Yevgeny Yevtushenko (b. 1933) was too young to have been stung by the murder hornet that was Josef Stalin.
Shostakovich, however, was envenomed by the murderous dictator over and over again, leaving a permanent welt on his soul, but the greatness of DS was his refusal to surrender to political forces; he continually composed music that would land him in trouble with the authorities.
The first time was in 1934-35, involving two massive works: The Fourth Symphony (see my post) and the opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (post). The opera actually was a success with the public, but when Stalin attended the opera, and a rehearsal of the symphony (in both cases, perhaps offended by loud trombones), he ordered both works to be withdrawn. Neither would be heard again for nearly three decades. Shortly thereafter, a Party-approved article appeared in Pravda entitled "Muddle Instead of Music.
The Fifth Symphony (post) was subtitled "A Soviet Artist's Reply to Just Criticism." Whether or not Shostakovich was forced to use these words is still unknown today.
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In the late 40's, DS was again "stung" by the Zhdanov Doctrine, condemning formalism in the arts. Banned works from this period include the Violin Concerto (post) and From Jewish Folk Poetry (1948 -- in defiance of his denunciation!).
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Stalin's death on March 5, 1953 would have been a great day of celebration had not Sergei Prokofiev died on the exact same day.
As usual, Shostakovich had his say with notes. Stalin was infuriated with the Ninth Symphony (1945) (post), which -- rather than a glorification of the Soviet victory in the Great Patriotic War -- was a light-hearted affair of short duration. The Tenth (1953) (post), however (premiered after Stalin's death), was a mammoth work of unbridled proportions, and in the second movement, Shostakovich no longer felt the need to hide his vivid portrayal of the maniac. It is electrifying music.
For the Eleventh (1957) (post) and Twelfth (1961), Shostakovich reverted to Soviet programs (1905; 1917), but it is notable that the Eighth String Quartet (1960) is today considered a musical suicide note. DS was seriously considering ending his life.
Perhaps Yevtushenko's poetry inspired him to live. The Thirteenth Symphony (1962) is one of the best of the Fifteen -- written for bass soloist, male chorus and orchestra. Each movement's title is a name or word, rather than just a tempo indication:
- I.. Babi Yar. Shostakovich and Yevtushenko transform the 1941 massacre into a denunciation of antisemitism. The poem becomes the basis for a series of operatical episodes -- the Dreyfus affair, the Białystok pogrom, the Anne Frank story. Shostakovich may have thought he was done with censorship, but censorship was not done with him. The authorities refused to allow a performance until DS & YY revised the original verse:
- Original: I feel myself a Jew / Here I tread across old Egypt / Here I die, nailed to the cross / And even now I bear the scars of it / I become a gigantic, soundless scream / Above the thousands buried here/ I am every old man shot dead here / I am every child shot dead here.
- Censored: Here I stand at the fountainhead / That gives me faith in brotherhood / Here Russians lie, and Ukrainians / Together with Jews in the same ground / I think of Russia's heroic dead / In blocking the way to Fascism / To the smallest dew-drop, she is close to me / In her being and her fate.
- II. Humour. Coloring Yevtushenko's imagery with a spirit of mocking burlesque
- III. In the Store. About the hardship of Soviet women queueing in a shop.
- IV. Fears. An elaborate parody, the subject is suppression: Fears are dying-out in Russia.
- V. Career: The movement opens with a feeling of sunshine after a storm; it quickly becomes something else: an attack on bureaucrats, robotic unanimity, while also a tribute to genuine creativity.
The best performance on YouTube, led by the cancelled Valery Gergiev
(Poem in the credits)
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