If you were just a scrawny composer and your city had been hit in the siege in World War II, you probably wouldn’t go on writing the intermezzo of your seventh symphony, but 20th century Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich wasn’t your average man. He was despised by Stalin and the communist party, his music was original and adored by Russia, and he was known as the darling of the Soviet avant garde. In his music and his life, Shostakovich was a great risk taker, and never let any danger he was in affect his music.
Dmitri Shostakovich took many risks, a myriad of which were in his music. In the early 1900’s, music began to change. Composers wanted to celebrate the new modernity of Russia. Many wrote pieces with dark, dissonant chords, used sounds such as sirens and artillery as instruments, and replicated the sound of machinery (Anderson 481). These sounds were a musical illustration of the futurist movement of this time, rejecting past traditions of art. Never before had music sounded like this, and futurism was an important point in music history. Young Dmitri also played music for films.
Back in this time, there were musicians in the theatre playing along with the film, because the movies did not have sound. Shostakovich tried several ideas to make the films seem more interesting, but the audiences did not enjoy this, and thought he was drunk (Anderson 642). Usually, the musicians for this job had a few sheets of music labelled “She is Heartbroken” or “Action Scene” but, Shostakovich did not like to play music that everyone had already heard. He tried imitating birdsong, improvising new music, and playing excerpts from his own compositions, but none of it was well-received.
In 1934, the Composers’ Union wrote in their guidelines that, “The main attention of the Soviet composer must be directed towards the victorious progressive principles of reality, towards all that is heroic, bright, and beautiful. ” In 1934, Shostakovich’s opera, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District was performed. Although it was well-received initially, Stalin decided that it was dangerous and had themes of a “pre-socialist, petty-bourgeois, Russian mentality” that the communist party found dangerous (Anderson 977).
It may have been seen this way because it showed a life that was brutal and unhappy, which was not following the guidelines set by the Composers’ Union. Because the communist party did not like this opera, the state-sponsored newspaper Pravda also criticized it, and much of Shostakovich’s work. Similarly, other critics agreed with their opinion. In summary, his compositions took several risks in how they were written, and how they strayed from the Composers’ Union guidelines. As previously stated, Shostakovich’s work was not always well-received.
In fact, for a long time, the majority of people hated his compositions, especially his opera, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District. It was greatly criticized by many, including various radio shows and the newspaper Pravda for criticizing the Soviets. At the premiere of Lady Macbeth, Stalin walked out halfway through and said, “That’s a mess, not music. ” (Anderson 1146). He may not have liked it because that night, there were too many brass players, or because the conductor tried too hard to make a good impression.
Most likely, he did not enjoy the opera because it doesn’t depict a bright, happy, and beautiful life that the Composers’ Union decided music must show. In his fourth symphony, it was greatly criticized because at the end, rather than a victorious sounding choir singing about the greatness of labor like in his previous symphonies, there is a distressing dissonant brass chorus, ending the symphony with eerie, numb, emptiness, rather than a bright vision of the future (Anderson 1376). This was most likely criticized because art during this time was supposed to show the greatness of Russia, and this opera didn’t.
It also was not very happy, and this was a time where most people were dealing with several issues such as poverty, lack of food, and living in constant fear of being killed. When the government is causing these problems, they wouldn’t want the people to see more evidence that the government is at fault. However, not all of his work was hated. Before Stalin and the communist party decided that Lady Macbeth was dangerous and pre-socialist, critics adored it, saying the piece was “a remarkable, deep, and brilliantly orchestrated composition,” “the apex of Shostakovich’s creative work. (Anderson 1047). People probably enjoyed the opera because they could empathize with Katerina because she was surrounded by monsters.
During this time, those in positions of power seemed like monsters because they caused the issues of poverty and they tried to limit art. In short, while Stalin and the communist party despised Shostakovich’s work, a myriad of people enjoyed his compositions. Of course, being an artist in Russia under Stalin’s control, Shostakovich took many risks in his life. His life was in danger several times, one of which was during the times of Stalin’s purges.
Stalin lived in fear of opposition, so whenever he felt his power was in danger, he would execute those he felt threatened by, or send them to labor camps in Siberia. People would be tortured until they named names of who was a threat to Stalin’s power, so they would usually name people they didn’t especially like, or that they overheard making a joke about how the communist party was terrible. Twice, Shostakovich was named. The NKVD (The People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs) listed him as a saboteur.
After a few days, he went to his appointment with his executioner Zakovsky, but over the weekend, Zakovsky had been arrested himself. For a moment, Shostakovich was free, because his executioner was in line to be executed (Anderson 1699). Despite the fact that he had almost been killed, he did not fear anything and went home to his family and continued writing his music. Another example of when he was in danger was when he signed up for military service. He wanted to be useful to his country, and said, “Until now I have known only peaceful work.
Now I am ready to take up arms. Only by fighting can we save humanity from destruction. ” His job was to stand on the top of the Petrograd conservatory roof and watch of bombs during the Luftwaffe air raids and to extinguish any that landed on the building. While on the job, he wrote his seventh symphony (Anderson 2426). Even though he wrote the piece during the air raids, it sounds surprisingly gentle. This shows that although Shostakovich’s life was in danger, he never let it affect him and went on composing his symphony.
Despite the fact that Shostakovich was in danger several times throughout his life, he continued to write beautiful music and to take risks, even though the consequence could be death. Although Stalin and the communist party found his music dangerous and were threatened by him, Shostakovich never gave up and composed unique music that is still incredibly well known to this day. He was an inspiration to Russia in a time of fear and death, and brought his beloved country infinite joy.
