DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH (1906-1975)ДМИТРИЙ ДМИТРИЕВИЧ ШОСТАКОВИЧ

A2MusicUnit 4

Early Life

Born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, Shostakovich began piano lessons with his mother when he was nine. His talent became apparent when, pretending to read the sheet music in front of him, he actually played the music as he remembered it from the previous lesson. His mother caught him out several times by placing the ‘wrong’ music in front of him.

Early Career

Shostakovich entered the Saint Petersburg Conservatory at the age of thirteen. He achieved success with his graduation piece, his first symphony, at age nineteen, leading him to focus on composition.

His next two symphonies were less well received due to their experimental nature, and his opera, The Nose, was ferociously attacked by the Russian Association of Proletarian Musicians.

First Denunciation

In 1936 Shostakovich was advised to attend a performance at the Bolshoi Theatre of his opera Lady Macbeth. Stalin was in the audience, apparently shuddering every time the brass and percussion played too loudly. Two days later, Pravda (the communist party newspaper) denounced the work as “coarse, primitive, and vulgar”. It is thought that Stalin himself instigated the publication of the article.

First Denunciation

The Pravda article caused Shostakovich’s commissions to fall off, and his income fell by about three quarters. Even those critics who earlier praised the opera were forced to recant in print, saying that they “failed to detect the shortcomings of Lady Macbeth as pointed out by the Pravda”.

In 1937 Stalin instigated The Great Terror in which many of Shostakovich’s friends and family were imprisoned or murdered. This was a period of political repression, suspicion, persecution, widespread police surveillance, and arbitrary execution.

Shostakovich had two children during this period, called Galina and Maxim.

Fourth Symphony

This symphony marked a change in style for Shostakovich, absorbing elements of Western music, in particular Mahler. After a number of rehearsals at the end of 1936 Shostakovich withdrew the work from the public. A number of close friends later suggested that it was in fact an official ban, presented as a voluntary withdrawal. During this time Shostakovich feared for his life.

Fifth Symphony

“An artist’s creative response to justcriticism” - premiered on 21st

November, 1937.

Instrumentation: 2 flutes, piccolo , 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, Eb clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, snare drum, triangle, cymbals, bass drum, tam-tam, glockenspiel, xylophone, 2 harps, piano, celesta, and strings.

The work silenced the critics and was a resounding success with the public, many of whom heard it as an expression of the suffering they had been subjected to by Stalin.

Output and Further Listening

15 Symphonies 6 Concertos15 String Quartets 2 Jazz Suites2 Piano Sonatas 2 Piano Trios35+ Film Scores 2 Operas24 Preludes & Fugues 3 BalletsPopular works by Shostakovich (in addition to the Fifth Symphony) include the Tenth Symphony (Allegro), the First Cello Concerto, the Second Jazz Suite (Waltz II), the Eighth String Quartet, the Second Piano Concerto (Largo), and The Gadfly (Romance).