Marie Yudina was a badass, Russian, Stalin-butt-kicking, pianist who I think everyone needs to know about because she was awesome. She was born to a Jewish family in the Russian Empire in 1899 and lived to be 71 years old, dying in 1970 in Moscow. Here are just a few cool stories about her life.
She studied to be a pianist in college at Petrograd Conservatory where Shostakovich, a famous Russian composer, was one of her peers(whaaaaat??). She was invited to teach there after graduation and did until 1930, at which point she was kicked out for expressing her religious views and speaking publicly against Soviet leadership, which ~by the way~ was punishable by law but she didn’t care(because she’s a badass).
After that, she was homeless for a few years but her luck turned around. Yudina was hired to teach at various music conservatories for piano graduate study, chamber ensemble, and vocal classes. But then she got kicked out of some other places AGAIN because she was a public supporter of Western music which was a big no-no because the Soviet Russia hated Western society(but she didn’t conform because she was a strong independant woman with her own thoughts and opinions and wasn’t afraid to express them).
After being banned from most of the music community in almost the entirety of Russia, she continued to perform publicly even though recording of her concerts was banned.
At one of her concerts, she read some poetry that people didn’t like and she was banned from performing ANYTHING AT ALL for the next five years! Just over some poetry! Once the ban was lifted, she was hired at the Moscow Conservatory again and gave lectures on Romanticism.
AND THE COOLEST FACT OF ALL: Stalin(the Soviet Russian leader) LOVED her playing. Once, Stalin was listening to the radio and heard a performance of her playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 and he loved it so much that he just had to have a copy of it. Soooooo government officials went Russian rushing(haha puns) to Yudina's house, woke her up and immediately brought her to a recording studio where they had quickly organized a small orchestra, and had her perform with them, making a recorded copy of it FOR STALIN…. Like at his pERSONAL REQUEST! Meanwhile, she still hated his guts and his whole regime, but she still recieved the Stalin Prize(a huge honor btw, kinda like the Presidential Medal of Freedom in the U.S.), and she donated all of the money portion of the prize to the Orthodox Church(a major enemy of the Soviet government) “for perpetual prayers for Stalin's sins".
WHAAAAATTTTT??!??!?
She literally would not listen to him and was just really sassy and she was frickin amazing and everyone should know that she existed so I’m glad I could educate y'all. Just look at her. That is the face of a woman who does what she wants, when she wants, and won't let anyone stop her.
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