I am a musicologist studying the performance and reception history of a single piece of music in Europe from 1948 to 1968. I am focusing on seven case studies: three Western (France, West Germany, and Norway), three Soviet bloc (Czechoslovakia, Poland, and East Germany), and one politically neutral (Austria in 1951).

Research has involved extensive archive work in all seven locations, and now that I am putting all the pieces together I realize that I need general background information for the three Soviet-bloc examples. I need someone with good Russian skills to read documents from the culture and propaganda departments of the Soviet Central Committee in the 1950s, to identify relevant materials, and to provide serviceable translations (I will hire a professional translator for publication-quality work, but I need working translations at this point).

The collections are available on microfilm at Lamont Library. No musical expertise or familiarity with technical language will be necessary.