moscow since 1957. Muzyka (Music), issued in Ukrainian, has appeared in Kiev since 1970.

In the Western European countries the first music journals appeared in the 18th century: Critica musica (Hamburg, 1722), Sentiment d’un harmoniphile sur differant ouvrage de musique (Paris, 1756), and The Review of New Musical Publications (London, 1784). The first important modern music journal was All-gemeine Musikalische Zeitung (Leipzig, 1798), which regularly published reviews by its foreign correspondents and featured reviews of newly published music, and bibliographies. The many music journals published in foreign countries are devoted to various aspects of musical culture and life—composition, musicology, bibliography, discography, opera, and light music.

The leading journals are The Musical Times (London, since 1904), Music and Letters (London, since 1920), Opera (London, since 1950), La Revue musicale (Paris, since 1920), Musica (Kassel, since 1947), Opernwelt (Stuttgart, since 1960), Musical Quarterly (New York, since 1915), Musik und Gesellschaft (Berlin, since 1951), Muzika (Sofia, since 1953), Muzyka (Warsaw, since 1950), Muzica (Bucharest, since 1951), and Hudebni Rozhledy (Prague, since 1948). Several international music journals are published by UNESCO.