Dmitri Shostakovich

Of the large oeuvre that Shostakovich left behind, this profile will follow his fifteen symphonies. Shostakovich's first, 'Symphony No.1' in F minor Op 10, appeared in Leningrad on 12 May 1926 by the Leningrad Philharmonic conducted by Nikolai Malko. Wikipedia has its premiere in the United States sometime in 1928. It also saw performing in December 1928 by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with Frederick Stock conducting.

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'Symphony No.2' ('To October') in B major Op 14 was written for the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution.

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Shostakovich's debut film score (WoO) was for the silent 'The New Babylon' released to theaters on 18 March 1929. His opera, 'The Nose' Op 15, had been finished in 1928, but didn't premiere in Leningrad until 18 January 1930 to poor result, that based on the 1836 tale concerning social status in Russia by Nikolai Gogol. in 'The Nose' one Kovalyov visits his barber, Yakovlevich. All is sane until the next morning when Yakovlevich discovers a nose in his bread. Led to believe that he has accidentally shaven it from some customer's face, he attempts to be done with it by throwing it into the Neva River. Meanwhile Kovalyov awakes to learn that his nose is missing, so he sets out to find the thing. What do you know, but that he locates his nose at the Kazan Cathedral. It is not only the size of a human now, but has become an inapproachable State Councillor. Soon everyone including the police are searching for Kovalyov's nose. He eventually awakens with his nose returned to his visage, even as Yakovlevich arrives to give him another shave, released from jail for his suspicious role in the missing of Kovalyov's nose.

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Dmitri's 'Symphony No.3' ('First of May') Op 20 arrived to Leningrad on 21 January 1930, its finale set to text by Semyon Kirsanov applauding May Day which is also International Workers' Day in the Russian Federation (formerly USSR) corresponding to Labor Day in the United States celebrated on the first Monday of September.

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On 19 May 1933 Shostakovich married the first of three wives, Nina Varzar, who would bear Galina in 1936 and Maxim in 1938. Nina would die in 1954. Dmitri's betrothal to Margarita Kainova in 1956 ended in divorce after five years, upon which a happier marriage was made in 1962 with 27 year-old Irina Supinskaya nearly three decades younger than he. Not long after his first wedding Dmitri premiered his 'Piano Concerto No.1' in C minor for trumpet Op 35 on 15 October 1933.

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It was 22 January 1934 when Shostakovich premiered his opera, 'Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District' Op 29, with libretto by Alexander Preys and himself based on the 1865 horror novella by Nikolai Leskov. He added a 'Suite' for that in 1934 as well. This opera is another story about all the best people, concerning itself with the tragic fate of one Katerina who is unhappily married to a flour merchant whom she murders with the help of her lover, a womanizing Sergei, that after poisoning a rival to Sergei, one Boris who gets Sergei jailed for burglary. Katerina ends up in a convict train where she murders a rival for Sergei's attentions, but accidentally kills herself as well.

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Dmitri's ballet, 'The Limpid Stream' ('The Bright Stream') Op 39 premiered at Leningrad's Mikhaylovsky Theatre in 1935 with its 'Suite' designated Op 39a [1, 2; interpretations by the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine with Theodore Kuchar & Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra w Gennady Rozhdestvensky]. In January of 1936 Joseph Stalin visited a performance of 'Lady Macbeth' which earned it his condemnation along with that of 'Pravda' (leading Communist newspaper) and the Politburo [1, 2, 3]. 'The Limpid Stream' was rejected as well. To receive a negative rating from Stalin was a big deal not only since it came with a huge plunge in income, but because Stalin's Great Purge started in 1936, during which artists, musicians, intellectuals, scientists and the like with unacceptable views were imprisoned or shot [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. Shostakovich was working on 'Symphony No.4' Op 43 at the time, which he thought better to withdraw before its intended premiere in December 1936. The work didn't see a performance for a quarter century until 30 December 1961 by the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra with Kirill Kondrashin eight years after Stalin's death [1, 2; interpretation by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra w Neeme Järvi; live performance by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra w Jukka-Pekka Saraste].

Presented with the problem of needing both money and a safer profile, Shostakovich composed 'Symphony No.5' Op 47 in form more pleasing to powers that be [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; interpretation by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra with Yevgeny Mravinsky; live performance by the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester with Philippe Jordan]. His 'Symphony No.6' Op 54 arrived to Leningrad on 21 November 1939 [1, 2, 3; interpretation by the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne w Rudolf Barshai; live performance by the Wiener Philarmoniker with Leonard Bernstein].

In 1939 Shostakovich composed 'Suite on Finnish Themes', a work of imagination in more ways than one which had been intended for Russia's triumphal entry to Helsinki as of the Winter War of 30 November 1939 to 13 March 1940 [1, 2, 3, 4]. The Soviets thought Finland would be an easy take, the latter vastly overpowered in military might. But Stalin's Terror had by then imprisoned or executed some 30,000 experienced officers, toward the result of having a lot of big guns but few who knew how to use them. The result of the Winter War for the Fins were some huge concessions (: 11 percent territory, 30 percent economy), but for the Soviets the war had been a great strain and Helsinki remained independent. 'Suite on Finnish Themes' consequently saw no premiere until 2001, Shostakovich himself having no interest in it [interpretation by Anu Komsi (soprano) w Tom Nyman (tenor) * 2002].

Come the Siege of Leningrad on 8 September 1941 which killed about 500,000 civilians alone until 27 January 1944 during which period Shostakovich wrote his next two symphonies. 'Symphony No.7' ('Leningrad') in C major Op 60 premiered on 2 March 1942, having been composed in Samara [1, 2, 3, 4; interpretation by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with Leonard Bernstein; live performance by the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln with Semyon Bychkov; film of Shostakovich at piano 1941]. Shostakovich's 'Symphony No.8' in C minor Op 65 premiered in Moscow on 4 November 1943 by the USSR Symphony Orchestra led by Yevgeny Mravinsky. A tragic rather than triumphal work, it was unofficially banned until 1956 [1, 2, 3, 4, 5; interpretations by the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln with Rudolf Barshai & the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra with Kirill Kondrashin].

World War II had come to end in both theatres by the time Shostakovich premiered his 'Symphony No.9' in E-flat major Op 70 on 3 November 1945, deemed by one critic as too "childish" to be expressive of Nazi defeat which had been its purpose [1, 2, 3, 4, 5; interpretation by the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne w Rudolf Barshai (alt); live performance by the Vienna Philharmonic w Leonard Bernstein 1987; score].

Shostakovich found his works banned again in 1948 per the Zhdanov Doctrine, which intent was to sterilize Russia of foreign influences, including in musical composition. Summoned to apologize before the Central Committee for writing unacceptable (anti-proletarian) works, Shostakovich then watched his income fall away. Russia wasn't making it easy for one of its greatest composers. Facing a compromising situation, in 1949 he was given opportunity to redeem himself as a representative of Soviet Russia at the Cultural and Scientific Congress for World Peace in New York City. Publicly asked by Russian composer, Nicolas Nabokov, who was a United States citizen since 1939: 1, 2], if he agreed with the Soviet denunciation of Stravinsky, Shostakovich saw little choice but confirm, even as Stravinsky was among his favorite composers. Nabokov then published that Shostakovich was a tool of the Soviet government. Shostakovich was then compelled to write the oratorio, 'Song of the Forests' Op 81, in the summer of 1949 in which Stalin is praised for forestation projects in the Russian Steppes. Premiered by the Leningrad Philharmonic led by Yevgeny Mravinsky on 15 November 1949, it won Dmitri a Stalin Prize in 1950 [interpretations by the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra with Paavo Jaervi & the USSR State Symphony Orchestra with Yevgeny Mravinsky; live performance by the USSR State Symphony Orchestra with Evgeny Svetlanov].

In 1950-51 Shostakovich composed '24 Preludes and Fugues' for solo piano Op 87 after JS Bach's 'The Well-Tempered Clavier' [*], one for each major and minor key of the chromatic scale [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; piano by Tatiana Nikolayeva; live performance by Tatiana Nikolayeva: Book I, Book II].

In 1951 Shostakovich found himself a deputy in the Supreme Soviet (legislative body) of the Soviet Union. His 'Symphony No.10' Op 93 premiered on 17 December of 1953 by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra led by Yevgeny Mravinsky, Stalin having died the previous March [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7; live performances by the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra w Gustavo Dudamel, the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra w Pavel Kogan & the New England Conservatory Philharmonia w Hugh Wolff].

It was 1957 when Dmitri came up with 'Piano Concerto No.2' in F major Op 102 for his son's (Maxim) 19th birthday. Redlands and Rijen have that first performed on 10 May 1957 at the Moscow Conservatory by the USSR Symphony Orchestra led by Nikolai Anosov. The same date is given at Musicweb for Shostakovich's recording of it with the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra led by Alexander Gauk. Britten & Pears as well as Hippo proffer a broad date of 1958 instead [recording with Gauk ("Op 101" is probably a typo: the correct Opus is 102).

Shostakovich also recorded 'Piano Concerto No.1' and 'No.2' in May of 1958 with André Cluytens conducting the French National Radio Orchestra [1, 2; recording]. 'Symphony No.11' ('The Year 1905') in G minor Op 103 was first performed by the USSR Symphony Orchestra with Natan Rakhlin on 30 October 1957. Sir Malcolm Sargent led a performance by the BBC Symphony Orchestra at Royal Festival Hall on 22 January 1958. It reached the Houston Symphony Orchestra in the U.S. on 7 April 1958 beneath Leopold Stokowski. 'The Year 1905' refers to the First Russian Revolution of 1905. It had been the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 large on the mind of Tsar Nicholas II when Bloody Sunday arrived closer to home in St. Petersburg on 22 Jan 1905, the day Nicholas spelled the doom of monarchical Russia by opening fire on protesting workers at his gates, perhaps several hundred killed [1, 2, 3, 4, interpretation by the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln w Rudolf Barshai; live performances by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales w Thomas Søndergård & the New England Conservatory's Philharmonia w Hugo Wolff].

In 1960 Shostakovich became a member of the Communist Party under Khrushchev succeeding Stalin, less than apparently by blackmail, making that one of the saddest periods of his life. Articles appeared in 'Pravda' that he didn't write denouncing individualism in music. Twisted one way and the other like one's appendages caught in a Chinese finger trap, he spent three days in July composing 'String Quartet No.8' ('Ghost Quartet') dedicated to "the victims of fascism and war" by which he meant totalitarianism, according to his son, Maxim, making that a ghost reference even as the work refers to himself become a burdened man [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; Borodin Quartet of Moscow; live performance by the Emerson Quartet].

Prior commitment found Shostakovich dedicating his 'Symphony No.12' ('The Year 1917' [Bolshevik Revolution]) Op 112 to Vladimir Lenin, that premiering in October 1961 [1, 2, 3, 4; interpretation by the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks with Mariss Jansons or the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra with Kirill Kondrashin; live performance by the American Youth Symphony with Carlos Izcaray]. Shostakovich's 'Symphony No.13' ('Babi Yar'; see the Babi Yar ravine) Op 113 was finished on 20 July 1962 toward its premiere in December, that concerning the Nazi slaughter of 33,000 Ukrainian Jews in Kiev in a period of 24 hours during World War II [1, 2, 3, 4; interpretation by the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne with Rudolf Barshai; live performance by the Michigan State University Symphony Orchestra with Christopher James Lees or the Radio Philharmonic Orchestrawith Dmitri Slobodeniouk].

Come Dmitri's 'Symphony No.14' for soprano and bass Op 135 in 1969 setting texts to music by García Lorca, Guillaume Apollinaire, Wilhelm Kuchelbecker, et al [1, 2, 3; interpretation by Teresa Kubiak (soprano) with Isser Bushkin (bass) backed by the New York Philharmonic with Leonard Bernstein *; live performance by Olga Sergeyeva (soprano) with Yuri Vorobiev (bass) backed by the Mariinksy Theatre Orchestra with Valery Gergiev *].

Shostakovich's last symphony was 'Symphony No.15' in A major Op 141 which was first performed in Moscow on 8 January 1972 by the All-Union Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra led Maxim Shostakovich (son) [1, 2, 3; interpretation by the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra with Mark Wigglesworth; live performance by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra with Bernard Haitink].