Political Influences on the Music of Shostakovich Cory McKay Departments of Music and Computer Science University of Guelph Guelph, Ontario, Canada, N1G 2W 1

As a highly successful composer who com- of Revolutionary Martyrs, all of which I pleted his musical education in the immediate wrote between the ages of nine and eleven.3 aftermath of the Bolshevik Revolution and con- tinued to write music in the up These influences were still very much pre- until his death in 1975, Dmitry Shostakovich is sent in Shostakovich‘s early symphonic compo- a very important figure in Soviet music history. sitions. The 1925 First of May relies Musical development in the USSR was strictly heavily on sounds from the urban environment monitored and controlled by the state, making and public ritual, including massed choral sing- the evolution of Shostakovich‘s music directly ing, oratorical flourishes, workers‘ songs and 4 linked to the political climate of the Soviet Un- pioneer marches. In his Second Symphony, ion, in both obvious and subtle ways. entitled Dedication to October and premiered in 1927, Shostakovich incorporated a factory whis- During the early 1920‘s, before Stalin tle into the music. fully consolidated his power, artists were given a relatively large degree of freedom in their As time went on, the political influ- work. Of course, they were usually observers or ences on Soviet composers in general began to active participants in the political events of the become something less than voluntary. Criti- time, and it is to be expected that this influence cism was increasingly mounting against com- often appeared in their work. Shostakovich was posers who wrote music appealing to —bour- certainly no exception. geois“ tastes. For example, Shostakovich‘s 1928 , , was criticized in the media for Although he was not especially politically its ideological flaws and esoteric style. active as a youth, Shostakovich‘s personal let- ters to Tanya Glivenko, written at a time where The political influence on music was insti- there was not yet reason to fear taking an anti- tutionalized when the RAPM (Russian Associa- Bolshevik stance if he had so chosen, reveal that tion of Proletarian Musicians) came to have an he was certainly supportive of Communism.1 As almost irresistible influence on the development 5 a young conservatory student, Shostakovich of Soviet music between 1929 and 1932. Given often volunteered to perform for sol- power by a 1928 resolution of the Central Com- diers and factory workers.2 mittee of the Communist Party, the RAPM position was very strongly anti-modern, anti- Political influences manifested themselves jazz, anti-W estern and often anti-classical. even in Shostakovich‘s earliest work. As he Composers of the old styles were denounced, himself wrote: with only Beethoven and Musorgsky being ex- empted because of their association with the Events of the First W orld W ar and the Feb- revolutionary tradition.6 The goal of this organi- ruary and October Revolutions stirred ve- hement emotions in our family. Even what I wrote as a child in those years showed a 3 N. V. Lukyanova, Shostakovich, trans. Yu. trend to give vent to my reactions in real Shirokov (Neptune City, N. J.: Paganiniana life. My first naïve attempts at composition Publications Inc., 1984), 17. were my pieces Soldier, A Hymn to 4 Laurel E. Fay, Shostakovich A Life (Oxford: Freedom and A in Memory Oxford University Press, 2000), 53. 5 Boris Schwarz, Music and Musical Life in Soviet , (Bloomington: Indiana Univer- sity Press, 1983), 58. 1 Laurel E. Fay, Shostakovich A Life (Oxford: 6 , "Public lies and unspeak- Oxford University Press, 2000), 36. able truth interpreting Shostakovich's Fifth 2 Ibid., 20. Symphony," Shostakovich Studies, ed. David zation was to eliminate all music that was not the demands of the RAPM. The Third Sym- directly relevant and accessible to the working phony is filled with the music of two Commu- classes. Composers were instructed to spurn all nist youth groups, the Young Pioneers and the styles that had flourished under the Tsars, and to .9 concentrate on the march-like massovaya pes- nya, the mass song, through which proletarian Shostakovich did manage to get around the ideology could be disseminated. limitations of the RAPM at times, but only to a very limited extent. In his The Golden These demands were backed by very real Age, Shostakovich based his work on the juxta- dangers to those who refused to comply. In position of music of —unearthly eroticism“ de- 1930, the magazine The Worker and the Theatre rived from W estern culture, such as the foxtrot, published announcements calling upon the Su- tango and cancan, and music of the Soviet pro- preme Court of the USSR —to give no quarter to letariat, such as marches and pioneer songs. warmongers, wreckers or counter revolutionar- This was done to contrast the —depravity“ of ies . . . we demand that wreckers should be bourgeois culture with the —healthiness“ of pro- shot“ alongside information about rehearsals for letariat culture. He was criticized even for this The Nose.7 Shostakovich‘s fellow composer, oblique and satirical inclusion of non- , was branded an enemy of proletarian music, however. the people in 1929 and was finally executed in Shostakovich finally rebelled against the 1937. The effect of this on Shostakovich and limitations that were being imposed on his mu- other composers soon became apparent. Asked sic. He wrote an article in 1931 entitled —Decla- in 1930 what audience he wrote for, ration of a Composer‘s Duties“ that attacked the Shostakovich answered, —I live in the USSR, musical establishment in the theatre world. In it, work actively and count naturally on the worker he denounced all of his own theatre and film and peasant spectator. If I am not comprehensi- music. He wrote in addition: ble to them I should be deported.“8 Of the eleven major scores that It is no secret to anyone that, at the four- Shostakovich wrote between 1929 and 1931, ten teenth anniversary of the October Revolu- were written for the stage or film. He had no tion, the situation on the musical front is choice in this, as the influence of the RAPM catastrophic. W e composers answer for the situation on the musical front. And I am made it impossible to make a living if one deeply convinced that it is precisely the wished to write more —serious“ art music. Like universal flight of composers into the thea- many other composers, he retreated to film and ter that has created such a situation.10 theatre music for fear of what would happen if he did not. Shostakovich continued along this vein by The content of the plays and films he criticizing the RAPM‘s position at a conference held by the cultural commissar, Andrey Bub- scored was, of course, very pro-Communist. 11 Examples of productions he wrote music for nov, in 1932. On the same day, the Commu- include The Shot, about railroad workers strug- nist Party passed a resolution entitled —On the gling against bureaucrats, Virgin Lands, about Reconstruction of Literary-Artistic Organiza- socialist collectivization of farms and The tions,“ which liquidated the RAPM. The Union Golden Mountains, which showed the progress of Soviet Composers was formed, and of an ignorant and oppressed peasant towards Shostakovich was elected to the governing class consciousness. Even the single major board of the Leningrad branch. Soviet compos- piece that he wrote in this period that was not ers were now permitted a freer reign in their for the stage or film was strongly influenced by compositions, and were once again able to write concert pieces beyond the realm of marches and mass songs. Shostakovich and his contemporar- Fanning (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 19. 7 Manashir Yakubov, "The Golden Age: the true 9 N. V. Lukyanova, Shostakovich, trans. Yu. story of the premiere," Shostakovich Studies. ed. Shirokov (Neptune City, N. J.: Paganiniana David Fanning (Cambridge: Cambridge Univer- Publications Inc., 1984), 67. sity Press, 1995), 199. 10 Laurel E. Fay, Shostakovich A Life (Oxford: 8 Laurel E. Fay, Shostakovich A Life (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 64. Oxford University Press, 2000), 55. 11 Ibid., 65.

2 ies were encouraged by this development, to the At the same time as our critics–including extent that both Prokofiev and Gorky soon after musical critics–swear by the name of So- decided to return to the Soviet Union. cialist Realism, in Shostakovich‘s work the stage presents us with the coarsest natural- Although Shostakovich continued to ism.13 write music that was very much in keeping with the general ideology of the Communist Party, On February 6, 1936, a second article enti- he now had a great deal more freedom in the tled —Balletic Falsity“ appeared in . This artistic content of his music. Even in terms of article attacked Shostakovich and his collabora- programmatic content, Soviet critics were some- tors for their work on . This times over-exuberant in their claims of how ballet was criticized both for its politically in- deeply these ideas were incorporated into his correct portrayal of collective farms and its music. As Shostakovich himself wrote in 1933: avoidance of folk songs and dances. These Pravda articles were milestones in W hen a critic, in Rabochiy I Teatr or Ve- chernyaya krasnaya gazeta, writes that in the development of Soviet music, and were such-and-such a symphony Soviet civil meant to be a clear indication to all composers, servants are represented by the and not just Shostakovich, of what would and would the , and Red Army men by the not be acceptable in their work. The only music brass section, you want to scream!12 deemed worthy of the working classes, and thus the only music acceptable, was to be character- Nonetheless, almost all of the pieces that ized by its accessibility, tunefulness, stylistic Shostakovich wrote at this time had at least traditionalism, optimism and folk-inspired some claim to pro-socialist programmatic con- qualities. —Formalistic“ music, such as Lady tent. Macbeth, would no longer be tolerated. This reprieve of relative artistic freedom Many musicians‘ meetings followed, at came to an end after four years, when which Lady Macbeth was further denounced. Shostakovich received the first of his two major Some of the demands expressed in Pravda were denunciations. On January 28, 1936 an article expanded on, as in the influential speech deliv- entitled —“ appeared in ered by Vladimir Iokhelson: Pravda, the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party: (Social realism) is above all a style of pro- found optimism. The whole historical ex- Several theaters have presented to the cul- perience of the proletariat is optimistic in turally maturing Soviet public essence. And we can and must affirm that Shostakovich‘s opera Lady Macbeth of the optimism is intended as an obligatory fea- Mtsensk District as a novelty, as an accom- ture of this style, its very essence. It is a plishment. Fawning musical criticism ex- style that includes heroics, but a heroics tols the opera to the heavens, trumpeting its that is not merely tied to narrow personal fame. Instead of practical and serious criti- interests. Here we mean a heroics of an in- cism that could assist him in his future dividual connected with the mass, and of a work, the young composer hears only en- mass that is capable of bringing forth such thusiastic compliments. a hero. It is necessary that the connection between the hero and the mass be made in- 14 From the very first moment of the opera the telligible. listener is flabbergasted by the deliberately dissonant, muddled stream of sounds. At first, Shostakovich was reluctant to im- Snatches of melody, embryos of a musical plement the changes in his composing style that phrase drown, struggle free and disappear were demanded of him. He stated to a friend again in the din, the grinding, the squeal- ing. To follow this ”music‘ is difficult, to remember it is impossible… 13 Laurel E. Fay, Shostakovich A Life (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 84. 12 Richard Taruskin, "Public lies and unspeak- 14 Richard Taruskin, "Public lies and unspeak- able truth interpreting Shostakovich's Fifth able truth interpreting Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony," Shostakovich Studies, ed. David Symphony," Shostakovich Studies, ed. David Fanning (Cambridge: Cambridge University Fanning (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 53. Press, 1995), 33.

3 that —even if they cut off both my hands, I‘ll go work on a ballet treatment of Don Quixote and on writing music just the same, holding the pen gave up his plans to create a Soviet Ring Cy- between my teeth.“15 After not only surviving, cle.21 but also profiting from his —Declaration of a It is hard to imagine that all of this did not Composer‘s Duties“ article in 1931, he was convince Shostakovich to conform to the musi- perhaps confident that he could survive these cal demands that were being imposed on him by attacks just as unblemished. As Shostakovich the Party, despite his own personal preferences. put it nearly forty years later, —Instead of repent- He met with the chief of the Committee for Ar- ing, I wrote my Fourth Symphony.“16 This sym- tistic Affairs to find out what steps he should phony was a large scale Mahlerian work that take to rehabilitate himself. He was told that he could easily have been construed as being would need to reject any formalism in his mu- formalistic at the time. Its composition, in the sic, that he must make music accessible to the aftermath of the Pravda articles, was an act of masses and that he must submit any proposed active defiance against the Party. opera or ballet in advance for screening by the In order to avoid the consequences of hav- committee.22 ing the Fourth Symphony publicly performed, Shostakovich responded by writing the Shostakovich was forced by the Composer‘s Fifth Symphony, which he designated —a Soviet Union leadership to withdraw his submission artist‘s creative response to just criticism.“ As for performance just prior to its premiere at the Richard Taruskin writes: end of 1936.17 This was explained in the journal Sovetskoye as being —on the grounds that it in no W ith its ample yet conventional four- way corresponds to (Shostakovich‘s) current movement form, even down to an improb- creative convictions and represents for him a able minuet (as many have characterized 18 long outdated phase.“ the ), its unextravagant yet sonorous scoring and its notable harmonic restraint, To make matters worse for Shostakovich, the Fifth Symphony amounted to a para- this all happened during one of the great Soviet digm of Stalinist neoclassicism, testifying, purges. This directly affected many of those so far as the powers were concerned, to the close to Shostakovich. By mid-1937, his composer‘s obedient submission to disci- brother-in-law had been arrested, his sister was pline.23 exiled to Central Asia and his mother-in-law was in a labor camp.19 Perhaps most chillingly, Shostakovich consciously scaled down his Marshal Mikhail Tukachevsky, a friend and ambitions to a more manageable scale that political protector of Shostakovich, was exe- would be more accessible to listeners because it cuted in 1937.20 In addition, by 1937, no new played off paradigms of the symphonic tradi- work by Shostakovich had been performed in tion. two years. Several works had been directly cen- Shostakovich also complied to the demands sored by the state, and he —voluntarily“ stopped for optimistic music by incorporating joyous- ness into his Fifth Symphony, although some 24 15 Ibid., 54. argue that it sounds forced. The brief program 16 Laurel E. Fay, Shostakovich A Life (Oxford: notes called it —a lengthy spiritual battle, Oxford University Press, 2000), 92. 17 Richard Taruskin, "Shostakovich and Us," Shostakovich in Context, ed. Rosamund Barlett (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 25-26. 18 Laurel E. Fay, Shostakovich A Life (Oxford: 21 Laurel E. Fay, Shostakovich A Life (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 95. Oxford University Press, 2000), 107. 19 Ibid., 98. 22 Ibid., 90. 20 Inna Barsonva, "Between 'Social 23 Richard Taruskin, "Public lies and unspeak- Demands' and the 'Music of Grand Pas- able truth interpreting Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony," Shostakovich Studies, ed. David sions,'" in Shostakovich in Context, ed. Fanning (Cambridge: Cambridge University Rosamund Barlett (New York: Oxford Press, 1995), 26. University Press, 2000), 80. 24 Ibid., 34.

4 crowned by victory.“25 This is confirmed by the ite folk songs, —Suliko.“28 He also gave his composer‘s statement: Sixth Symphony intonations of revolutionary workers‘ songs.29 There is nothing more honorable for a composer than to create works for and with Shostakovich also wrote numerous patriotic the people. The composer who forgets songs in the years following his denunciation. about this high obligation loses the right to He composed the music for a piece entitled this high calling. . . . I wanted to convey in —Oath to the People‘s Commissar“ that con- the symphony how, through a series of tained the words, —The great hour has come, tragic conflicts of great inner spiritual tur- Stalin leads us to battle, his order is law! Go moil, optimism asserts itself as a world- boldly into dread battle!“30 The music is very view.26 simple and straightforward. Shostakovich ex- plained this uncharacteristic stylistic choice by Shostakovich was not only submitting to 31 the criticism he received in Pravda, he was also saying —I want everyone to sing it.“ He also complying with the more recent demands that participated in a competition to write music to composers emulate russkaya klassika as a time- replace the Soviet national anthem. His collabo- less model. This signified a return to —normal“ ration with Aram Khachaturyan eventually be- musical values, after the excesses of early So- came the —Song of the Red Army.“ viet . W hether or not he was sincere The artistic costs of Shostakovich‘s sub- in doing so, Shostakovich was tailoring his mu- mission were heavy, at least in the eyes of the sic to the demands of the authorities. W est. W estern journalists and composers heav- Shostakovich was rewarded for his obedience ily criticized him for writing inferior and deriva- with endless public praise and eventually a Sta- tive music. It was felt that an extremely talented lin Prize. Critics such as Alexey Tolstoy called composer had sacrificed his talent to Soviet the Fifth Symphony a masterpiece of Social politics. mocked the Fifth Sym- Realism. phony in his Harvard lectures of 193932 and The next major piece that Shostakovich reproached Shostakovich wrote, the Piano in G Minor op. 57, is for having —allowed politics to influence his 33 also written in the classical tradition. It contains compositorial style.“ Virgil Thompson wrote clear melodies and a written in the style the following regarding Shostakovich‘s wartime of Bach. It was nominated for, and eventually Seventh Symphony: won, a Stalin Prize even before its premiere. W hether one is able to listen without mind- Kerzhentsev, a Bolshevik cultural official, wandering to the Seventh Symphony of offered the following advice to Shostakovich probably depends on around the time of his denunciation in Pravda: the rapidity of one‘s musical perceptions. It seems to have been written for the slow- His work should proceed first and foremost witted, the not very musical and the dis- from our country‘s abundant repertory of tracted . . . That he has so deliberately di- folk song. It would not be a bad idea for luted his matter, adapted it, by both exces- Shostakovich to take a page form the book of Rimsky-Korsakov. Contact with the 28 Ibid., 113. abundance of the folk musical heritage had 29 a beneficial effect on his whole work.27 N. V. Lukyanova, Shostakovich trans. Yu. Shirokov (Neptune City, N. J.: Paganiniana Publications Inc., 1984), 93. Although Shostakovich did not give folk 30 music an important role in the Fifth Symphony, Laurel E. Fay, Shostakovich A Life (Oxford: he certainly did place it prominently in compo- Oxford University Press, 2000), 124. 31 Ibid., 124. sitions that followed soon after. An obvious 32 example is his rendition of one of Stalin‘s favor- Richard Taruskin, "Public lies and unspeak- able truth interpreting Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony," Shostakovich Studies, ed. David Fanning (Cambridge: Cambridge University 25 Laurel E. Fay, Shostakovich A Life (Oxford: Press, 1995), 27. Oxford University Press, 2000), 99. 33 Richard Taruskin, "Shostakovich and Us," 26 Ibid., 102. Shostakovich in Context, ed. Rosamund Barlett 27 Ibid., 89. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 18.

5 sive simplification and excessive repetition, to camouflage; I would have written more to the comprehension of a child of eight, pure music.35 indicates that he is willing to write down to a real or fictitious psychology of mass con- Perhaps the most serious consequence of sumption in a way that may eventually dis- his denunciation was its effect on the genres that qualify him for consideration as a serious Shostakovich composed. He never again com- composer.34 pleted another opera or original score for a bal- let, the two genres in which he had shown the By this point, it is clear how much most expertise and promise in his early career. Shostakovich‘s political environment influenced Before his denunciation, his work had consisted his music. He voluntarily included Socialist and chiefly of , and music for films or revolutionary ideas into his early music and he plays. Although part of this was an artificial submitted to demands for programmatic content inflation due to the influence of the RAPM, it in the 1920‘s. He wrote music with Socialist nonetheless appeared that his chosen medium themes and set music to Socialist texts. He ac- until 1936 was the stage. quiesced to the RAPM‘s directives by temporar- ily limiting his music to mainly mass songs for Nevertheless, after 1936 Shostakovich be- film and the theatre. He eventually responded to came associated chiefly with concert genres. He the criticism in Pravda by tailoring the Fifth became best known for his and his Symphony and the works that immediately fol- string . This change is all the more re- lowed to the demands for accessible, tuneful, markable, given that, except for one so- optimistic, neo- that was influ- nata, he had not written any enced by folk sources. prior to 1936.36 It is apparent that The consequences of the Pravda articles on Shostakovich‘s entire approach to music was the remainder of Shostakovich‘s musical career changed by the political persecution that he go far beyond these immediate effects, however. faced after Lady Macbeth. One cannot neglect the role of self-censorship It is impossible to know how events would after the trauma of his denunciation in 1936 have continued to develop had the Second (and once again in 1948). Although he did con- W orld W ar not intervened. The results of the tinue to sometimes go beyond the limitations war on Soviet music were twofold. On the one imposed by Party expectations, one would cer- hand, the Party realized that it was important to tainly think that he would have done so more promote solidarity with the W est in this time of explicitly, more often and perhaps in different crisis and military alliance. As a result, it was ways if he had not been in constant fear of the desirous to produce music with appeal to W est- consequences. erners as well as Soviets, and to relax some of Another important point is that the repressive controls that had been placed on Shostakovich abandoned entirely the direction Soviet art. On the other hand, there was a great that his music was taking in 1936. His creative deal of pressure on Soviet composers to write mindset must have changed irreversibly in the simple patriotic music to inspire the troops and years that it took for him to redeem himself to raise public morale. As Shostakovich wrote: the point that he once again had some degree of creative control over his music. As he confided In the early period of the war, many songs and works in the minor genres were com- the to Flora Litvinova in 1970: posed: marching songs, ditties, sometimes in a humorous vein, music for variety You ask if I would have been different shows. That was the composers‘ prompt re- without ”Party guidance‘? Yes, almost cer- tainly. No doubt the line I was pursuing when I wrote the Fourth Symphony would have been stronger and sharper in my work. I would have displayed more brilliance, used more sarcasm, I could have revealed my ideas openly instead of having to resort 35 Laurel E. Fay, Shostakovich A Life (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 268. 36 Richard Taruskin, "Shostakovich and Us," Shostakovich in Context, ed. Rosamund Barlett 34 Ibid., 19. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 15.

6 sponse to the dramatic, daily events of war- Ninth Symphony, Shostakovich confided the time.37 following to David Rabinovich: —I would like to write it for a chorus and solo singers as well as There can be little doubt that there was an orchestra if I could find suitable material for some genuine sincerity in Shostakovich‘s patri- the book and if I were not afraid that I might be otic response to the outbreak of war. He applied suspected of wanting to draw immodest analo- three times to fight in the army in 1941, and was gies.“41 refused each time. After his third request, at a time when Nazi troops were approaching his Shostakovich continued to write patriotic native Leningrad, he was offered the chance to music that would be acceptable to the Party evacuate with his family to a safe area, but re- even after the war ended. An example is his fused. He joined the Leningrad Theater of Peo- 1947 Poem of the Motherland, a straightforward ple‘s Volunteers and gave guest performances medley of six well-known songs spanning the for front-line units, at recruitment stations and at history of the Revolution, including one entitled military hospitals. The Leningrad branch of the —The W ill of Stalin Led Us.“ Shostakovich de- Composer‘s Union started a defense section, scribed Poem of the Motherland by saying: which wrote anti-Nazi songs. An example of Shostakovich‘s work in this vein was An Oath These songs give rise in the listener‘s soul to the Defense Commissar, which was com- to feelings and images dear and unmistak- able to every Soviet person. The main thing mended as one of the best defense songs of the 38 all these images give rise to is the passion- war. ate and selfless love of Soviet people for Shostakovich‘s Seventh Symphony, dedi- their country, the firm determination to sac- rifice oneself for the Motherland.42 cated to the besieged city of Leningrad, was seen by many as the pinnacle of wartime propa- Despite these precautions, Shostakovich ganda. It was performed in 1941 in a global was soon to learn that he was still far from im- radio transmission that even an air raid in the mune to the consequences of writing music that middle of the concert failed to stop. The score strayed too far from Party orthodoxy. The was flown to the United States, where it was Eighth Symphony was criticized for being too performed sixty-two times in 1942 alone.39 It pessimistic at a time when the end of the war was played all over the world and temporarily was approaching and optimism was considered made Shostakovich more famous than any other 40 mandatory. Even Prokofiev complained that it modern composer. Photographs of him ap- 43 was lacking a —clear melodic line.“ It was peared in newspapers across the globe and Time withdrawn from the concert repertoire after its devoted its cover to a photo of him in his Civil premiere. Critics also condemned the Ninth Defense fireman‘s uniform. However, the sym- Symphony because its light-hearted parodying phony was in the end considered by W esterners tone ran contrary to the expectations of a gran- not to have any special musical value beyond its diose work extolling the virtues of the Soviet topical relevance as propaganda. By 1944, the victory over the Nazis. only orchestras still performing it were in Rus- sia. Things came to in a head in 1948, when the Central Committee issued a resolution con- Even in this time when Shostakovich was, demning certain trends in contemporary Soviet at least in the opinion of most scholars, enthusi- music. The affair was started by political flaws astically writing music in support of the war found in Muraldi‘s opera , effort, he still felt the need to be careful not to but soon spread to a wide-ranging condemna- exceed certain politically imposed limitations tion of the entire Soviet musical establishment. on his music. For example, while writing his An excerpt from the resolution reads:

37 N. V. Lukyanova, Shostakovich, trans. Yu. Shirokov (Neptune City, N. J.: Paganiniana 41 Laurel E. Fay, Shostakovich A Life (Oxford: Publications Inc., 1984), 95. Oxford University Press, 2000), 146. 38 Ibid., 96. 42 Ibid., 154. 39 Ian MacDonald, The New Shostakovich, (Bos- 43 Elizabeth W ilson, Shostakovich A Life Re- ton: Northeastern University Press, 1990), 154. membered (Princeton: Princeton University 40 Ibid., 154. Press, 1994), 175.

7 The situation in the realm of the symphony folk song and ; musical cacophony; and opera is especially bad. The problem is piling up alien orchestral stunts–these are one of composers who are adherents of a the distinguishing features of these ballets. formalistic, anti-people direction. This di- Just a small handful of gourmet musicians rection has found its fullest expression in who have broken away from the artistic the works of such composers as comrades needs of the people have been giving as D. Shostakovich, S. Prokofiev, A. much publicity as possible to these ”highly Khachaturyan, V. Shebalin, G. Popov, N. eccentric works‘ of Shostakovich, which Myaskovsky, and others, whose works have had an extremely negative effect on show particularly clear manifestations of the development of the genuinely Soviet formalistic distortions and antidemocratic realistic ballet.47 tendencies in music that are alien to the 44 Soviet people and its artistic tastes. Shostakovich surrendered to his critics much more quickly this time than he had after This resolution immediately caused the Pravda articles. He decided independently Shostakovich to fall from favor once again. He to shelve the First , which he was stripped of his position in the Composer‘s had just completed at the time of the Party reso- Union and was dismissed from his professor- lution, partly for fear that it would cause him to ships at the and Leningrad Conservato- be further denounced, and partly because it ries. The majority of his pieces were explicitly would have been almost impossible to find mu- barred from performance. Things went so far sicians willing to risk performing it.48 His that his ten-year-old son was forced to vilify his 45 prompt public response in a speech at a meeting father in a school exam. of composers and musicologists was no less Aside from official persecution, submissive: Shostakovich received many individual letters of condemnation. As Shostakovich put it, W hen, today, through the pronouncements of the Central Committee resolution, the —W hen they criticized me for formalism, you Party and all of our country condemn this won‘t believe how many poison-pen letters I direction in my creative work, I know that received from absolute strangers, scarcely liter- the Party is right. I know that the Party is ate in music. These were the kind of expressions showing concern for Soviet art and for me, to be found in them: ”You ought to be executed, a Soviet composer. . . . I will try again and killed, exterminated, you scoundrel,‘ and so again to create symphonic works that are on.“46 comprehensible and accessible to the peo- ple, from the standpoint of their ideological Many articles that targeted Shostakovich content, musical language and form. I will individually began to appear in the media, often work ever more diligently on the musical reviving memories of the earlier political flaws embodiment of images of the heroic Rus- 49 in his music. The following excerpt from a 1950 sian people. article by T. Tsitovich provides a typical exam- ple of their tone: At the First All-Union Congress of Soviet Composers, Shostakovich continued by pledg- The growth of the Soviet ballet has been ing that melody would become the driving force hampered by the formalist trend. This behind his new compositions and that he under- trend, hostile to Soviet musical art, can be stood the need for programmatic music and mu- seen at its clearest and most extensive in sic connected with literary images.50 the works of Shostakovich, who wrote sev- eral ballets at the beginning of the thir- Immediately following the events of 1948, ties–The Golden Age, , The Lim- Shostakovich had no choice but to once again pid Stream–which grossly distorted the Soviet theme. These works were deeply alien to Soviet art; formalism stood out 47 Manashir Yakubov, "The Golden Age: the here in its consummate and most blatant true story of the premiere," Shostakovich Stud- form. Complete contempt for melody, for ies. ed. David Fanning (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 190. 44 Laurel E. Fay, Shostakovich A Life (Oxford: 48 Laurel E. Fay, Shostakovich A Life (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 158. Oxford University Press, 2000), 159. 45 Ibid., 162. 49 Ibid., 160. 46 Ibid., 161. 50 Ibid., 161.

8 write film music to support himself, as all other representative of the formalistic direction.“54 doors were suddenly closed to him. As Shostakovich‘s followed this success by writing Shostakovich stated to his colleagues, —It‘s un- Ten Poems on Texts by Revolutionary Poets of pleasant that I have to do this. I advise you to do the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centu- it only in the event of extreme poverty, extreme ries, another work that gained him praise for poverty.“51 He was careful to write music that giving up his formalistic ways and concentrat- would be acceptable to the Party even here. ing on being a realist composer. It won him the Two of the film songs, —Homesickness“ and USSR State Prize in 1952 and he was bestowed —Song of Peace,“ became very popular and bol- with the title of People‘s Artist of the USSR in stered Shostakovich‘s credibility as a composer 1954. of mass song.52 Once again, the influence of politics on Shostakovich further fulfilled his promise Shostakovich‘s music is obvious. The majority to compose more melodic music by writing of his efforts during the war years were devoted , a work with clear and to writing simple songs for propaganda pur- accessible melodies and genuine folk texts. Un- poses. He concentrated almost exclusively on fortunately, this was written in the patriotic themes, even in the eighth and ninth same year that anti-Semitism became official symphonies. It is telling that he was chastised government policy in the USSR, under the guise even for the relatively minor deviations from of a campaign against —cosmopolitanism.“ musical orthodoxy that he made in these two Needless to say, this song cycle was not re- symphonies. One would imagine that he would leased for public performance until much later have explored the ideas expressed in these sym- (1964). phonies more extensively and more openly had he been given the chance. Instead, he was Many musicologists, such as Richard Ta- forced to spend time composing the politically ruskin, argue that this composition was a way acceptable music that maintained his viability as for Shostakovich to associate himself with the a composer in the USSR. oppressed, and was thus a deliberate protest against Stalin‘s treatment of the Jews.53 One The effects on Shostakovich‘s music were must be careful when making this assertion, even more pronounced following the events however. Stalin‘s campaign against —rootless related to the 1948 resolution. He abandoned all cosmopolitans“ did not begin in earnest until work that was not easily accessible and concen- early 1949, by which time Shostakovich had trated on writing film songs and melodic music. already completed From Jewish Folk Poetry. It He was very careful to censor his own music to is likely that he had sincerely been trying to avoid any possible controversy, to the extent please the Party, but had accidentally chosen the that he changed the words of one song in From wrong to represent at the wrong Jewish Folk Poetry to name the Tsar explicitly time. After all, the music met exactly the re- as the cause of a Jewish father‘s exile to Sibe- 55 quirements of the 1948 resolution. It was both ria. This was done despite the fact that melodious and —understandable to the people.“ Shostakovich had already decided not to publish this piece. Shostakovich‘s first major composition to be performed following the 1948 resolution was One wonders, yet again, how an entitled , a piece Shostakovich‘s music would have been differ- that conformed to the musical demands of the ent if he had not been in such a dangerous posi- resolution and helped greatly to redeem him tion in the years between 1948 and 1956. By the politically. The Soviet critical response was in time he no longer needed to fear for his life, the following vein: —I want to congratulate eight years of potential development had passed everyone assembled in that we no longer, and I during which his music had been forced to stag- hope we will never again, call Shostakovich a nate.

51 Ibid., 171. 54 Laurel E. Fay, Shostakovich A Life (Oxford: 52 Ibid., 171. Oxford University Press, 2000), 175. 53 Richard Taruskin, "Shostakovich and Us," 55 Richard Taruskin, "Shostakovich and Us," Shostakovich in Context, ed. Rosamund Barlett Shostakovich in Context, ed. Rosamund Barlett (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 6. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 6.

9 One also has to wonder to what extent Union Congress of Soviet Composers in 1956 Shostakovich would have been influenced by that the Central Committee was supporting a trends in W estern music had he been permitted move towards greater flexibility and tolerance to incorporate them into his own work. There is in music. In 1958, a resolution was passed by no doubt that he often publicly denounced do- the Committee admitting that Shostakovich and decaphony and . However, given his others had been —indiscriminately denounced“57 proven willingness to serve as a mouthpiece for in 1948. official Soviet policy and to submit to political demands on his compositional style even when Despite this, Shostakovich was cautious, they were in direct conflict with his own prefer- and continued to labor to make his music more ences, it is certainly conceivable that he would accessible. The Eleventh Symphony, written in have explored these movements in music had he 1957 as a memorial to the abortive Russian been given the chance. As he stated in a 1968 Revolution of 1905, contains many revolution- interview: ary songs, including —The Prisoner,“ —Listen, Comrade!“ and —Rage, Tyrants!“ It was praised As far as the use of strictly technical de- in the following terms by contemporary critics: vices from such musical ”systems‘ as do- —Thanks to its extensive use of the revolutionary decaphony or aleatory is concerned . . . song heritage, the language of this symphony everything in good measure. If, let‘s say, a proved to be simpler and more accessible than composer sets himself the obligatory task in previous major works of the composer.“58 An of writing dodecaphonic music, then he ar- example of the results of Shostakovich‘s new tificially limits his possibilities, his ideas. devotion to Social Realism can be seen in the The use of elements from these complex reaction of a miner, who claimed upon hearing systems is fully justified if it is dictated by the concept of the composition.56 the Twelfth Symphony that he and many of his comrades had often found Shostakovich incom- The fact that he was willing to publicly prehensible in the past, but the vivid revolution- ary imagery of the Twelfth Symphony allowed state even this much shows the extent to which 59 contemporary W estern musical ideas could have them to appreciate him in a different light. influenced his music had he been given the op- Shostakovich was rewarded with many portunity to use them. He showed his interest in prizes and was given numerous civil positions. twelve-tone rows in two isolated later pieces, This was partly a result of his exemplary con- Seven Verses of A. Blok and the Second Violin formity to the Party‘s demands and his willing- Concerto, and was heavily criticized for this ness to serve as a mouthpiece for their views. even though Stalin was long dead at the time He was asked to join the Party in 1960, and and Shostakovich was considered an elder eventually agreed. However, his reluctance to statesman of Soviet music. do so was obvious. He attempted to refuse entry An important similarity between the effects into the party by pleading first lack of under- 60 of the 1936 and 1948 persecutions is that, just standing of and then religiosity. as Shostakovich stopped writing ballets and Even when he did finally consent, he failed to operas after the Pravda articles, he similarly did attend the Party meeting where he was to be not write any symphonies between the discred- admitted into the fold, forcing the Party to make 61 ited 1945 Ninth Symphony and the Tenth Sym- up the story that he had fallen suddenly ill. phony of 1953. Just as ballets and operas were This was a turning point in Shostakovich‘s among his most successful genres in 1936, music. Perhaps he had crossed some line in his Shostakovich was best known for his sympho- mind by joining the Party, perhaps he felt that nies in 1948. Once again, he abandoned his most successful genre for fear that it would lead 57 to further persecution. Ibid., 204. 58 Ibid., 202. After and the gradual 59 Ibid., 224. implementation of Khrushchev‘s —thaw,“ the 60 Dorothea Redepenning, "'And art made situation gradually began to improve for com- tongue-tied by authority' Shostakovich's song- posers. It was made clear at the Second All- cycles," Shostakovich Studies, ed. David Fan- ning (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 56 Laurel E. Fay, Shostakovich A Life (Oxford: 1995) 210-211. Oxford University Press, 2000), 258. 61 Ibid., 208.

10 he now had some degree of security because of approval for the piece, it is important to remem- his status as a showpiece for the artistic success ber that Lady Macbeth always had a special of Soviet music or perhaps he was just getting place in his heart. As he confided to Andrey old and regretted his earlier submissions to the Balanchivadez soon after the denunciation of demands placed on his music. W hatever the the original version: case, he once again started to push the bounda- ries of what was officially acceptable in Soviet Lady Macbeth, for all her enormous flaws, music. is for me the kind of work that I could never stab in the back. I could be wrong An obvious example of this is the Eighth and it could be that my courage is insuffi- , which Shostakovich composed imme- cient, but it seems to me that one needs diately after his admission into the Party. Rather courage not only to murder one‘s things but than being the expected celebration of his new also to defend them. Since the latter is cur- official status as a Communist, this is a dark rently impossible and useless, I am not un- piece that Shostakovich considered to be the dertaking anything in that direction. . . . If you find out sometime that I have ”dissoci- sum of his achievements. He considered suicide 62 ated myself‘ from Lady Macbeth, then very seriously after writing it. know that I did it 100 per cent honestly. Another famous example of Shostakovich‘s But I think that this won‘t happen very soon.65 rediscovered rebelliousness is the Thirteenth Symphony, which Shostakovich set to poetry by Even through all of his persecutions and his Yevgeniy Yevtushenko, a Jewish poet who had official recantations over the years, recently met grave criticism for his poem Shostakovich never specifically condemned —Babiy Yar“ that expressed the particular war- Lady Macbeth. This at least opens the door to time suffering of Russian Jews. The symphony the possibility that the changes found in was banned entirely in the Ukraine, the Moscow Katerina Izmaylova were voluntary. press ignored the premiere and Shostakovich and Yevtushenko were informed that the piece The most important musical changes were could not be performed again without modifica- to the part of Boris Timofeyevich. The low limit tions.63 of his range was raised and his melodic lines were made smoother. It is important to realize Shostakovich even went so far as to have that these changes were made immediately after his great political failure, Lady Macbeth of the the death of Shostakovich‘s wife, to whom he Mtsensk District, revived in public performance. had dedicated Lady Macbeth, and not in 1963, It was performed in 1963 for the first time since when Katerina Izmaylova was published.66 1936, but not without substantial modifications. Its name was changed to Katerina Izmaylova, The most significant change to the the libretto was drastically changed and the mu- was to the part of Katerina. Her sexual desire sic was slightly reworked. was severely muted, thus altering entirely the way that the audience interpreted her charac- It is often argued that these changes were 67 made solely as a result of irresistible political ter. It can be argued that that these changes pressure. Although this may have been partly were made not because of political pressure, but the case, one must be careful not to assume so. because of events in Shostakovich‘s personal Shostakovich repeatedly expressed a preference life. By 1963, he was not only significantly 64 older than in 1936, but also a widower and the for the second version. Although one can cer- father of two teenagers. He might have wished tainly argue that Shostakovich may have only to eliminate the brazen sexuality of Lady Mac- been saying this in order to help gain official beth simply because of the increasing conserva- tism that sometimes comes with age. Of course, 62 Ibid., 210. it is certainly possible that these changes were 63 Laurel E. Fay, Shostakovich A Life (Oxford: made for political reasons as well, but there is Oxford University Press, 2000), 235. not enough evidence to be sure either way. This 64 Laurel E. Fay, —From ”Lady Macbeth‘ to is a good example of an instance where scholars ”Katerina‘ Shostakovich‘s versions and revi- sions,“ Shostakovich Studies, ed. David Fanning 65 Ibid., 177. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995) 66 Ibid., 178-179. 161. 67 Ibid., 180.

11 are too hasty in attributing aspects of The disintegration of Communist power in Shostakovich‘s music to censorship. recent years has led many Russian scholars to respond in very reactionary terms to the one- The issues of Shostakovich‘s sincerity in sided pro-Soviet perspectives on Shostakovich his responses to criticism and of how voluntar- that they had previously been forced to swallow. ily he conformed to official expectations are This is particularly unfortunate, since the fall of subjects on which there is a great deal of debate. the USSR has led to the opening up of resources There are many difficulties in resolving these that were previously closed to those wishing to issues. Shostakovich was very reticent about do objective research. Many of these reaction- describing his music. Even his personal letters ary writers have shown an excessive tendency contained little beyond technical descriptions, to attribute Shostakovich with the status of a such as the number of movements, the keys or 68 dissident within the Soviet Union. The idea is the timings. Even what he did say cannot al- that the surface content of Shostakovich‘s works ways be trusted as being what he truly thought, was a protective screen camouflaging a secret as he was always under the threat of recrimina- meaning that could only be discerned by musi- tions for taking any politically incorrect stances, cal connoisseurs. This point of view was origi- even in his private communications. nally lent a great deal of credence by . The political environment of the Cold W ar The most commonly cited support for this and its aftermath has had a very polarizing ef- line of argument is Shostakovich‘s Fifth Sym- fect on scholars and critics, sometimes com- phony. It has been argued that the Largo is in promising their objectivity. Repressive influ- fact a mourning piece, perhaps a memorial to ences played a role here, and were most pro- Shostakovich‘s friend Mikhail Nikolayevich nounced in the eras of and McCarthy- Tukhachevsky, who was executed by the Party. ism. Shostakovich was used by the Communist This argument does have some support in that Party not only as an example of the artistic the Largo resonates with two movements from splendors that could be achieved under the So- Mahler‘s : —Der Einsame viet system, but also as a mouthpiece for pre- im Herbst“ (The Lonely One in Autumn) and fabricated propaganda at international events. 70 —Der Abschied“ (The Farewell). The Eleventh This obvious politicization led many Symphony is also often indicated as having hid- to commend him to excess and many W estern- den content. The violent music of the second ers to criticize him beyond the point that was movement has been linked to the contemporary appropriate. bloody repression of the Hungarian rebellion by This lack of objectivity has manifested it- Soviet troops rather than the events of Bloody self in both subtle and blatant ways. An exam- Sunday in 1905, as the official program ple of the former can be found in the relatively claimed.71 reliable work of N. V. Lukyanova. The writer is careful not to present untruths in his book One must be careful not to go too far when Shostakovich, but he nonetheless presents pri- making these kinds of assertions, however. It marily the pro-Soviet side of the story and should be remembered that the first perform- glosses over embarrassing events like the cen- ance of the Fifth Symphony took place in No- vember 1937, which was at the height of Niko- sorship of the Fourth Symphony.69 An unfortu- lay Yezhov‘s bloody rule under Stalin. This was nate example of the latter is ‘s also at a time when Shostakovich was in a very Testimony, which was presented as the memoirs unenviable position following the events sur- of Shostakovich. It is now generally held to be a rounding Lady Macbeth and the Fourth Sym- fake, although some scholars still believe that it phony. It would have been suicide for is at least partially based on fact.

70 Richard Taruskin, "Public lies and unspeak- 68 Richard Taruskin, "Shostakovich and Us," able truth interpreting Shostakovich's Fifth Shostakovich in Context, ed. Rosamund Barlett Symphony," Shostakovich Studies, ed. David (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), Fanning (Cambridge: Cambridge University 13-14. Press, 1995), 42. 69 N. V. Lukyanova, Shostakovich, trans. Yu. 71 Richard Taruskin, "Shostakovich and Us," Shirokov (Neptune City, N. J.: Paganiniana Shostakovich in Context, ed. Rosamund Barlett Publications Inc., 1984), 87. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 5.

12 Shostakovich to have attempted to mock Stalin against Stalin, and must also take care not to at this time. There was any number of musically take it for granted that there are hidden mes- literate informers who would have been all too sages in works such as the Fifth Symphony, pleased to denounce Shostakovich had he done there is still little doubt that played a role this. in at least some of Shostakovich‘s music. It ap- pears that this theme is most prominent in his Having realized this, there is nonetheless music composed after 1936, leading one to credence to the claim that Shostakovich was think that the denunciations led to a trend in his more than willing to protest the actions of the music that might not have developed otherwise. authorities in his music. For example, he wrote In addition, Shostakovich had no choice but to a song cycle of poems by Pushkin a few months keep his satire very subtle or to leave his satiri- prior to the Fifth Symphony. The following in cal pieces unpublished. Had he not been under an excerpt from the first of these poems, —Voz- the constant threat of reprisals, he might have rozhdeniye:“ allowed the satirical themes to take on a greater role in his music than he did. An artist-barbarian, with a casual brush Blackens a genius‘s picture, As to the question of whether or not And his lawless drawing Shostakovich was a sincere Communist, it is Scrawls meaninglessly over it. difficult to say for sure. Given the evidence pre- sented so far, it is obvious that he certainly did But with the years the alien markings not agree with all of the actions of the Soviet Fall off like old scales; regime. However, it is as naive to argue that The work of genius appears before us Shostakovich was entirely opposed to Commu- In all its former beauty. nism as it is to claim that his publicly pro-

Just so do delusions fall away Communist image was an entirely sincere re- From my exhausted soul, flection of his personal views. It is important to And within it there return visions remember that he never defected, despite all of Of original, pure days.72 the persecution that he faced and all of the limi- tations that were placed on his music. He cer- tainly had many opportunities to do so, consid- Shostakovich likewise responded to the ering his position as a member of the Soviet 1948 denunciations by secretly writing a piece Peace Committee and the many international entitled The Antiformalist Rayok. This was a events, musical and otherwise, that he attended. satire of the relationship between art and power In any event, a great deal of his work was cer- and a blatant caricature of the officials involved tainly characterized by pro-Soviet content, pro- in the events of 1948. Its importance to grammatic and otherwise, regardless of whether Shostakovich is indicated by the fact that it is or not he actually agreed with this content. the only piece in which he composed the entire libretto.73 Needless to say, he made absolutely As has been shown, the influence of poli- no effort to publish this work. tics on Shostakovich‘s music was immense, both in terms of the ways in which it affected It thus becomes clear that Shostakovich his music directly and in the ways that it guided was influenced by the politics of his time to the course of his career. He might have chosen resort to satirical music. Although one must be to explore entirely different areas of music had careful not to overemphasize the sphere of this he not been shepherded by Soviet musical poli- influence by claiming that pieces such as From cies. The political influence on Shostakovich‘s Jewish Folk Poetry were written as a protest music was most pronounced during the reign of the RAPM and in the aftermaths of the 1936 72 Dorothea Redepenning, "'And art made and 1948 denunciations, but it was still very tongue-tied by authority' Shostakovich's song- much present at other times as well. cycles," Shostakovich Studies, ed. David Fan- In terms of direct influence, Shostakovich ning (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, incorporated many pro-Soviet programmatic 1995) 205. elements into his music. He quoted Revolution- 73 Manahir Yakubov, "Shostakovich's 'Anti- ary music in his work, set music to Socialist Formalist Rayok,'" Shostakovich in Context, ed. texts and wrote music for Socialist works for Rosamund Barlett (New York: Oxford Univer- stage and film. He tailored pieces such as the sity Press, 2000), 136.

13 Fifth Symphony to the demands of the Party. He Fay, Laurel E. Shostakovich A Life. Oxford: was forced to make an effort to write primarily Oxford University Press, 2000. optimistic, melodic, folk-influenced and acces- Gerstel, Jennifer. —Irony, deception, and politi- sible pieces. He spent a great deal of time writ- cal culture in the works of Dmitri ing mass songs, particularly during the reign of Shostakovich.“ Mosaic (December 1999): 35- the RAPM and the war years, when he would 51. probably have preferred to explore other ave- nues in music. He was prevented from openly Grigoryev, L. and Ya. Platek, eds. Shostakovich dealing with themes in his music that did not About Himself and His Times. Trans. Angus meet Party approval. He developed a satirical and Neilian Roxburgh. Moscow: Progress streak that might have not have appeared in a Publishers, 1981. different context or might have developed fur- Ho, Allan B. and Dmity Feofanov. Shostakovich ther and more explicitly in an atmosphere less Reconsidered. New York: Toccata Press, rife with danger. 1998. In terms of the effects of politics on the en- tire direction of his career, Shostakovich was Lukyanova, N. V. Shostakovich. Trans. Yu. prevented from exploring the influences of for- Shirokov. Neptune City, N. J.: Paganiniana Publications Inc., 1984. eign avant-garde music, such as serialism, or from incorporating original ideas into his music MacDonald, Ian. The New Shostakovich. Bos- that strayed too far beyond officially sanctioned ton: Northeastern University Press, 1990. neo-classicism. He entirely abandoned opera and ballet, two genres in which he showed a Redepenning, Dorothea. —”And art made great deal of promise, and did not write any tongue-tied by authority‘ Shostakovich‘s symphonies between 1946 and 1952 because of song-cycles.“ Shostakovich Studies. Ed. political factors. Finally, the directions that his David Fanning. Cambridge: Cambridge Uni- music was taking at the time of his Fourth Sym- versity Press, 1995. phony as well as at the time of the Eighth and Schwarz, Boris. —Dmitry Shostakovich.“ The Ninth symphonies were lost forever. New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musi- Shostakovish was unique in the Soviet Un- cians. 1980 ed. ion in that he was claimed by both the dissident Schwarz, Boris. Music and Musical Life in So- culture and the official culture. W hatever his viet Russia. Bloomington: Indiana University personal views actually were, there is no doubt Press, 1983. that Soviet politics had an immense influence on the development of his music. His case pro- Taruskin, Richard. Defining Russia Musically. vides a fascinating example of how a brilliant Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997. composer can develop and mature entirely in an Taruskin, Richard. —Public lies and unspeakable environment of extreme artistic politicization truth interpreting Shostakovich‘s Fifth Sym- and limitation, and not only incorporate this phony.“ Shostakovich Studies. Ed. David environment into his work, but also produce Fanning. Cambridge: Cambridge University some of the greatest music of the century while Press, 1995. doing so. Taruskin, Richard. —Shostakovich and Us.‘— Shostakovich in Context. Ed. Rosamund Bar- BIBLIOGRAPHY lett. New York: Oxford University Press, Barsonva, Inna. —Between ”Social Demands‘ 2000. and the ”Music of Grand Passions.‘“ Teachout, Terry. —The composer and the com- Shostakovich in Context. Ed. Rosamund Bar- missars.“ Commentary (October 1999): 53- lett. New York: Oxford University Press, 56. 2000. Volkov, Solomon. Testimony. Trans. Antonina Fay, Laurel E. —From ”Lady Macbeth‘ to W . Bouis. New York: Harper & Row, 1979. ”Katerina‘ Shostakovich‘s versions and revi- sions.“ Shostakovich Studies. Ed. David Fan- W ilson, Elizabeth. Shostakovich A Life Remem- ning. Cambridge: Cambridge University bered. Princeton: Princeton University Press, Press, 1995. 1994.

14 Yakubov, Manashir. —”The Golden Age:‘ the Yakubov, Manahir. —Shostakovich‘s ”Anti- true story of the premiere.“ Shostakovich Formalist Rayok.‘“ Shostakovich in Context. Studies. Ed. David Fanning. Cambridge: Ed. Rosamund Barlett. New York: Oxford Cambridge University Press, 1995. University Press, 2000.

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