Early years

Tikhon Khrennikov was the youngest of ten children, born into a family of horse traders in the town of Yelets, Oryol Governorate, Russian Empire (now in Lipetsk Oblast in central Russia).

He learned guitar and mandolin from members of his family and sang in a local choir in Yelets. There he also played in a local orchestra and learned the piano. As a teenager he moved to Moscow. From 1929 to 1932, he studied composition at the Gnessin State Musical College under Mikhail Gnessin and Yefraim Gelman. From 1932 to 1936, he attended the Moscow Conservatory. There he studied composition under Vissarion Shebalin and piano under Heinrich Neuhaus. As a student, he wrote and played his Piano Concerto No. 1, and his graduation piece was the Symphony No. 1. His first symphony was conducted by Leopold Stokowski.^[3] He became popular with the series of songs and serenades that he composed for the 1936 production of Much Ado About Nothing at the Vakhtangov Theatre in Moscow.^[3]

By the 1930s, Khrennikov was already treated as a leading Soviet composer. Typical was his speech during a discussion in February 1936 concerning Pravda articles "Muddle Instead of Music" and "Balletic Falsity":

The resolution on 23rd April 1932 appealed to the consciousness of the Soviet artist. Soviet artists had not withstood scrutiny. After 23rd April, youth was inspired to study. The problem was, we had to master the skills and techniques of composition. We developed an enthusiasm for modern western composers. The names of Hindemith and Krenek came to be symbols of advanced modern artists. [...] After the enthusiasm for western tendencies came an attraction to simplicity, influenced by composing for the theatre, where simple, expressive music was required. We grew, our consciousness also grew, as well as the aspiration to be genuine Soviet composers, representatives of our epoch. Compositions by Hindemith satisfied us no more. Soon after that Prokofiev arrived, declaring Soviet music to be provincial and naming Shostakovich as the most up-to-date composer. Young composers were confused: on the one hand, they wanted to create simpler music that would be easier for the masses to understand; on the other hand, they were confronted with the statements of such musical authorities as Prokofiev. Critics wrote laudatory odes to Shostakovich. […] How did young composers react to Lady Macbeth [of Mtsensk]? This opera contains several large melodic fragments which opened some creative perspectives to us. But the entre‘actes and other things aroused complete hostility.^[4]

Together with other representatives of Soviet culture (Nikolay Chelyapov, Nikolai Myaskovsky, Nikolay Chemberdzhi, Sergei Vasilenko, Victor Bely, Alexander Veprik, Aram Khachaturian, Boris Shekhter, M. Starodokamsky, Georgy Khubov, Vano Muradeli, Vladimir Yurovsky and Lev Kulakovsky), Khrennikov signed the statement welcoming "a sentence of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union, passed on traitors against the motherland, fascist hirelings, such as Tukhachevsky, Yakir and others".^[5]

Having "adopted the optimistic, dramatic and unabashedly lyrical style favored by Soviet leaders",^[6] Khrennikov shot to fame in 1941, with the "Song of Moscow" ("Свинарка и пастух", meaning "Swineherd and Shepherd") from his music score for the popular Soviet film They Met in Moscow,^[7] for which he was awarded the Stalin Prize. In 1941, Khrennikov was appointed Music Director of the Central Theatre of the Red Army, a position he would keep for 25 years.

In February 1945 Khrennikov was officially posted by the Political Authority (Politupravlenie) of the Red Army from Sverdlovsk, where he and his family had been evacuated, to the First Belorussian Front, and the Army commanded by General (later Marshal) Chuikov.^[8]

In 1947 he joined the CPSU and became a deputy of the Supreme Soviet.^[9]

General Secretary of the Union of Soviet Composers

On 10 January 1948, more than 70 composers, musicians and music lecturers were summoned to a three-day conference in the Kremlin, to be lectured by the communist party's chief ideologist Andrei Zhdanov on how to write music. As one of the main speakers, Khrennikov backed the party line, and attacked all three of the greatest composers present, Dmitri Shostakovich, Sergei Prokofiev and Khachaturian. Years later, he defended his behaviour by telling a BBC correspondent: "They told me - they forced me - to read out that speech attacking Shostakovich and Prokofiev. What else could I have done? If I had refused, it would have been curtains for me."^[10]

In 1948, Joseph Stalin appointed Khrennikov General Secretary of the Union of Soviet Composers,^[11] a position he would keep until the union was disbanded with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.^[12]

In an interview with pianist Jascha Nemtsov on 8 November 2004 in Moscow, Khrennikov asserted that composer Mieczysław Weinberg, when arrested, had been discharged immediately because of Khrennikov's protection. According to Khrennikov the same had happened to Alexander Veprik. Extant evidence demonstrates that Veprik spent four years in a prison camp and Mieczysław Weinberg was released in June 1953 because of Stalin's death.^[13]

In 1949, Khrennikov officially attacked the composer Alexander Lokshin, using formulations of one of Stalin's ideologists, Pavel Apostolov. In his speech Khrennikov contrasted Lokshin's "modernist" style with the bylina Stepan Razin's Dream by Galina Ustvolskaya, which he considered an ideal example of true national art.^[14]

Khrennikov's speech aroused great indignation in Mikhail Gnessin, who accused him of duplicity: not daring to criticise Lokshin in a professional environment, Khrennikov attacked him ideologically from his position as a leading Soviet official.^[15] After this ideological campaign Lokshin was excluded from academic circles.

Khrennikov did not prevent Prokofiev's first wife, Lina Codina, from being charged as a "spy" following her arrest by the NKVD on 20 February 1948. As head of the Composers' Union, Khrennikov made no attempt to have the sentence against Lina Prokofieva quashed or reduced. The Composers' Union did not help Prokofiev's sons, who were compulsorily evicted from their apartment. After Codina returned from the Gulag, the Union of Soviet Composers did nothing to improve the extremely bad living conditions of her family; it was the prominent singers Irina Arkhipova and Zurab Sotkilava who protected Prokofiev's first family. Afterwards, the family was exposed to regular official humiliations. According to Prokofiev's first son, Sviatoslav, the Union refused Codina permission to go to Paris, even though she had been personally invited by the French culture minister to the opening of Prokofiev's memorial board. Instead, Khrennikov took part at that ceremony with his whole family. The Union also refused Lina Prokofieva permission to go to the opening of the Sydney Opera House. At the same time, Sviatoslav Prokofiev noted the typical logic of the Soviet functionary: sometimes Khrennikov could help if it was not dangerous for his own position and career.^[16]

The ideological campaigns of 1948–49 against musical formalism were directly connected with the offensive against "rootless cosmopolitans," which formed a part of the state anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union that flourished after the Second World War.^[17] The leadership of the Union of Soviet Composers branded certain composers as "zionist aggressors" or "agents of world imperialism", and made accusations of "ideologically vicious" and "hostile" phenomena in Soviet musical culture. An accusation of Zionism was often used as a weapon against people of different nationalities, faiths and opinions, such as Nikolai Roslavets. "Struggle against formalists" was pursued in other countries too. According to György Ligeti, after Khrennikov's official visit to Budapest in 1948, The Miraculous Mandarin by Béla Bartók was removed from the repertoire and paintings by French impressionists and others were removed from display in museums.^[18]

Khrennikov and other functionaries of the Union of Soviet Composers constantly attacked the heritage of the Russian avant-garde as well as its researchers.^[19] For example, the East German musicologist Detlef Gojowy (1934–2008) was persecuted because of his promotion in the West of modern Soviet music of the 1920s. Gojowy was proclaimed to be an "anti-Soviet writer" – until 1989 he was forbidden to visit the Soviet Union and some of his publications that he sent to Soviet colleagues were intercepted by customs. At the same time, Soviet musicologists engaged in developing a Russian avant-garde tradition were officially prohibited from going abroad.^[20] Once again, Nicolai Roslavets was an example.

Khrennikov was a Member of Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from the 1950s on. From 1962, he was a representative in the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

Later years

In his last years, Khrennikov publicly stated his disapproval of Perestroika, its leaders, and the fall of the Soviet Union:

It was a betrayal by our leaders. I consider Gorbachev and his henchmen, who deliberately organised persecution of Soviet art, to be traitors to the party and the people [...]".^[21]

In another interview given to the same newspaper Zavtra (meaning "Tomorrow") he described Stalin as a "genius", an "absolutely normal person", tolerant of criticism:

Stalin, in my opinion, knew music better than any of us. […] As in classical Ancient Greece, so too in the Soviet Union music was of the greatest importance to the state. The spiritual influence of the greatest composers and artists in the formation of intelligent and strong-willed people, first of all through radio, was huge.^[22]

Khrennikov's memoirs were published in 1994. He died in Moscow aged 94 and is buried in the garden of the house where he was born in Yelets.

Symphonies

• Symphony No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 4 (1933–35)
• Symphony No. 2 in C minor, Op. 9 (1940–42)
• Symphony No. 3 in A major, Op. 22 (1973)

Other symphonic works

• "Mik", suite for orchestra, Op. 3 (1934)
• Much Ado About Nothing, incidental music, Op. 7 (1935–36)
• "Don Quichotte" by Mikhail Bulgakov, suite for orchestra, Op. 10 (1941)
• "Love For Love", suite from the ballet, Op. 24b (1976)
• "A Hussar Ballad", suite from the ballet, Op. 25b (1978)

Concertos

• Piano Concerto No. 1 in F major, Op. 1 (1932–33)
• Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, Op. 14 (1958–59)
• Cello Concerto No. 1 in C major, Op. 16 (1964)
• Piano Concerto No. 2 in C major, Op. 21 (1972)
• Violin Concerto No. 2 in C major, Op. 23 (1975)
• Three Pieces for Violin and orchestra, Op. 26b (1978)
• Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, Op. 28 (1983–84)
• Cello Concerto No. 2, Op. 30 (1986)
• Piano Concerto No. 4, for piano, string orchestra and percussion, Op. 37 (1991)

Operas

• "Into the Storm", four acts, Op. 8 (1936–39) - Libretto by A. Faiko and Nikolai Virta based on N. Virta's novel "Loneliness".
• "Brother-in-Law Without Kindred (Frol Skobeev)", comic opera, Op. 12 (1945–50) - Libretto by S. Tsenin after D. Averkiev's Play "Frol Skobeev".
• "Mother", three acts, Op. 13 (1952–57) - Libretto by A. Faiko based on Maxim Gorky's novel "Mother".
• "One Hundred Devils and Just One Girl", operetta in three acts, Op. 15 (1962–63) - Libretto by E. Shatunovsky.
• "A White Night", musical chronicle in three acts, Op. 17 (1966) - Libretto by Y. Shanutovsky, after Tolstoi.
• "The Low-Born Son-in-Law" (1967) - second version of "Frol Skobeyev" (1950)
• "The Boy Giant", children's opera in three acts, Op. 18 (1968–69) - Libretto by N. Shestakov and N. Satz.
• "Much Ado About Hearts", three acts (1972–73) - Libretto by Boris Pokrovsky after Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing".
• "Dorothea", two acts, Op. 27 (1982–83)
• "Golden Calf", Op. 29 (1984–85), based of the novel by Ilf and Petrov
• "The Naked King", comic opera, Op. 31 (1988)
• Musical for children "Wonders, oh, wonders!", musical for children (2001)
• "At 6 P.M. After the War", musical (2003)

Ballets

• "Our Courtyard" (Happy Childhood), children's ballet in one act, Op. 19 (1970)
• "Love For Love", two acts, Op. 24 (1976)
• "A Hussar Ballad", three acts, Op. 25 (1978)
• "Napoleon Bonaparte", Op. 40 (1994)
• "The Captain's Daughter", Op. 41 (1999)

Music for plays

• "Mik" (1934)
• "Alexander Shigorin" (1935–36)
• "Big Day" (1937)
• "Guilty Without a Sin" (1937)
• "I’m the Son of Working People" (1938)
• "Romantics" (1939)
• "Don Quichotte" by Mikhail Bulgakov (1941)
• "A Long Time Ago" (1942)
• "Birthday" (1944)
• "Marine Officer" (1944)
• "Wise Things" (1965)
• "Rootless Son-in-law" (1966)

Chamber music

• "Birkenstamm", version for violin ensemble (1935)
• String Quartet No. 1 (?)
• String Quartet No. 2 (?)
• Three Pieces for Violin and piano, Op. 26 (1978)
• String Quartet No. 3, Op. 33 (1988)
• Sonata for Cello and piano, Op. 34 (1989)
• Five Pieces for woodwind instruments, Op. 35 (1990)

Piano works

• Five Pieces for piano, Op. 2 (1933)
• Three Pieces for piano, Op. 5 (1934–35)
• Five Pieces for piano, Op. 38 (1992)
• Six Children's Pieces for piano, Op. 42 (2002)

Vocal and choral works

• Three Romances for voice and piano after Pushkin, Op. 6 (1935)
• "Birch Tree", song for voice and piano (1935)
• Three Lieder for voice and piano, Op. 7b, from the incidental music "Much Ado About Nothing", Op. 7 (1935–36)
• "Three Pans", song for voice and piano (1939)
• "We Are Masters of the War", song for chorus and piano (1941)
• "Song About a Moscow Girl", song for voice and piano (1941)
• "Song About Friendship", song for voice and piano (1941)
• Five Romances for voice and piano after Robert Burns, Op. 11 (1942)
• "Farewell", song for voice and piano (1942)
• "There is a Good Town in the North", song for chorus and piano (1942)
• "New Year’s", song for voice and piano (1942)
• "Everybody for the Motherland", song for chorus and piano (1942)
• "Men from Ural are Great Warriors", song for chorus and piano (1942)
• "Song of the Soviet Union", song for chorus and piano (1943)
• "Luchint’s Song", song for chorus and piano (1943)
• "Song of Song", song for voice and piano (1944)
• "Waiting Home", song for voice and piano (1944)
• "Moscow’s Windows", song for voice and piano (1960)
• "Morning Song", song for voice and piano (1960)
• "Our Soviet Country", song for chorus and piano (1964)
• Three Poems for chorus, Op. 20 (1971)
• Three Sonnets by W. Shakespeare for voice and piano, Op. 32 (1988)
• Three songs based on the lyrics by Nekrasov for chorus a capella, Op. 36 (1990)
• Five Romances after lyrics by Ivan Bunin, Op. 39 (1992)
• "Tatyana’s Day", waltz, for voice and piano (2004) - after Mikhail Lomonosov

Film music

• "Struggle Is Still On" (1938)
• "Swineheard and Shepherd" (1941)
• "Return with Victory" (1941)
• "Six O’Clock in the Evening After the War" (1944)
• "The Train Goes East" (1947)
• "Miners of Donetsk" (1950)
• "Cavalier of the Golden Star" (1951)
• "At Six PM after the War" (1952)
• "True Friends" (1953)
• "The Captain's Daughter" (1958)
• "Hussar Ballad" (1961)
• "Comrade Arseny" (1964)
• "No Password Necessary" (1967)
• "Mother" (1968) - sound version of the 1926 silent film
• "Three" (1969)
• "Ruslan and Ludmila" (1972)
• "Stars and fans" (1973)
• "Talents and Admirers" (1973)
• "Afterthought Had Hit You, Congratulations!" (1976)
• "Duenna" (1978)
• "We Were Chosen by Time" (1978)
• "The Antarctic Novel" (1979)
• "Money Box" (1980)
• "Heart Operation" (1982)
• "Love for Love" (1983)
• "Two Comrades" (1999)