Contra Costa Wind Symphony: Dmitri Shostakovich

Dmitri Dmitrievich Shostakovich (1906 – 1975) was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. Shostakovich was a child prodigy as both a pianist and composer. His family seems to have been politically liberal and tolerant (one of his uncles was a Bolshevik, but the family also sheltered far-right extremists). In 1918, he wrote a funeral march in memory of two leaders of the Kadet party, murdered by Bolshevik sailors. In 1922, he was allowed to enter the Petrograd Conservatory, then headed by Alexander Glazunov. However, he suffered for his perceived lack of political zeal and initially failed his exam in Marxist methodology in 1926. His first major musical achievement was the First Symphony (1925), written as his graduation piece.

After graduation, he initially embarked on a dual career as a concert pianist and composer, but his dry style of playing was unappreciated. He won an “honorable mention” at the 1927 Warsaw International Piano Competition. After the competition, Shostakovich met conductor Bruno Walter, who was so impressed by the composer’s First Symphony that he conducted the premiere in Berlin later that year. After that, Shostakovich concentrated on composing music and soon limited performances primarily to those of his own works. In 1927 he wrote his Second Symphony (To October). While writing the symphony, he also began his satirical opera The Nose, based on the story by Gogo. In 1929, the opera was criticized as “ formalist” by RAPM, the Stalinist arts organization, and it opened to generally poor reviews in 1930.

1927 also marked the beginning of the composer’s relationship with Ivan Sollertinsky, who remained his closest friend until the latter’s death in 1944. Sollertinsky introduced Shostakovich to the music of Gustav Mahler, which had a strong influence on his music from the Fourth Symphony onwards.

In the late 1920s and early 1930s he worked at TRAM, a proletarian youth theatre. Although he did little work in this post, it shielded him from ideological attack. Much of this period was spent writing his opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. It was first performed in 1934 and was immediately successful.

In his personal life, 1932 saw his open marriage to his first wife, Nina Varzar. Initial difficulties led to divorce proceedings in 1935, but the couple soon reunited.

In 1936 Shostakovich fell from grace. The year began with a series of attacks on him in Pravda, in particular a famous article entitled Muddle Instead of Music. The campaign was instigated by Stalin and condemned Lady Macbeth as formalist; consequently, commissions began to dry up, and his income fell by about three quarters. The Fourth Symphony entered rehearsals, but the political climate made performance impossible. It was not performed until 1961, but Shostakovich did not repudiate the work. It retained its designation as his Fourth Symphony.

More widely, 1936 marked the beginning of the Great Terror, in which many of the composer’s friends and relatives were imprisoned or killed.

The Fifth Symphony of 1937 was a success, and is still one of his most popular works. Notably, it is at this time that Shostakovich composed the first of his string quartets. His chamber works allowed him to experiment and express ideas that would have been unacceptable in his more public symphonic pieces.

In September 1937, he began to teach composition at the Conservatory, which provided some financial security but interfered with his own creative work.

On the outbreak of war between Russia and Germany in 1941, Shostakovich initially remained in Leningrad during the siege, writing his Seventh Symphony. In October 1941, the composer and his family were evacuated to Kuybishev (now Samara), where the work was completed. It was adopted as a symbol of Russian resistance both in the USSR and in the West.

In Spring 1943 the family moved to Moscow. The Eighth Symphony of that year is a long and dark work, which proved to be too dark for the authorities. It was soon banned until 1960.

In 1948 Shostakovich was again denounced for formalism in the Zhdanov decree. Most of his works were banned, he was forced publicly to repent, and his family had privileges withdrawn. Yuri Lyubimov says that at this time “he waited for his arrest at night out on the landing by the lift, so that at least his family wouldn’t be disturbed."

In the next few years his compositions were divided into film music to pay the rent, official works aimed at securing official rehabilitation, and serious works “for the desk drawer”. These latter included the Violin Concerto No. 1 and the song cycle From Jewish Folk Poetry. There is some dispute over whether he realized the dangers of writing the latter. Laurel Fay has argued that he was attempting to conform to official policy by adopting folk song as his inspiration. On the other hand, it was written at a time when the post-war anti-Semitic campaign was already underway, and Shostakovich had close ties with some of those affected.

The restrictions on Shostakovich’s music and living arrangements were eased in 1949, so he could join a delegation of Soviet notables to the U.S. That year he also wrote his cantataSong of the Forests, which praised Stalin as the “great gardener”. In 1951 the composer was made a deputy to the Supreme Soviet. Stalin’s death in 1953 was the biggest step towards Shostakovich’s official rehabilitation. This was marked by his Tenth Symphony. The symphony contains a number of musical quotations and codes, the meaning of which is still debated. It ranks alongside the Fifth as one of his most popular works. 1953 also saw a stream of premieres of the “desk drawer” works.

Interpretation of the Eleventh Symphony of 1956–7 is disputed. It can be seen as referring to the attempted Russian Revolution of 1905, the 1956 Hungarian Revolution or both.

1960 marked another turning point in Shostakovich’s life. He joined the Communist Party. This event has been interpreted variously as a show of commitment, a mark of cowardice, or as having been forced. On the one hand, the apparat was undoubtedly less repressive than it had been prior to Stalin’s death. On the other, his son recalled that the event reduced Shostakovich to tears, and he later told his wife Irina that he had been blackmailed. In this period he was also increasingly affected by poliomyelitis, from which he began to suffer in 1958.

Shostakovich’s musical response to these personal crises was the Eighth String Quartet, which like the Tenth Symphony incorporates quotations and his musical monogram.

In 1962 he married for the third time, to Irina Supinskaya, who was then only 27. That year saw Shostakovich again turn to the subject of anti-Semitism in his Thirteenth Symphony (Babi Yar). The symphony sets a number of poems by Yevgeny Yevtushenko, the first of which commemorates a massacre of the Jews during the Second World War. Opinions are divided as to how great a risk this was. While the poem had been published in Soviet media and was not banned, it nevertheless remained controversial. After the symphony’s premiere, Yevtushenko was forced to add a stanza to his poem claiming that Russians and Ukrainians died alongside the Jews at Babi Yar.

In later life, Shostakovich suffered from chronic ill health. From 1958 he suffered from a debilitating condition that particularly affected his right hand, forcing him to give up piano playing. In 1965 this was diagnosed as polio. Most of his later works — the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Symphonies, and the late quartets — are dark and introspective. They have attracted much critical favor in the west, as they do not pose the same problems of interpretation as the earlier, more public pieces.

Shostakovich died of lung cancer in 1975.


		Meet The Composer



	Dmitri Dmitrievich Shostakovich (1906 – 1975) was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. Shostakovich was a child prodigy as both a pianist and composer. His family seems to have been politically liberal and tolerant (one of his uncles was a Bolshevik, but the family also sheltered far-right extremists). In 1918, he wrote a funeral march in memory of two leaders of the Kadet party, murdered by Bolshevik sailors. In 1922, he was allowed to enter the Petrograd Conservatory, then headed by Alexander Glazunov. However, he suffered for his perceived lack of political zeal and initially failed his exam in Marxist methodology in 1926. His first major musical achievement was the First Symphony (1925), written as his graduation piece. After graduation, he initially embarked on a dual career as a concert pianist and composer, but his dry style of playing was unappreciated. He won an “honorable mention” at the 1927 Warsaw International Piano Competition. After the competition, Shostakovich met conductor Bruno Walter, who was so impressed by the composer’s First Symphony that he conducted the premiere in Berlin later that year. After that, Shostakovich concentrated on composing music and soon limited performances primarily to those of his own works. In 1927 he wrote his Second Symphony (To October). While writing the symphony, he also began his satirical opera The Nose, based on the story by Gogo. In 1929, the opera was criticized as “ formalist” by RAPM, the Stalinist arts organization, and it opened to generally poor reviews in 1930. 1927 also marked the beginning of the composer’s relationship with Ivan Sollertinsky, who remained his closest friend until the latter’s death in 1944. Sollertinsky introduced Shostakovich to the music of Gustav Mahler, which had a strong influence on his music from the Fourth Symphony onwards. In the late 1920s and early 1930s he worked at TRAM, a proletarian youth theatre. Although he did little work in this post, it shielded him from ideological attack. Much of this period was spent writing his opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. It was first performed in 1934 and was immediately successful. In his personal life, 1932 saw his open marriage to his first wife, Nina Varzar. Initial difficulties led to divorce proceedings in 1935, but the couple soon reunited. In 1936 Shostakovich fell from grace. The year began with a series of attacks on him in Pravda, in particular a famous article entitled Muddle Instead of Music. The campaign was instigated by Stalin and condemned Lady Macbeth as formalist; consequently, commissions began to dry up, and his income fell by about three quarters. The Fourth Symphony entered rehearsals, but the political climate made performance impossible. It was not performed until 1961, but Shostakovich did not repudiate the work. It retained its designation as his Fourth Symphony. More widely, 1936 marked the beginning of the Great Terror, in which many of the composer’s friends and relatives were imprisoned or killed. The Fifth Symphony of 1937 was a success, and is still one of his most popular works. Notably, it is at this time that Shostakovich composed the first of his string quartets. His chamber works allowed him to experiment and express ideas that would have been unacceptable in his more public symphonic pieces. In September 1937, he began to teach composition at the Conservatory, which provided some financial security but interfered with his own creative work. On the outbreak of war between Russia and Germany in 1941, Shostakovich initially remained in Leningrad during the siege, writing his Seventh Symphony. In October 1941, the composer and his family were evacuated to Kuybishev (now Samara), where the work was completed. It was adopted as a symbol of Russian resistance both in the USSR and in the West. In Spring 1943 the family moved to Moscow. The Eighth Symphony of that year is a long and dark work, which proved to be too dark for the authorities. It was soon banned until 1960. In 1948 Shostakovich was again denounced for formalism in the Zhdanov decree. Most of his works were banned, he was forced publicly to repent, and his family had privileges withdrawn. Yuri Lyubimov says that at this time “he waited for his arrest at night out on the landing by the lift, so that at least his family wouldn’t be disturbed." In the next few years his compositions were divided into film music to pay the rent, official works aimed at securing official rehabilitation, and serious works “for the desk drawer”. These latter included the Violin Concerto No. 1 and the song cycle From Jewish Folk Poetry. There is some dispute over whether he realized the dangers of writing the latter. Laurel Fay has argued that he was attempting to conform to official policy by adopting folk song as his inspiration. On the other hand, it was written at a time when the post-war anti-Semitic campaign was already underway, and Shostakovich had close ties with some of those affected. The restrictions on Shostakovich’s music and living arrangements were eased in 1949, so he could join a delegation of Soviet notables to the U.S. That year he also wrote his cantataSong of the Forests, which praised Stalin as the “great gardener”. In 1951 the composer was made a deputy to the Supreme Soviet. Stalin’s death in 1953 was the biggest step towards Shostakovich’s official rehabilitation. This was marked by his Tenth Symphony. The symphony contains a number of musical quotations and codes, the meaning of which is still debated. It ranks alongside the Fifth as one of his most popular works. 1953 also saw a stream of premieres of the “desk drawer” works. Interpretation of the Eleventh Symphony of 1956–7 is disputed. It can be seen as referring to the attempted Russian Revolution of 1905, the 1956 Hungarian Revolution or both. 1960 marked another turning point in Shostakovich’s life. He joined the Communist Party. This event has been interpreted variously as a show of commitment, a mark of cowardice, or as having been forced. On the one hand, the apparat was undoubtedly less repressive than it had been prior to Stalin’s death. On the other, his son recalled that the event reduced Shostakovich to tears, and he later told his wife Irina that he had been blackmailed. In this period he was also increasingly affected by poliomyelitis, from which he began to suffer in 1958. Shostakovich’s musical response to these personal crises was the Eighth String Quartet, which like the Tenth Symphony incorporates quotations and his musical monogram. In 1962 he married for the third time, to Irina Supinskaya, who was then only 27. That year saw Shostakovich again turn to the subject of anti-Semitism in his Thirteenth Symphony (Babi Yar). The symphony sets a number of poems by Yevgeny Yevtushenko, the first of which commemorates a massacre of the Jews during the Second World War. Opinions are divided as to how great a risk this was. While the poem had been published in Soviet media and was not banned, it nevertheless remained controversial. After the symphony’s premiere, Yevtushenko was forced to add a stanza to his poem claiming that Russians and Ukrainians died alongside the Jews at Babi Yar. In later life, Shostakovich suffered from chronic ill health. From 1958 he suffered from a debilitating condition that particularly affected his right hand, forcing him to give up piano playing. In 1965 this was diagnosed as polio. Most of his later works — the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Symphonies, and the late quartets — are dark and introspective. They have attracted much critical favor in the west, as they do not pose the same problems of interpretation as the earlier, more public pieces. Shostakovich died of lung cancer in 1975.
Next Concert This Season About CCWS Conductor Musicians Mission History Support Contact