Tradizione e sperimentazione nell'orizzonte musicale russo: il caso di Boris Asaf'ev

Boris Vladimirovich Asafiev (1884-1949) was a major protagonist in the mu- sical life of 1920s Soviet Russia. An alumnus of the Petersburg Conservatory, he devoted himself both to historical research and to pioneering New Music in the USSR, working with a host of international musicians. My exploratory contribution presents his life as a composer, historian and theorist, and pin- points his role within the evolution of Soviet cultural institutions and the ideol- ogies that they embodied. I also highlight his central role in the academic com- munity and in the dynamics that led to the predominance of Socialist realism.