# Late émigrés in early Soviet era



## Fenestella

There was an exodus of musicians immediately after the Bolshevik takeover.
Emigration became increasingly difficult as the Soviets consolidated their power.
When Vladimir Horowitz managed to leave in the mid 1920s, he had to do it under false pretenses; and against all odds, Simon Barere fled in the early 1930s.
Did musicians have chances to defect when authorized to perform abroad or compete internationally in the 20s and 30s (like Gilels, Ginzburg) or were they escorted or surveilled by NKVD?
When did escape become virtually impossible?
Who were the last great musical émigrés fleeing Stalin's Soviet Union?


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## joen_cph

Reading your post, I spent a little time trying to collect at least some bits and pieces of information:

The story about Theremin in 1938 is a bit difficult to establish, it seems
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Léon_Theremin

Rachmaninov left in 1917;
Obukhov in 1918 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Obukhov
N. Tcherepnin in 1921 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Tcherepnin
Balanchine in 1924 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Balanchine;
Malko in 1929 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Malko
Glazunov in 1928 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Glazunov
Galina Werschenska, a minor figure, in 1929 http://www.forte-piano-pianissimo.com/Galina-Werschenska.html; 
Medtner apparently in 1936 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Medtner;

Also, the phenomenon of being exiled to the Soviet provinces must be considered.

In the post-Stalin period, Nureyev, Kondrashin, Rostropovich/Vishnevskaya, Kremer, Maxim Shostakovich, Yuri Egorov, Viktoria Mullova, Arvo Pärt, Solomon Volkov, Iosif Andriasov and Mikhail Baryshnikov were among the emigrés and defectors.

Regarding Shostakovich, biographies often emphasize travel restrictions imposed on him, and surveillance when abroad.


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