Anita Prelovsek
Ljubljana, Slovenia
Dostoevsky and music
Abstract: The article is devoted to the role of music in the life and works of F. M. Dostoevsky. In the introductory part of the article a mention is also made of the attitude towards Dostoevsky in Slovenia and of translations of his works into the Slovenian language. The main objective of the article is to study where and in what form passages concerning music and musicians are to be found in his works as well as to determine the role of music in the personal life of the writer and the influence of Dostoevsky’s work on classical composers. The article quotes samples of musical pieces and discusses their role in Dostoevsky’s works. The bibliography used for this article is a monograph by A. Gozenpud in which this topic is studied, a biography of Dostoevsky by L. Saraskina, various electronic sources, monographs and scientific articles on musicology and the studies of Dostoevsky. Dostoevsky attached great importance to music. He liked a wide variety of musical genres, including classical music in opera and chamber concerts, folk songs and Russian romances, music in salons and street music. The influence of the writer’s works on classical music in the twentieth century was typical for both the West and for Russian composers (the most significant examples are operas by S. Prokofiev “The Gambler” and Leoš Janaček’s “From the Dead House”), it being noted that a passion for music is also characteristic of Dostoevsky’s descendants living today.
Keywords: Dostoevsky, translations into Slovenian, classical music, opera, folklore, Omsk, composers, Dostoevsky’s descendants.
Paper submitted: December 20, 2021.
For citation: Prelovsek A. (2022). Dostoevsky and music. Russian Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 40–46. DOI: 10.17238/issn1998-5320.2022.16.1.5.
