How the Music Department of the RSFSR People’s Commissariat of Education developed and operated (1918–1920)

The article considers the process of creating the Music Department of the People’s Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR in 1918–1920, as well as its main directions and results of activity. The author of the article highlights the lack of administrative experience and the leadership style of the head of A.S. Lurie, the Department head, as one of the most significant concerns in the establishment of a new organizational structure.

Within the period under review the organizational structure of the Music Department became much more complicated and, above all, due to the servicing and technical staff, there was a sharp increase in the number of Department employees at the beginning of 1919.

One of the most important activities of the Music Department was aimed at building a music education system in the country. Other significant areas of activity for the Music Department during that period included establishing accounting and control over musical instruments, music publishing houses and note-printeries, factories and workshops for the production of musical ware, extracurricular and educational work in the field of introducing citizens of the Soviet Republic to the achievements of music.

However, the overall results of the activities of the Music Department of the People’s Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR, as well as the report of the commission of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspection on its activities for the specified period, indicate the low efficiency of its work. Under the conditions of the Civil War, devastation, and half-starved urban life, the Music Department failed to become an authoritative cultural and musical center that guides musical life of the Soviet Republic and fulfill its tasks.

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