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 Beginning in the 1920s, the European styles, techniques, and instruments introduced by the USSR radically changed the understanding and views of Mongolians. Musicians, singers, and dancers studied in the USSR, and there were a number of state supported theatres, opera, and ballet troupes. The Opera is still playing every summer the traditional classics such as Carmen, Madame Butterfly, Tosca and la Boheme.
The ballet is loosing in popularity against the Opera, this is due in great part to a new string of home made mongolian operas in a pop setting usually depicting the life of the great Chinggis Khan or Khublai Khan.
With Mongolia's historic shift to a market economy and democratic society, the nation's approach to the arts changed. The culture and art community was not prepared to face the new trends. This brought a few years of practical collapse of the arts.
But with the changes, a new approach to national folk music, especially to the disappearing unique songs and music of Mongolian tribes, was initiated on the part of the Government of Mongolia. A project was implemented jointly with UNESCO to audially and visually document the oral music heritage of the Mongols and set up a national fund of recordings, which now resides in the National Archives. The most successful performance groups at the moment are the Tumen Ekh Ensemble (a private traditional performance group), the State Circus, which travels around the world, and the State Morin Khuur Ensemble, which has also enjoyed international and national success in recent years.
The flourishing of ballet and classic music development in the 1970s and 1980s was indeed a unique stage in the history of the national arts. Some groups that thrived during socialism are now struggling. The Symphony Orchestra, for example, only plays concerts by reservation. The Mongolian State Philharmonics, an organization founded in 1972 which was the face of Mongolian music abroad, doesn't serve the same place in the new society which encourages individual ventures.
There are three fully state-run organizations: State Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet, the Academic Theater of National Drama, and State Academic Ensemble of Folk Dance and Music. These operate regularly but are dependent on the state budget. World classics are still displayed on the Mongolian stage regularly, as well as Mongolian productions. In the summer of 2003, a new opera premiered, "Chinggis Khaan", by B. Sharav. It teslls the story of Chinggis Khaan in his youth, and weaves traditional Mongolian elements with Western classical opera.
New forms of music introduced include:
New visions, new ways of life, and a new social order provided new
challenges for the development of professional music. The Mongolian
State Philharmonics, founded in 1972, was an organization comprised of
the National Symphony Orchestra, the "Bayan Mongol" jazz band, and
"Soyol-Erdene" Traditional Song and Dance Ensemble. The Philharmonics
introduced European music and music by Mongolian classical composers to
Mongolian audiences and foreign countries.
B. Damdinsuren, S. Gonchigsumlaa and L. Murdorj are some of the greatest contributors to modern Mongolian national music. Bileg Damdinsuren (1919-1992) composed the first classic Mongolian opera "The Three Sad Hills". (See photo No. 5) Sembe Gonchigsumlaa (1915-1991)was the first to write Mongolian ballet music. Luvsanjants Murdorj (1919-1996) is the father of Mongolian symphonies. Music by N.Jantsannorov, Ts.Natsagdorj, B.Sharav, S.Baatarsukh and H.Bilegjargal has marked a new stage in the development of modern classical music in Mongolia. Mongolian composers and choreographers are infusing Mongolian elements into European classical forms of art in different ways. |
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