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Shostakovich in Fiction


Dmitry Shostakovich is one of those composers whose musical talent appeared very early. He entered the Petrograd Conservatory (Petrograd, as the former Petersburg and future Leningrad were then called) when he was not yet thirteen years old. But by this time, he was already the author of opera, ballet and many piano pieces.
Along with a cheerful, mischievous and defiantly ironic mood, the early Shostakovich conveyed in his music the desire to establish the positive pillars of the updated life order. And here you need to immediately explain the following. In the music of Shostakovich, a very important place was occupied by the word, which was included in two of his last three symphonies. It served not only to clarify and concretize the author's artistic ideas, but also to address the listener directly. And it was no coincidence: in the art of the 1960s there was a special and very large — scale direction-journalistic, the essence of which was the desire to establish new ethical principles, the desire to contribute to changing the world for the better. The tone in this was set by the poetry of the young, including Yevgeny Yevtushenko, on whose poems Shostakovich created two of his later masterpieces — "The Execution of Stepan Razin" and the Thirteenth Symphony.
In his music, as in a mirror, reflected all the horror that man faced in the last century in our country. The composer's biographer Krzysztof Meyer commented on this: "It is difficult to imagine the flowering of his talent beyond the borders of his homeland — in this respect, he was fundamentally different from Igor Stravinsky and Sergei Prokofiev." The impulse to create many works for Shostakovich was specific events, but the connection was not always obvious, for example, in the title of the works ("Symphonic dedication to October" or "May Day" symphony), "much more significant is the emotional programming of many other works-extremely difficult to describe analytically, although clearly felt." Even the music written for the films of Kozintsev and Trauberg sounds like "at the abyss on the edge". Being drawn into the machina of the totalitarian state, Shostakovich could not help but feel the abyss, which is captured in the "Testimony", the memoirs of Dmitry Dmitrievich, recorded by Solomon Volkov.
«The Russian composer is particularly known for his 15 symphonies, numerous chamber works and concerts, many of which were written under the pressure of state standards of Soviet art. Shostakovich was the son of an engineer. In 1919, he entered the Petrograd (now Saint Petersburg) Conservatory, where he studied piano with Leonid Nikolaev until 1923, and composition with Alexander Glazunov and Maximilian Steinberg until 1925» .
The peak of his popularity was achieved in his 7th Symphony. He began its composition during the siege of Leningrad by the Nazis in the fall of 1941; served in a fire station during air raids; then flew from Leningrad to the temporary capital of the USSR in Kuibyshev on the Volga, where he finished the score, which premiered there on March 1, 1942. The symphonic development is highly realistic, with a Nazi theme, in mechanics. the time of the march, which is gaining monstrous volume, but the victorious Russian song turns it into a pathetic drum dribble. The work became a musical symbol of Russia's struggle against the superior Nazi war machine; it was given the subtitle Leningrad Symphony, and was performed during World War II by almost all the orchestras of the Allied countries. Ironically, in later years, Shostakovich hinted that the Symphony had little or nothing to do with the events of the siege of Leningrad, but in fact with the siege of Russia in the grip of the inhumane and tyrannical Stalinist regime.
«In the authoritative biography of Laurel E. Fay "Shostakovich : a life" of Shostakovich's brilliant but tumultuous post-Cold War career under Soviet rule by Laurel E. Fay turned to the primary documents: Shostakovich's numerous letters, concert programs and reviews, newspaper articles and diaries of his contemporaries» .
The intersection of music and politics is always on the surface, as evidenced by the life of Dmitry Dmitrievich Shostakovich. Once a revolutionary composer turned into a tortured dissident in hiding, and the figure of Joseph Stalin cast a dark shadow on the life and work of the composer. In particular, the book by Solomon Volkov (The Testimony), supposedly a memoir of D. D. D. at the end of his life, dictated to the author, offered a very embellished view of the composer, who distorted as much as he reported. The biography of Laurel Fay really brings some balance to this picture. The composer appears as a complex child prodigy, born of his time and place, as well as his personal inclinations and aspirations.
Fay explores various periods of Shostakovich's life, including his early years in post-revolutionary Petrograd / Leningrad (now back in St. Petersburg). The middle period under Stalin, with the tumultuous events surrounding the great purges, the composer's own "Lady Macbeth" and symphonies Nos. 4 and 5, as well as his re-exposure and rehabilitation, are central to the narrative. This biography is not so much a musical as a narrative from life, although musical works, of course, form the basis of the composer's life.
The work of Elizabeth Wilson "Shostakovich: Remembering Life" is a unique study of the great composer Dmitry Shostakovich, based on the memories of his contemporaries: family members, friends, fellow musicians and other prominent figures of the time. Elizabeth Wilson chronicles the composer's life, from his early successes to his struggles under the Stalinist regime, and his international recognition as one of the leading composers of the 20th century. It builds a detailed picture of Shostakovich's creative processes, how he was perceived by his contemporaries, and how the contrast between his personal life and public image increased as his fame grew.
This revised edition, released for the centenary of Shostakovich's birth, is based on many new works about the composer. This provides both a more detailed and focused way of life for Shostakovich and a broader view of his cultural background. A special aspect of Shostakovich that is revealed in this new edition is his sardonic and witty sense of humor, shown in many of his letters to close friends.
"Shostakovich: memories of life" is a fascinating look at the complex personality and musical life of this great composer, as well as an analysis of his position as one of the main figures in the cultural life of Russia in the twentieth century.
Julian Barnes «The Noise of Time».
«What role should art play in society and who will say about it? These are just two questions that Julian Barnes ponders in his subtle but by no means frivolous novel, which chronicles the hardships of the Russian composer Dmitry Shostakovich during the decades when he was one by one under the thumbs of Stalin and Khrushchev. Like his Booker Prize-winning "Feeling the End" (2011)," The Noise of Time " is another brilliant thought - provoking piece that explores the price of compromise and how much confrontation and concession a person and their conscience can endure» . Barnes, who has been called the "chameleon of British literature" for the extraordinary versatility of his work, directs the thoughts of an alarmed Shostakovich through an internal third-person perspective. His narrative, as elegantly structured as a three-part concerto, complete with resonant overture and coda, reflects the strain of an innate Russian pessimist, forced to adhere to the Soviet optimistic line both in his music and in the public speeches he was forced to sign as his own. The novel's largely sympathetic portrait undermines criticism of the composer's capitulation to power by showing a man whose self-deprecation was more strident than that of his detractors.