#dmitrishostakovich

Dmitri Shostakovich

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) was a Russian composer of operas, ballets, concertos, string quartets, and 15 symphonies. Shostakovich was frequently denounced by the repressive Soviet state, but in some periods, he also gained official favour. He never permanently left Russia and, somehow, managed to pursue a long musical career, walking the tightrope between artistic freedom and imprisonment or worse.

Wow: did not know Dmitri Shostakovich also wrote 24 Preludes and Fugues. They are masterful!

Another striking resemblance between Johann Sebastian Bach and Dmitri Shostakovich (obviously influenced by the former): they both made musical motifs from their names. 

Here is the famous BACH motif, most notably heard in Die Kunst der Fuge, Contrapunctus XIV:

And here is the DSCH motif, composed from German musical letter names. These would be D, E flat (Es in German), C, and B (H in German):

Just as with Bach, Shostakovich introduced this motif as his personal signature within a piece, finding several opportunities to introduce it throughout famous works. 

After watching documentaries about Dmitri Shostakovich and Mstislav Rostropovich (both friends), I am struck afresh by the wickedness of the Soviet Communism regime and all Communism itself. 

The fundamental deceit of “equality” through force (not through justice) was used as a smokescreen in order to repress, intimidate, censor, starve and murder countless people. To see even champions of Soviet Communism, such as Shostakovich and Rostropovich treated like pariahs despite the professed “equality” is shocking. The treatment of Solzhenitsyn, too, a voice of conscience, exposing the true inhumanity of Communism, exposed this deceit. 

Rostropovich gave Solzhenitsyn shelter and intended to publish a letter complaining about censorship. Although he never published the letter, his reputation suffered as a result. He was banned from performing in recognized venues and effectively ostracized. This repudiates the oft-repeated claim that Soviet Communism encouraged the best and brightest-- only if you stayed within the Party Line. 

Shostakovich was disgraced for writing “cacophonous” music that didn’t fully reflect the fiction of greatness that Stalin wished to perpetuate. Despite being a loyal subject, he too, faced crushing pressure to conform and subvert his creative endeavours to suit the great Communist myth. 

How ordinary, decent Russians lived through these horrors is beyond me. One of the most shocking parts of the Shostakovich documentary was one of his daughters recalling that she was told never to repeat what her father said inside his house outside-- not even to friends. Galina Rostropovich recalled that during the War, an entire group of men were executed for resisting the Party line, and she feared the same would happen to Rostropovich.