Mikhail Bulgakov

From high atop the beautiful town of Kiev  in the lovely Ukraine, it's time once again for Sadko's World of Music. The role of Sadko today is being played by Professor Persikov . The role of the Bobbsie Twins is being played by Anna and Tatiana Lappa . The role of Ken Moss is being played by Lesley Milne.  In the third half of the program, the role of Lenny the Listener will  be played by Salman Rushdie.  Our featured great Russian writer today is
Mikhaíl Afanasyevich Bulgakov May 15  1891 – March 10, 1940) was a Soviet Russian writer and playwright active in the first half of the 20th century. He is best known for his novel The Master and Margarita, which has been called one of the masterpieces of the 20th century.

Composers names Michael
Tippett, Michael, 1905-1998. Child of our time Philips, 1975. Jessye Norman, soprano ; Janet Baker, contralto ; Richard Cassilly, tenor ; John Shirley-Quirk, bass ; BBC Singers ; BBC Choral Society ;
BBC Symphony Orchestra ; Colin Davis, conductor.
Various Artists – Master i Margarita: po prochtenii Bulgakova (The Master and Margarita: on Reading Bulgakov)
Kirill Radzig – Chapter 01 – Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov
Praetorius, Michael, 1571-1621. Music of Praetorius:
dances from Terpsichore (1612);motets from Muses of Zion (1605-10) and other collections. Angel [1974] Dances: Passameze. Spagnoletta. La bourée. Pavane de Spaigne. Courante M. M. Wüstrow. Suite de ballets. (Galliard) Reprinse secundam inferiorem. La sarabande. Suite de voltes.--Motets: Resonet in laudibus (from Eulogodia Sionia). Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort (from Polyhymnia caduceatrix). Gott der Vater wohn uns bei. Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir (from Musae Sioniae I). Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr (from Musae Sioniae II). Christus, der uns selig macht (from Musae Sioniae IV). Early Music Consort of London; boys of the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St. Alban (in the 2d, 3d, and 6th motets); David Munrow, conductor.
Tippett, Michael, 1905-1998. Symphony no. 2. / The weeping babe. / Sonata for four horns. Argo[1968]London Symphony Orchestra, with Colin Davis, conductor (in 1st work); April Cantelo, soprano, with John Alldis Choir (in 2d work); Barry Tuckwell Horn Quartet (in 3rd work)
In poor health, Bulgakov devoted his last years to what he called his "sunset" novel. 1937-1939 for Bulgakov were stressful years as he veered from glimpses of optimism, believing the publication of his masterpiece could still be possible, to bouts of depression, when he felt as if there were no hope. On June 15, 1938, when the manuscript was nearly finished, Bulgakov wrote in a letter to his wife:

"In front of me 327 pages of the manuscript (about 22 chapters). The most important remains - editing, and it's going to be hard, I will have to pay close attention to details. Maybe even re-write some things... 'What's its future?' you ask? I don't know. Possibly, you will store the manuscript in one of the drawers, next to my 'killed' plays, and occasionally it will be in your thoughts. Then again, you don't know the future. My own judgement of the book is already made and I think it truly deserves being hidden away in the darkness of some chest..."^[6]

In 1939 Mikhail Bulgakov organized a private reading of The Master and Margarita to his close circle of friends. Yelena Bulgakova remembered 30 years later, "When he finally finished reading that night, he said: 'Well, tomorrow I am taking the novel to the publisher!' and everyone was silent", "...Everyone sat paralyzed. Everything scared them. P. (P. A. Markov, in charge of the literature division of MAT) later at the door fearfully tried to explain to me that trying to publish the novel would cause terrible things", she wrote in her diary (May 14, 1939)
Mikhail Bulgakov died from nephrosclerosis (an inherited kidney disorder) on March 10, 1940. He was buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow. His father had died of the same disease, and from his youth Bulgakov had guessed his future mortal diagnosis.