Symbolism in the Pianistic Process of Maria Yudina: Schubert’s Piano Sonata in B-flat major D. 960 as the Silver-Age Feminine Voice

The pianist Maria Yudina (1899–1970) has long been a figure of myth and legend, most recently as portrayed in Armando Iannucci’s The Death of Stalin (2017). As one of the most recognized Soviet women musicians of her time, aspects of her life continue to draw attention (Drozhdova, 2016 & 2020; Wilson, 2022). At the height of her concertizing career, her colleagues described her interpretations as “autobiographic” (Kuznetsov, 2008). They were also often labeled “eccentric” (Schmelz, 2009; Wilson, 2022), especially her performance of Schubert’s final Piano Sonata in B-flat, D. 960, which she recorded in 1947. By integrating historiography and practice research, this article explores how Yudina’s lived experiences may inform our understanding of her as a pianist. This article posits a historiographic approach to Yudina’s engagement with Schubert as a foundation upon which practice research can introduce a paradigm of “sensory intersubjectivity” (Pink, 2009). This approach allows us to “construct a more socially-objective (or shared) sense of how [Yudina’s] world is experienced” (William et al., 2021). The analysis begins with Yudina’s reflections on her interpretations of Schubert’s Sonata, as documented in manuscripts, published transcripts, scores, and private correspondence spanning her main work on the composer during World War II and her later reflections in the 1960s. My recreation of Yudina’s 1947 recording of D. 960 uses the piano as a physical stimulus for intersubjective encounters with Yudina’s Schubert, suggesting ways in which Yudina’s interpretations manifested the confluences between historiographic and performative domains.