The Complete History of the Moldovan SSR Anthem

Ștefan Neaga and the Moldovan SSR Anthem

The National Anthem of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic is one of the most recurrent topics in the videos of the anthem community members in YouTube. The story that surrounds the anthem composed in 1945 has captivated the minds of people around the world and it revealed, perhaps, one of the biggest mysteries about national anthems in recent history. It all started when members of the “Ștefan Neaga Commission” uploaded a video focusing in the difference between the known vocal and instrumental versions of the Moldovan SSR State Anthem. And you know the rest…

Flag of the Moldovan SSR (Shutterstock)

The music for the anthem was composed in 1945 by Moldovan composer Ştefan Neaga (1900-1951) and the lyrics were written by Emilian Bucov and Ion Bădărău (who used the pseudonym “Bogdan Istru”). World War II had just ended, and many initiatives were taken by the central committee of the CPSU to celebrate the great victory of the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War and to give each Soviet Republic a unique identity. For this matter, the Government of the Soviet Republic of Moldova designed General Iosif Mordoveț with the task to find a composer and lyricists for the new anthem. Mordoveț contacted with the mentioned authors and forced them to create a melody that represented Moldovan people (Gherciu, 2012).

According to Lilia Cazacu (2010), the members of the Supreme Soviet of the Moldovan SSR decided that the creation of the anthem was critical and that it had to follow several rules and exalt the role of the Communist Party and Iosif Stalin in the liberation of Moldova from the bourgeoisie and capitalism, the expulsion of fascists from Moldova, and the development of the Moldovan State based on the Socialist form of society and the fraternity among Soviet republics. Although Mordoveț selected Neaga, Bucov and Bădărău for the job, several other composers such as Emil Samoilă, Leonid Cornenanu, and Liviu Deleanu created lyrics for an anthem following these indications between 1944 and 1945. In the end, these lyrics were not used and, in fact, Delenau’s lyrics were aggressively rejected. However, at the time of the publication of this article, it is not clear if the lyrics wrote by these authors were made for Neaga’s composition or compositions of their own. The evidence suggests that, given the fact that Neaga and two poets worked very close, the lyrics were written for different musical compositions or written without a finished melody.

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During the task commissioned by Mordoveț, Neaga worked day and night to ensure a perfect melody structure for the anthem. Emilian Bucov remembered how demanding was this task for Neaga, and that many variations of the melody were made because of that. Each time a melody was completed, Neaga was dissatisfied, so they had to start all over again. The composer was very demanding and self-critic with his work and proves how committed was to complete the task. The authors wanted to create an anthem that inspired a deep patriotic feeling in the people of Moldova, and that made a person stood up immediately as soon as he heard the melody (Ştirbu, 2012). For this matter, Neaga used several melodic elements and inspiration in popular Moldovan music (Balan, 1951). Also, he used the same structure of the Soviet National Anthem composed by Alexander Alexandrov and adopted in 1944 of three stanzas and one chorus. In fact, most of the Soviet Republic State Anthems followed the same structure.

By 1945 the melody was complete and Bucov and Bădărău had already written the lyrics. In the same year, the Supreme Soviet of the Moldovan SSR officialised Neaga’s composition as the State Anthem of the Moldovan SSR (Imnul de Stat al RSS Moldovenești). And thus, it entered in the Republic’s State symbols under the Constitution of the Moldovan SSR of 1941. The beauty of the anthem and all that it represented was praised by musicians for more than 45 years, and it was proved when the authors took part in an important competition with other composers of several Soviet Republics in which the composition that they had had made won the first prize (Kusnac, 1975). According to Soviet publications, it perpetuated the joy and pride of the Moldovan people (Balan, 1951).

Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili - Stalin

The death of Iosif Stalin in 1953 started a series of events in the Soviet Union which had the objective to remove the cult of personality that surrounded the former Head of State of the USSR. The Soviet government of Nikita Krushchev considered that the lyrics of the national anthem of the USSR were incompatible with the new process and thus, the official lyrics were removed from the anthem from 1956 to 1977 (RIA Novosti, 2013). The De-Stalinization process also affected other Soviet Republic State anthems. The State Anthem of the Estonian SSR and the Byelorussian SSR suffered changes to remove direct mentions to Stalin during the 1950s.  In the case of the Moldovan SSR it is not clear how the process affected Neaga’s composition. However, it appears that the Soviet authorities paid attention to the use of the anthem, given the fact that Neaga himself stated that with the anthem he wanted to represent the love for Stalin and his certainty of the victory of Communism (Шведов, 1950). Just like the National Anthem of the USSR, there is a possibility that Neaga’s anthem could have been sung without lyrics during most of this period of time.

Despite the legislation and restrictions imposed in the Krushev era, one thing is clear. With the election of Ivan Bodiul as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Moldovan SSR, changes were made to the anthem. According to Moldovan musicologist Leonid Răilean, Bodiul stated that he did not like the anthem and that a change was necessary. Taking advantage of the fact that Ştefan Neaga had died on 1951, he commissioned Russian-Moldovan composer Eduard Lazarev to create a new anthem of the Soviet Republic. Lazarev had graduated from the Moscow Conservatory on 1959 and had been working on the Ministry of Culture of the Moldovan SSR since 1970. He had also been awared several prizes such as the Honoured Moldvan Artist of the Year and Laureate Artist of the MSSR in 1966. He would also win the People’s Artist of the MSSR prize later on 1978 (Moldovenii, 2020).

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Although Lazarev was one of the best composers at the time in the Moldovan SSR, musicologists like Răilean think that the “renovation” process made by Lazarev under orders of Ivan Bodiul distorted the melody and damaged the musical structure of the composition. If fact, Lazarev created a melody structure totally different from other Soviet Republic anthems, with only three stanzas and removing the chorus. Regarding the new lyrics, it is not clear the extent to which original lyrics authors Bucov and Bădărău participated. Nevertheless, new lyrics for the anthem were made to accommodate the new melody. And thus, the original State Anthem of the Moldovan SSR composed by Ştefan Neaga was removed from the official symbols of the Soviet Republic and, with the independence of the Republic of Moldova from the USSR in 1991, thrown into the garbage bin of history along with other elements of the Soviet past of Moldova (Şmurgun, 2011).

It is also not clear when was the exact year of the official change in the State Anthem of the MSSR, and most of the dates found in different internet sources are based in unreliable data and conjectures. However, we can establish an interval of years in which the renovation could have been officially made.

• 1968: The initial date of the interval is the year when the Soviet state-owned record label “Melodiya” recorded the instrumental versions of the Soviet Union national anthem and the Soviet Republic state anthems. The task was commissioned by the Ministry of Culture of the USSR and the recording was made by the Brass Band of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR. The band was conducted by several personalities such as A. Khachaturian or N. Sergeyev. The instrumental version of Neaga’s anthem was conducted by N. Nazarov. By this year, Lazarev had already won two major prizes in the Moldovan SSR, however it does not make sense that the Ministry of Culture of the USSR would allow the recording of Neaga’s version instead of the renovated version of Lazarev. Even considering that Ivan Bodiul was already the First Secretary of the Moldovan Communist Party this seems highly unlikely.

• 1969 to 1977: During this period of time Bodiul was the man in charge of the MSSR Communist Party and Eduard Lazarev was a renowned composer between Moldovan society. Because of this, the task could have been commissioned during these years. Also, we need to remember that the new lyrics of the Soviet Union National Anthem were adopted in 1977, so this could have been a relevant event both for Bodiul and Lazarev.

• 1978: This year seems the most likely date for the renovation. In this year, Lazarev won the People’s Artist of the MSSR prize and the Supreme Soviet of the Moldovan SSR adopted a new Constitution which replaced the Constitution of 1941. It seems very probable that if, the Supreme Soviet wanted to change the constitution, they would also want to fix the issue with Neaga’s anthem and therefore, making Bodiul commission Lazarev with the musical renovation.

• 1979 to 1980: Ivan Bodiul served as the First Secretary of the MSSR Communist Party until the 30th of December of 1980, and given the fact that he was the key person in the story, this was his last year to order a change in the anthem as part of the Government of the Moldovan SSR.

• 1980 to 1985: The last period of time of the interval of dates ends with the year in which the well-known vocal versions vinyl of the Melodiya record label was recorded. In this vinyl, a vocal version of Lazarev’s anthem can be heard. The Academic Choir Chapel "Doina", the Choir of Moldovan SSR TV and Radio, and the Symphony Orchestra of Moldovan State Philharmonic participated in the recording of the vinyl which was also commissioned by the Ministry of Culture of the USSR. However, three things must be taken into account: The first one is that the vinyl has a little note that reads “Records from the 1970s – 1980s”, so the band could have played the melody created by Lazarev if it was created during that period of time (from 1970 to 1985 when the vinyl was recorded). The second one is that Ivan Bodiul left the Communist Party of the Moldovan SSR to become the Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR from 1980 to 1985, so he was still in a position of great power to enforce the musical renovation. The third fact that we must remember is that Emilian Bucov died on 1984, so if he participated in the creation of the new lyrics, 1984 was the last year in which he had the opportunity to do it.

Timeline of main events of the MSSR

With this information, this article pretends to serve as a guide for future investigations about the renovation process of the State Anthem of the Moldovan SSR. It is clear that further investigations are required in order to clarify what really happened during those dark years of Moldovan history. By compilating different internet sources and references, the article resumes most of the information about the history of this State Anthem, highly supported in the work of Mrs. Alina Știrbu and the little information that can be found from the “30 Years of Stalinism” exhibition of Mr. Valeriu Pasat. We hope that in the future we can count with the collaboration of the People of Moldova (historians, musicologists, politicians, etc.) to solve one of the greatest mysteries of National Anthems around the world. Until then, the research continues.

Let us know in the comments what you think about this amazing story!

Also, if you wish to read the lyrics of the two versions of the anthem and the other rejected stanzas wrote by other authors, click here or in the image! 

State Emblem of the Moldovan SSR

REFERENCES:

Balan, V. (1951). Cântăreţul norodului moldovenesc. Moldova Socialistă.

Cazacu, L. (2010). Despre simbolurile „naționale” ale Republicii Sovietice Socialiste Moldovenești. Recuperado el 3 de Junio de 2020, de Despre ce spun eu: http://liliacazacu.blogspot.com/2010/06/despre-simbolurile-nationale-ale.html

Gherciu, A. (2012). "Stalinismul", expus de Valeriu Pasat. Recuperado el 2 de Junio de 2020, de Timpul: https://www.timpul.md/articol/stalinismul-expus-de-valeriu-pasat-38438.html

Kusnac, C. (1975). Ştefan Neaga. Nistru, 12.

Moldovenii. (2020). Lazarev, Eduard. Recuperado el 3 de Junio de 2020, de Moldovenii: https://www.moldovenii.md/ru/people/113

RIA Novosti. (2013). Russia Marks Soviet Poet Mikhalkov’s 100th Anniversary. Obtenido de Sputnik: https://sputniknews.com/russia/20130313179993626-Russia-Marks-Soviet-Poet-Mikhalkovs-100th-Anniversary/

Şmurgun, N. (2011). Unul de printre noi, acei de altădată. Moldova, 28-33.

Ştirbu, A. (2012). Maestrul Ştefan Neaga La Intersecţii De Culturi. Dezvăluiri Genetice şi Identitare a Personalităţii lui Ştefan Neaga. Confluențe Bibliologice, 88-113. Recuperado el 2 de Junio de 2020, de http://libruniv.usarb.md/xXx/reviste/confbib/articole/2012_3/88-113%20confl%203%202012.pdf

Шведов, Л. (1950). Советская Молдавия. Дорога таланта.