JAVS Spring 2022

8 On the other hand, Rabichev is the only one who tells how, in the same year of 1948, Bunin was excluded from the Soviet Composers Union by its head (and Stalin’s ‘inspector’ of music) Tikhon Khrennikov, (1913-2007), then readmitted in 1950. 9 Shlifstein, 1957. 10 Collin Marshall, “Orson Welles Narrates the Russian Revolution in Ten Days That Shook the World (1967),” Film History, Open Culture, last modified February 24, 2016, https://www. openculture.com/2016/02/orson-welles-narrates-the-russian revolution-in-ten-days-that-shook-the-world-1967.html. 11 Alla Vladimirovna Grigor′yeva, “Bunin, Revol′ Samuilovich,” Grove Music Online. 2001; Accessed 15 Oct. 2020. 12 In the 2016 Spring issue of the AVS Journal, Carlos Maria Solare reviews a set of Barshai’s recordings, and provides a long biography and other information about the violist (pp.56-58). 13 Barshai mentions Bunin very rarely in his (interview-based) autobiographical book, yet with great warmth, treating Bunin as one of his closest friends, almost a soulmate. http://www. barshaimemorial.com/en/books/nota. 14 Makarova was incredibly brave to question Bunin’s lack of awards and prizes in 1989 while still under the USSR (Makarova 1989). 15 “The Fifth Paragraph” (In USSR passports and IDs) was an identification of ethnicity (not to be confused with nationality). It was the reason for discrimination on ethnical background, allowed by the government, in employment situations, education, and living territories. Jews, Tatars, and Germans were the more common victims of this phenomenon, and were considered as less loyal, potential enemies of the people. 16 Makarova, 1989. 17 This text found in Rabichev 2002, and a very similar version exists on Kuss’ website.

Notes 1 Konrad Ewald, Musik für Bratsche: Das reiche Viola-Repertoire von Aaltonen bis Zytowitsch. (Basel: InnoSET AG, 2013). 2 The most detailed timeline of Bunin’s compositions during the 1950s can be found in Semion Shlifshteyn, ‘Revol’ Bunin’, Sovetskaya Muzyka, no.5 (1957) 92–97. 3 According to rather unofficial online encyclopedias and lists of people who were involved in the 1917 revolution (that claim to be based on books and academic research) Samuil Markovich Bunin, Revol’s father, was indeed a Bolshevik activist. He first belonged to the Jewish ‘Bund’ (socialist active protest group) in his hometown Gomel, then to larger organizations, and even spend some time arrested and in prison, around the 1910s. If this data is accurate, people of his circle received many benefits and support from the Leninist governments in the early 1920s, but later became subject to terrorization by the Stalinist authorities. Thus, Revol Bunin’s childhood, was most likely fearful, in constant danger of purge. “Bunin, Samuil Markovich”, in Politichiskaya Intziklopedia (Politics Encyclopedia), last accessed November 2021, https://politike.ru/ termin/bunin-samuil-markovich.html 4 Vissarion Shebalin (1902-1963), Soviet composer, founder of the Soviet Composer Union, faculty at the Moscow Conservatory, and its director from 1942-48. He was accused of formalism by Zhdanov in 1948, lost his position, and spent the rest of his life recovering from this trauma, suffering from bad health. He was a dear friend of Shostakovich, yet according to unofficial sources, Shebalin was shocked and hurt when Bunin left his studio to study with his colleague. 5 This story comes from Margarita Kuss (1921-2009), a composer and friend of Bunin, who also stayed in Moscow during WWII and studied with Goedicke. See “Recollections”, Margarita Kuss, accessed in November 2021, http://www.margaritakuss.ru/en/ recollections.php 6 Some helpful insights on Bunin’s later years can be found in the preface to the only edition of Bunin’s 9 th Symphony (Sovetsky Kompozytor: Moscow 1989, 3-4), written many years after his death, by his colleague Tamara Makarova (1931-2011). 7 Leonid Rabichev, Kompozitor Revol Bunin (Composer Revol Bunin). Benefactor and World , no. 17-20, 2002.

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Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 38, No. 1, Spring 2022