REVISIONISM IN THE MUSIC HISTORY OF DMITRY SHOSTAKOVICH: THE SHOSTAKOVICH WARS A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Russian at the University of Canterbury by G. C. Ginther University of Canterbury 2008 Table of Contents Acknowledgments ........................................................................................ 2 Abstract ......................................................................................................... 3 Glossary of names ........................................................................................ 4 Introduction .................................................................................................. 8 Chapter 1: Shostakovich in the Post-modern Aesthetic ........................ 13 1.1 Shostakovich’s Music in the West before World War Two ................. 14 1.2 The Cold War ........................................................................................................ 16 1.3 The Estrangement of the Audience .................................................................. 18 1.4 The Shostakovich Renaissance .......................................................................... 20 1.5 The Soviet Union Dissolves ............................................................................... 21 1.6 The Centenary of Shostakovich's Birth ............................................................ 23 1.7 The Hijacking of Shostakovich .......................................................................... 24 Chapter 2: The Shostakovich Wars ......................................................... 27 2.1 The Political Context ........................................................................................... 28 2.2 Prelude .................................................................................................................... 29 2.3 The Publication of Testimony ............................................................................... 31 2.4 Reactions to Testimony .......................................................................................... 33 2.5 The Victimisation of Laurel Fay ........................................................................ 34 2.6 Reaction to Testimony in the Soviet Union ........................................................ 36 2.7 Shostakovich family interview ............................................................................ 37 2.8 Maxim Shostakovich defects .............................................................................. 38 2.9 Galina Vishnevskaya and Mstislav Rostropovich ........................................... 40 2.10 'The Opera and the Dictator' ........................................................................... 42 2.11 The New Shostakovich ............................................................................................ 43 2.12 Shostakovich: A Life Remembered .......................................................................... 49 2.13 Shostakovich Studies ............................................................................................... 49 2.14 St Petersburg: A Cultural History .......................................................................... 51 2.15 Russian Publications on Shostakovich ........................................................... 52 2.16 Shostakovich Reconsidered ....................................................................................... 55 2.17 Reaction to Shostakovich Reconsidered ................................................................. 57 2.18 Laurel Fay's Shostakovich biography .............................................................. 59 2.19 Reaction to Shostakovich: A Life ........................................................................ 61 2.20 Shostakovich in Context ......................................................................................... 64 2.21 'Double Trouble' ................................................................................................. 65 2.22 Taruskin versus Lebrecht .................................................................................. 69 2.23 A Shostakovich Casebook ...................................................................................... 70 2.24 Reaction to A Shostakovich Casebook ................................................................ 72 2.25 Shostakovich and his World .................................................................................... 73 2.26 Sir Edward Speaks Out ..................................................................................... 74 2.27 Shostakovich Centenary 2006 .......................................................................... 75 2.28 'The Shostakovich Wars' - Endgame .............................................................. 76 2.29 The Great Divide................................................................................................ 78 Chapter 3: A Question of Authenticity: Testimony ................................ 79 3.1 The Publication of Testimony ............................................................................... 79 3.2 Solomon Volkov ................................................................................................... 79 3.3 First Questions Raised ......................................................................................... 82 3.4 Volkov’s relationship with Shostakovich ......................................... 84 3.5 Volkov’s Later Meetings with Shostakovich 1971-75.................................... 88 3.6 Boris Tishchenko’s role in Testimony .................................................. 90 3.7 The Signed Pages .................................................................................................. 93 3.8 First Reviews: The Opinions of Orlov and Karlinsky .......................... 96 3.9 The Copyright Issue ............................................................................. 98 3.10 Conclusion ........................................................................................ 99 Chapter Four: The Eight Signed Pages of Testimony in Context. ..... 101 4.1 Testimony: Chapter One ...................................................................................... 102 4.2 Testimony: Chapter Two ...................................................................................... 104 4.3 Testimony: Chapter Three.................................................................................... 105 4.4 Testimony: Chapter Four ..................................................................................... 106 4.5 Testimony: Chapter Five ...................................................................................... 106 4.6 Testimony: Chapter Six ...................................................................... 107 4.7 Testimony: Chapter Seven .................................................................................... 108 4.8 Testimony Chapter Eight ..................................................................................... 109 4.9 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 109 Chapter 5: The Shostakovich versus Stalin Myth................................ 112 5.1 Pre-1936 ............................................................................................................... 113 5.2 The Phenomenon of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk ............................................... 115 5.3 The Intrigue Behind ‘Muddle Instead of Music’ .......................................... 117 5.4 The Bolshoi Performance ................................................................................. 119 5.5 Muddle Instead of Music .................................................................................. 121 5.6 Other Candidates for Authorship ................................................................... 122 5.7 Consequences of the Pravda Editorial ............................................................. 124 5.8 The Revisionist View ......................................................................................... 127 5.9 The Exploitation of Glinka............................................................................... 128 5.10 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 128 Conclusion ................................................................................................. 130 Appendix ................................................................................................134 Glossary ................................................................................................... 135 Muddle Instead of Music: Mysteries of Lady Macbeth ........................... 136 Pravda article 'Muddle Instead of Music' ................................................ 147 Bibliography .............................................................................................. 150 Acknowledgements The author wishes to express sincere appreciation to Professor Mondry for her help in the preparation of this manuscript. In addition, special thanks to Dr. Nataliya Oryshchuk for assisting with the translation of a very difficult document. Also to my dear friends Cornelia Dragusin and John Kelk who freely gave me their time and encouragement. For their enthusiasm for things Russian, John and Olga Hawkes, Vadim Oryshchuk and Dr Yevgeni Pavlov. Finally I must pay tribute to