Page 149 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2026 Skladateljska društva nekoč in danes.../Composers’ Societies Past and Present...

The Composers’ Guild of Great Britain and “unofficial” musical diplomacy …
countries of Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria had reached their
new state of socialism by overcoming not only Nazi occupation but the
pre-socialist historical states of capitalism (Czechoslovakia) and feudalism
(Yugoslavia and Bulgaria):

Unless you have experienced it, it is difficult to imagine what it is like to
see men and women creating societies where richer opportunities for all
are unfolding every day, where greater material welfare is being made
available to all, and where an uncomplicated but noble outlook informs
a whole community. It is not only that the people of these three coun-
tries are free from the unspeakable horrors of Nazi domination and are
therefore enjoying the opportunity to live as they were living before. In
the process of liberation they have all overcome to a considerable though
varying degree the contradictions of their own pre-war social conditions,
contradictions inherent both in the unfettered capitalism of Czechoslo-
vakia and in the semi-feudal dictatorships of Yugoslavia and Bulgaria. 32
For Bush, then, the current state of society in the three nations he vis-
ited was one of “dual liberation, both from foreign domination and from the
oppression of their own reactionary propertied classes.” Within the frame-
33
work of this analysis, however, Bush’s primary interest was in the impact
this new society was having upon musical culture. The composer already
staunchly believed in the transformation of musical life in the Soviet Un-
ion since 1917, both in terms of state support and in a more spontaneous re-
newal of living folk music traditions. It is clear that he perceived a simi-
34
lar blossoming of musical culture in the countries of his tour. Bush wrote
of his very first impressions of Yugoslav culture upon arrival at the railway
station in Subotica for a three-hour wait, to discover ‘soldiers, workers and
peasants’ folk-dancing in the waiting room. When they moved to dinner

a young soldier came forward and sang for us the folk-songs and par-
tisan songs of his district to his own accordion accompaniment. In a
most dignified way he refused any remuneration – though he accepted
a drink – he wished only to introduce us to the songs of his country as
we were his country’s guests. 35
Such evidence of the spontaneous and renewed folk culture of Yugo-
slavia (Bush does not consider whether any such entertainment may have

32 Bush, “A Musician in Eastern Europe,” 1 (my emphasis).
33 Ibid.
34 Alan Bush, “Soviet Musical Life” (1945–6), Alan Bush Archive, Histon.
35 Bush, “A Musician in Eastern Europe,” 1.

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