Music in the Former Soviet Bloc

Downtown Warsaw, Poland

Freedom from Soviet censorship resulted in somewhat of a cultural revival among the newly independent nations of Eastern Europe, and a rise in the international popularity among composers who had struggled artistically against communist authorities.

In Poland, the first country to break free of communist rule, a number of composers came to prominence. Foremost among them is Krysztof Penderecki, who became famous for his Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima, but later wrote religious works in support of Poland's Solidary movement. Another Polish composer, Henryk Górecki composed his Miserere ("Lord, have mercy") to protest the communists' violent treatment of peaceful Solidarity members. Due to government censorship, the piece was not premiered for six years. The composer Witold Lutoslawski had long seen his works denounced by authorities, and received high honors after the fall of communism.

György Ligeti was a Hungarian composer who chafed under communism and fled to Germany. Much of music is based on traditional Renaissance polyphony, although it can be difficult to discern this while listening to it. His music became famous when Stanley Kubrick used some of it in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The Estonian composer Arvo Pärt based many of his works on Gregorian Chant and Russian Orthodox liturgical music, which often caused them to be condemned or censored by communist authorities when Estonia was part of the Soviet Union.