Dmitri Shostakovich

Dmitri Shostakovich was the Soviet Union’s leading composer and remains the most frequently performed symphonist of the mid-20th century, with his chamber works and concertos also firmly established in the standard repertoire. In his late 20s, political intervention cut short his potentially outstanding operatic output, and it continued to blight his career, belying the outward signs of official favor and recognition that came his way. He played a decisive role in the musical life of his country as a teacher, writer, and administrator. He was also an accomplished pianist, frequently performing his own works until disability prevented him from doing so.

Early Years: Learning Curve, Breakthrough, Fall from Grace

Shostakovich was born on September 25 (O.S. 12), 1906, to a comparatively well-off family. His father was a high-ranking civil servant and amateur singer, his mother a piano teacher. He took piano lessons from the age of nine and simultaneously began composing. In the fall of 1919, he enrolled in the Petrograd Conservatory, studying principally under Rimsky-Korsakov's son-in-law and pupil, Maximilian Steinberg. As the turmoil of the post-October Revolution years abated, he encountered the latest modernist idioms of the West, notably those of Igor Stravinsky, Alban Berg, and Paul Hindemith. Determined to combine experimental freedom with strong compositional discipline, he laid the foundations for a multifaceted musical language capable of rapid shifts in tone and style. These shifts were already evident in his First Symphony (1924–25), a graduation piece that proved a sensation at its first performance and established his reputation as the most exciting early musical product of the Soviet system.

Shortly before his work on the First Symphony, Shostakovich’s father died, and the family fell on hard times. The young composer took to working as a pianist for the silent cinema. This experience had considerable impact on the range, immediacy, and fluency of his musical idiom. In his early 20s, with Stalinist curbs not yet in place, he was able to earn substantial amounts from commissions for stage and screen, which he fulfilled with breathtaking skill and rapidity. In 1931–32, he composed his tragic-satirical second opera, The Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District (after the Nikolai Leskov novella), which was wildly successful and consolidated his standing both in the Soviet Union and abroad. That success coincided, however, with the advent of Socialist Realism—the official cultural doctrine of the Soviet Union—with which Lady Macbeth’s lurid sensuality, violence, and pessimism could scarcely have been less compatible. Stalin’s attendance in January 1936 resulted in a scathing anonymous review in Pravda (the official newspaper of the Soviet Communist Party), warning Shostakovich that he would have to radically change direction or face dire consequences. 

Middle Period: Reinvention, Reorientation, Second Downfall

Shostakovich was midway through composing the finale of his mighty Fourth Symphony when the blow struck. In December 1936 he judiciously canceled the premiere. The following year he achieved rehabilitation with his Fifth Symphony, which he subtitled “A Soviet Artist’s Practical Creative Reply to Just Criticism.” While it is true that the musical language of the Fifth Symphony is significantly moderated compared to that of the Fourth, any reduction in flamboyance is richly compensated by an increase in emotional depth and ambivalence.

From this time until the death of Stalin in 1953, Shostakovich produced four more symphonies, notably the heroic-patriotic No. 7, the “Leningrad” Symphony (1941), which was mostly composed in the besieged city. He also turned to the string quartet, at first as an exercise associated with the first composition classes he taught, but then gradually expanding in ambition, and approaching the depth and range of expression of his symphonies.

Shostakovich: Quartet No. 1 in C major for Strings, Op. 49

In 1948 Shostakovich was targeted in the notorious “anti-formalism” campaign, which reminded Soviet composers of their civic duty to write music comprehensible to the “People,” rooted in folk culture, and untainted by so-called Western decadence. Stalin’s death released much of the pressure, and Shostakovich produced his Tenth Symphony soon thereafter: a stirring document of the first phase of the “Thaw” in Soviet cultural life.

Over the next dozen years, Shostakovich’s recovery was marked by premieres of previously withdrawn or banned works, including the Fourth Symphony in 1961 and Lady Macbeth in a somewhat toned-down version in 1963. But his recuperation hit two obstacles. In 1958 he experienced the first symptoms of a mysterious muscular weakness that would only much later be diagnosed as ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). And in 1960, with his health depleted and his second marriage having failed, he yielded to overtures to join the Communist Party, fully aware that this step would be viewed by his colleagues as a betrayal. His immediate artistic response is movingly enshrined in the semi-autobiographical Eighth String Quartet. Endeavouring to use his Party membership as a power base for the greater good, he composed his choral-orchestral Thirteenth Symphony, “Babi Yar,” in 1962, setting poems by Yevgeny Yevtushenko—thinly veiled critiques of Soviet society.

Shostakovich: Quartet No. 8 in C minor for Strings, Op. 110

Late Period: Illness, Withdrawal

There is no clear demarcation between Shostakovich’s middle and late periods. However, from around 1967, much of his music acquired an increasingly cryptic tone, sometimes incorporating 12-tone rows as symbols of death or out-of-body experiences. This move coincided with the first of his heart attacks, in 1966, the day after the premiere of his String Quartet No. 11; a second would follow in 1971. In his last decade, Shostakovich turned increasingly to song composition, notably on topics of mortality and conscience.

Shostakovich: Quartet No. 11 in F minor for Strings, Op. 122

For all his muscular and heart ailments, it was lung cancer, diagnosed in 1970, that was the proximate cause of Shostakovich’s passing, on August 9, 1975. On his deathbed, he was correcting the proofs of his last completed work, the Viola Sonata. Smuggled into that composition are quoted snippets from all 15 of his symphonies in turn.

Shostakovich: Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 147

Legacy

In his last decade, Shostakovich was increasingly regarded by Soviet audiences and fellow composers as representative of the old Soviet order. Their interest turned to younger, more radical figures, such as Alfred Schnittke, who were more sympathetic to the post-war Western avant-garde and had the physical capacity to push harder against official restrictions. Nevertheless, his influence remained strong among those in his own circle, most notably Mieczysław Weinberg (who was never an official pupil) and Boris Tishchenko (who was). Otherwise, his legacy is principally in the concert hall, where his symphonies are the most frequently heard of any composer’s since Mahler, and his concertos and quartets are also ubiquitous. Those works stand as monuments to the tribulations of the mid-20th century: exemplars of how music can symbolize resistance and survival.

Watching and Listening

All 15 of Shostakovich’s string quartets are in the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Digital Archive in first-rate performances by the Jerusalem Quartet. CD collectors might also prioritize the classic recordings by the Borodin Quartet (Chandos, Quartets 1–13) and, most recently, the Quatuor Danel (Accentus, Quartets 1–15).

The second of his two piano trios, likewise essential listening, may also be found in the CMS archive. An electrifying live account by Yuja Wang, Gautier Capuçon, and Leonidas Kavakos may be found on YouTube.

Shostakovich composed one sonata each for violin and piano, viola and piano, and cello and piano. Classic recordings are by, respectively, Oistrakh and Richter, Bashmet again with Richter, and Rostropovich with the composer.

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