How Might Shostakovich’s Chamber Music Reflect a Dissenting Attitude Towards the Soviet State?
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- Date Submitted: 07/03/2014 06:27 AM
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How might Shostakovich’s chamber music reflect a dissenting attitude towards the soviet state? What other reasons might there be for the way his music was composed?
In this essay I am going to discuss how Shostakovich’s music reflected a disagreement or different opinion to the ideals of the soviet state, I will also discuss what other elements he used to compose his music.
Firstly, Shostakovich is an example of a composer who both stuck to certain musical traditions but also dissented from them, for example, he used many traditions to compose his music but also through some of it he was challenging Stalin’s dictatorship. It was very clear through Shostakovich’s music that he did not have the same opinions or ideas as Stalin, one in example of his love of Jewish folk music.
In 1926, Shostakovich’s first major work Symphony no.1 was premiered in Leningrad, which is now St. Petersburg. A year later he composed his Symphony no.2 which was commissioned to mark the tenth anniversary of the Russian revolution. Shostakovich then went on to compose music for the stage. On a major piece for the opera titled, ‘Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District,’ his music was publicly denounced in the official government newspaper. In 1936 it was described as ‘Muddle instead Amy Armstrong
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of music,’ and it was said that it did not reflect soviet ideals, that music was supposed to demonstrate public happiness and allegiance to the state, and it was not to challenge or include dissonance.
In 1937, Shostakovich’s Symphony no.5 saw him return to more traditional, structural methods and he seemed to have abandoned the more radical aspects of his opera music, In 1940 he even won the Stalin prize for his piano quintet despite the earlier criticism from the public. In 1941, the symphony no.7 titled ’Leningrad’ was composed however, in 1942 it was smuggled out of Russia and conducted by Arturo Toscanini as a symbol of resistance against Nazism.
Shostakovich’s music carried on...
In this essay I am going to discuss how Shostakovich’s music reflected a disagreement or different opinion to the ideals of the soviet state, I will also discuss what other elements he used to compose his music.
Firstly, Shostakovich is an example of a composer who both stuck to certain musical traditions but also dissented from them, for example, he used many traditions to compose his music but also through some of it he was challenging Stalin’s dictatorship. It was very clear through Shostakovich’s music that he did not have the same opinions or ideas as Stalin, one in example of his love of Jewish folk music.
In 1926, Shostakovich’s first major work Symphony no.1 was premiered in Leningrad, which is now St. Petersburg. A year later he composed his Symphony no.2 which was commissioned to mark the tenth anniversary of the Russian revolution. Shostakovich then went on to compose music for the stage. On a major piece for the opera titled, ‘Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District,’ his music was publicly denounced in the official government newspaper. In 1936 it was described as ‘Muddle instead Amy Armstrong
B5453146
of music,’ and it was said that it did not reflect soviet ideals, that music was supposed to demonstrate public happiness and allegiance to the state, and it was not to challenge or include dissonance.
In 1937, Shostakovich’s Symphony no.5 saw him return to more traditional, structural methods and he seemed to have abandoned the more radical aspects of his opera music, In 1940 he even won the Stalin prize for his piano quintet despite the earlier criticism from the public. In 1941, the symphony no.7 titled ’Leningrad’ was composed however, in 1942 it was smuggled out of Russia and conducted by Arturo Toscanini as a symbol of resistance against Nazism.
Shostakovich’s music carried on...