Shostakovich: A Composer Under Communism

One of the characteristics of Totalitarianism is propaganda. Stalin ruled by terror and with a totalitarian grip in order to get rid of anyone who might oppose him. Stalin expanded the power of the secret police, and encouraged citizen to spy on one another and millions killed and sent to forced labor camps. Stalin had a cult of personality built around himself in the Soviet Union. Cities were renamed in his honor; Soviet history books were rewritten to give him a more important role in the revolution and mythologize parts of life. He was the subject artwork, literature, music, and his name actually became a part of their national anthem. His government controlled the Soviet Media which had a lot to do with propaganda.

Soso Djugashvili, more commonly known as Joseph Stalin, ‘man of steel’, dictator of the Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) Russia, can be considered a ‘Red Tsar’ to an extent when features of Stalinism are compared to those of Tsarism and Russia ruled by Nicholas II’s autocratic regime from 1894 to 1917. A ‘Red Tsar’ is a communist leader whom follows similar principles followed under the leadership of a Tsar, that were influenced by few opinions allowing sole leadership and little opposition from others. Stalin can be considered a ‘Red Tsar’ to an extent as he ruled Communist Russia as a somewhat totalitarian state and was considered a ‘God-like’ figure sent to Earth to lead the nation and its people. From Stalin’s reign of terror from 1929 to 1953 there can be similarities seen in his regime to features of Tsarism as well as differences, this is why there are alternative interpretations for Stalin being considered a ‘Red Tsar’.

Dmitri Shostakovich and Aaron Copland are two major composers of the 20th century who were both influenced by politics in their time. While Shostakovich publicly opposed the communist regime in the Soviet Union, Copland quietly embraced communist ideologies while in America. Shostakovich’s political stance is demonstrated in his Symphony No.5, a bombastic and triumphant piece of music in which Shostakovich voices his distaste with Stalin’s rule. Copland’s “Into the Streets May First” was the product of a “brief yet decisive phase of left-wing culture that promoted modernist aesthetics as a challenge to the conventions of American industrial capitalism.” Living on opposite sides of the world and opposite sides of the political spectrum, both

One of the most prominent influences of art throughout history has been politics. The 50s through 70s in America are a great example of this, for so many of this era’s songs were arguments against America’s involvement in the Vietnam War and criticisms of American politics at the time. However, this phenomenon was prominent long before the Vietnam War and was not just an American trend; in fact, two of the most influential and famous pieces of the early 20th century were products of political oppression on the other side of the world. Both Paul Hindemith, under the Nazi Regime, and Dmitri Shostakovich, under the communist reign of Stalin, managed to fight political oppression through their music. The two composers had very different ways of doing so. Hindemith wrote two separate pieces, one that directly opposed the Nazi regime, and another that was so nationalistic he was forgiven for his previous ‘mistakes’, whereas Shostakovich wrote a single piece which seemed just as nationalistic as Hindemith’s symphony yet it had a deeper, much more rebellious underlying message. Even though their methods’ differed, both Hindemith and Shostakovich were able to express their true feelings about the totalitarian governments that were repressing their artistic ability.

Igor Stravinsky is considered by many the greatest composer of the 20th Century. Several composers have made breakthroughs and great accomplishments in the past 100 years, but Stravinsky has dominated nearly every trend set. He was born near St. Petersburg, Russia in Oranienbaum, on June 17, 1882. He was born to a famous Russian bass opera singer, Fyodor Ignatyevich Stravinsky.

During the latter part of his life, rumors emerged of Tchaikovsky being a homosexual. This effected how his works were received, mainly in the Western part of the world. According to Poznansky, “His music began to be criticized as sentimental, romantically excessive, charged with many imperfections and even pathological” (Poznansky, 2012). It is now known that although Tchaikovsky was married to Antonina Miliukova in July 1877, their marriage lasted less than three months. Tchaikovky admits to having homosexual escapades in 1861 and even to falling in love with a student, Losif Kotek. It is quite obvious that these events have no bearing on the popularity of his work now.

From Stalin’s Cult of Personality to Khrushchev’s period of De-Stalinization, the nation of the Soviet Union was in endless disarray of what to regard as true in the sense of a socialist direction. The short story, This is Moscow Speaking, written by Yuli Daniel (Nikolai Arzhak) represents the ideology that the citizens of the USSR were constantly living in fear of the alternations of their nation’s political policies. Even more, the novella gives an explanation for the people’s desire to conform to the principles around them.

Nelson demonstrates that the arguments and statements are highly credible with the use of sources and accurate referencing. She examines the first fifteen years of the Soviet Rule and offers perspective on restrictions imposed and interactions between musicians and politicians. While looking at the social philosophies and the cultural limits of the era that influenced musicians in Russia, particularly Shostakovich and Prokofiev. This book provides in depth explanation and analysis of the restrictions enforced under the Soviet Union and highlights that there was often a difference between the restraints and implementations. It is a highly valuable source to the essay and will be used to provide soluble detail of the restrictions Russian Composers

ATchaikovsky=s music is not only one of the cornerstones of Russian musical society and world music . . . It is at the same time a creative and technical encyclopedia to which every Russian composer has reference in the course of his own work,@ commented Dimitri Shostakovich.1 This was a typical view held by Tchaikovsky=s contemporaries. He was well known and well respected, especially in his later years. In addition, Tchaikovsky was recognized as the most expressive Romantic composer in Russia.2 He was often idolized and put on a pedestal, particularly during his tour of the United States in 1891 when he conducted concerts of his own works in some of the leading concert halls. Tchaikovsky brought national attention to

How terrible was Ivan the Terrible? Fatih Yücel During the World War II, Joseph Stalin (1878-1953) commissioned famous director Sergei Eisenstein (1898-1848) who was the creator of movies such as Battleship Potemkin (1925), October (1928), and Alexander Nevsky (1938) to make a movie about Ivan IV, [Ivan the Terrible (Russian: Иван Грозный, Ivan Grozniy] the first Tsar of Russia, who ruled between 1547-1584. Stalin was known to identify himself with the ruler and he was much satisfied with the first part of the movie (1944) named Ivan the Terribe. Hence the first part of the movie which depicts the coronation of Ivan IV as Tsar, his marriage to Anastasia Romanovna, the Tsar’s sickness, the death of the Tsarina Anastasia, and Ivan’s embodiment of people support, was awarded the Stalin Prize; yet the second part which was named The Boyars’ Plot was banned by Stalin because it depicted the Tsar as a “mentally unstable” character in accordance with the origin of the name “Terrible”

However, putting in place censorships during this period of time prove to be more difficult than before since there was more technology available. There were radios, television, broadcasting as wells as the United States spreading their propaganda across the globe; All thing combines made it harder for the government to censor everything from the outside world. This censorship led to illegal market where the Soviets could buy Western music, books, clothes, medicine and other thing. The fascination with the Western world wasn’t anything

Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Shostakovich was a Russian composer. He was well known for his string quartets, concertos, and instrumental works that he composed, as well as for his numerous film scores, incidental theatre music, and ballets. Shostakovich is usually regarded as the greatest symphonist in the 20th musical achievements. However, even though Shostakovich was a famous musician, he was not projected to have a musical gift at an early age. Born in St. Petersburg on September 25, 1906, Dmitri Shostakovich was raised in a home where “music-making assumed an important place” (Fay 8).

In the city capital of St. Petersburg, there were 2 different ideology on music emerged. Anton Rubinstein had the opinion that in order for Russian classical art to move on, teaching and using the influence of western European values and techniques would be the right way forward. Mily Balakirev led the group of composers who opposed this ideology and instead they treasured the works of Glinka and believed in distinct Russian style of music not influenced by the West. The five (also known as the mighty five) was the name given to a group of composers who believed in the idea of Russian music and didn’t agree with the western European teaching and the composers were Mily Balakirev, Céser Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Alexander Borodin and Nikolai Rimsky – Korsakov .

Dmitri Shostakovich was a Soviet composer and pianist, and a prominent figure of 20th-century music. Shostakovich developed a hybrid voice, combining a variety of different musical techniques into his music. Shostakovich was also heavily influenced by the neo-classical style pioneered by Igor Stravinsky, and by the post-Romanticism associated with Gustav Mahler.

If the 20th century is indeed the age of experimentation, then Shostakovich is no ideal. Perhaps, if the Soviet government had been more tolerant, his