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The film adopts the revisionist view of Shostakovich put forward by Solomon Volkov in his book Testimony (which is quoted extensively in the film without attribution). [1] This view holds that Shostakovich was strongly opposed to the leadership of Josef Stalin, and that he included anti-government messages in his compositions under the Soviet ...
In the book, he is also reported to have said that in dedicating the symphony to Leningrad, he had in mind not the city under German siege, but "that Stalin destroyed and Hitler merely finished off." [17] Shostakovich did not like talking about what he called "creative plans," preferring to announce his works once they were completed. [18]
The 1942 concert was also commemorated in the 1997 film The War Symphonies: Shostakovich Against Stalin. [55] There is a small museum dedicated to the event at School No. 235 in St. Petersburg, which includes a statue of Shostakovich and artefacts from the performance. [56]
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich [a] [b] (25 September [O.S. 12 September] 1906 – 9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist [1] who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and thereafter was regarded as a major composer.
Shostakovich later wrote to his friend Ivan Sollertinsky that he witnessed Stalin cringing at loud parts of the score and laughing at sexual moments. Displeased, Stalin left after the end of the third act. A frightened Shostakovich was reportedly "white as a sheet" when he bowed for the audience. [9]
Shostakovich's friend Isaac Glikman called this symphony "his most tragic work". [5] The work, like many of his symphonies, breaks some of the standard conventions of symphonic form and structure. Shostakovich clearly references themes, rhythms and harmonies from his previous symphonies, most notably Symphony No. 5 and Symphony No. 7. [6]
SOVIET SAGA Stockard Channing and Michael Praed will star in the world premiere of “The Gates of Kyiv” at the U.K.’s Theatre Royal Windsor. Written by Ian Kelly and directed by Roxana ...
Dmitri Shostakovich composed his Symphony No. 4 in C minor, Op. 43, between September 1935 and May 1936, after abandoning some preliminary sketch material.In January 1936, halfway through this period, Pravda—under direct orders from Joseph Stalin [1] —published an editorial "Muddle Instead of Music" that denounced the composer and targeted his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.