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The Fight for Shostakovich


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Flak in the USSR

The Royal Opera's sexually charged production of Lady Macbeth reignites one of our most burning cultural conundrums - the 'Shostakovich Question'. By Ed Vulliamy

Sunday March 14, 2004

The Observer

On the night of 26 January 1936, Joseph Stalin rose from his seat at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow and stormed out, appalled by what he was listening to: the opera, Lady Macbeth of Mtensk, by Dmitri Shostakovich. It was probably the most important moment in the career of the twentieth century's greatest composer - the delivery of a life sentence to purgatory. Shostakovich wrote to his friend Ivan Sollertinsky: 'The show went well. At the end, I was called out by the audience and took a bow. My only regret is that I did not do so after the third act. Feeling sick at heart, I collected my briefcase and went to the station.'

Stalin's verdict appeared across page three of Pravda two days later, in an article Shostakovich chanced on while awaiting another train at Archangelsk, headlined 'Muddle in lieu of music'. Shostakovich had written, it said, an 'ugly flood of confusing sound... a pandemonium of creaking, shrieking and crashes... unadulterated cacophony'. Things could, it menaced, 'end very badly' for the composer.

Rest HERE

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/stor...1168657,00.html

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Interesting articles. What do you think of the controversy, ASU? And does it really ammter? At the end of the day, its the music...

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It's really a strech to call it a controversy. I was always taught the most if not all his music was sort of a rebellion against communism and stalin. It's interesting to note that the second article mentions the most rebelling in his Macbeth. I remember a similiar story--which i'm sure are something of musician legend by now if there is such a thing--that his entire Fifth symphony was a complete rebellion of Stalin. Stalin supposedly had advanced knowledge of this and order Shos. to change the symphony before the premiere. Being the badass he was, he didn't change it and premiered the piece in Russia with thousands in the audience including Stalin. The story goes that Shos. was so scared of being executed that he had his packed suitcase right next to the podium so he could flee right after the performance. He then premiered the symphony and was ready to go fearing Stalin. Stalin was supposedly quite upset and wanted his head on the platter so to speak, which was all fine and good until--here's the best part--He supposedly got a 45 MINUTE standing ovation (almost as long as the symphony itself) and Stalin couldn't touch him at that point. Then he emmigrated here and thus continues the story

I'm not sure if any or all of that's true...but thats what multiple conductors have told me...I just thought it was a badass story.

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