ia_2010_julie_b

=B. Summary of Evidence (500-600 words) Tips]=

Born in 1906, Shostakovich lived under Stalin’s communist dictatorship ‘without ever seeing the slightest hope of change’    [1]     (Translation). His work continually reflected the times and circumstances he was experiencing; however there is still a fierce debate over whether he was supportive or critical of the soviet regime led by Stalin. Following the premiere of his opera   // Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk //    in 1936, he was denounced for writing ‘formalistic music’ in a ‘violent attack from Pravda [the communist newspaper] ferociously criticising the opera’ [2] (Translation), and after his ninth symphony was once again denounced for ‘formalism’ in the Zhdanov decree in 1948. This accusation of supposed ‘formalism’ implied that the composers work lacked appeal for the masses was more importantly, ‘against the proletariat’ [2a - Oxley], rather than heartening and uplifting music that gave a high estimation of the Soviet State. Shostakovich’s opera had been described as being ‘cacophonous’ and ‘pornographic’ and as it told the story of the justified murder of an overpowering tyrant, Stalin most certainly saw himself being depicted. The composer’s second denunciation came in accord with the Zhdanov Decree also accused other composers of the time such as Prokofiev and Khachaturian. Decided in 1946 and developed by Andrei Zhdanov (an important member of the Central Committee), this cultural doctrine ‘redefined and … reimposed the full force of Socialist Realism on the arts’ [2b – Stephen J.Lee p98], it meant that Soviet artists had to conform to the party line and had to base their works on glorifying Stalin and the USSR. After the Zhdanov Decree, Shostakovich’s works were banned and he and his family lived in fear, “ he waited for his arrest at night out on the landing by the lift, so that at least his family wouldn't be disturbed ” [2c – Elizabeth Wilson, Shostakovich: a life remembered, p183]. These denunciations were at times when his fellow artists, family and friends were being ‘drawn into the maelstrom of Stalinist repression’    [3]  , and through his music, the art form which could hide the inner feelings of a composer, Shostakovich was able to find a balance in pleasing the Supreme Leader of his homeland and in truly expressing his inner beliefs in relation to the Soviet Regime.

This Soviet Regime under Stalin was harsh; as the Russian conductor and pianist Ashkenazy states: “we had to control our every move, watch every word we said. We had no recourse to justice…We had no right to foreign travel” [4]. With the gulag camps underway, any political opponent (anybody who disagreed with the regime) would be sent into forced labour, as is written about by Solzhenitsyn, in ‘The Life of Ivan Denisovich’ and ‘the Gulag Archipelago’ in which he describes ‘in harrowing detail life in the gulag’ [5]. In fact, Shostakovich’s older sister, Maria Frediriks, was exiled to Central Asia (after her husband’s arrest) and his mother-in-law was sent to Kazakhstan in a concentration camp.

However “it wasn’t the life of Shostakovich that was controversial – it was his music” [6] and the way it approached not only his life, but the life of millions in the USSR suffering Stalin’s dictatorship, as confirmed the third wife of the composer. ‘We do not have to infuse every note of Shostakovich’s music with extra-musical connotations, but we need to understand what he endured in his life – the inhumanity, moral depravity, and hopelessness which the Soviet system inflicted – all of which he amalgamated into the spiritual context of his music’ [7] Shostakovich was never sent to a Gulag, he changed a lot of his music and even withdrew a symphony to conform the Party, even joining it in 1960. He gave the people patriotic hope when they needed it with majestic themes, such as in the 5th but then kept an underlying message with all of his war symphonies.

Word Count: 609

[1] Dermoncourt, Bertrand. 2006. Dimitri Chostakovitch. Paris: ACTES SUD/CLASSICA. //(« sans jamais voir poindre le moindre espoir d’un changement »//

//[2]// //Danielian, Ararat. 2007. Compositeurs et Interprètes Russes : Du XVIIe Siècle à Nos Jours. Biarritz : Séguier, atlantica// («une violente attaque de Pravda critiquant férocement l’opéra »)

[3] Volkov, Solomon. 2004. Shostakovich and Stalin. Great Britain: //Little, Brown.//

//[4]// //Ashkenazy, Vladimir. 2000. Papa, what if they hang you for this?. The Financial Times, 5 August.//

[5] Martin, Ben. 2008. Nobel Laureate and Soviet dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn dead. Telegraph.co.uk, [internet] 3 August. Available at __http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/2495808/Nobel-laureate-and-Soviet-dissident-Alexander-Solzhenitsyn-dead.html__ [Accessed 23 September 2009].

//[6]// //2006. Shostakovich widow wants row to end. BBC News, [internet] 25 September. Available at <__http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5370590.stm__> [Accessed 23 September 2009]//

[7] Ashkenazy, Vladimir. 2000. Papa, what if they hang you for this?. The Financial Times, 5 August