Shostakovich

In these messages I try to relate stories and analysis about Jews and Israel
and what its like living here. This story is another one about our
musicologist lecturer Brenda Miller and the brilliant lecture she gave Sunday
night about Shostakovich. What has this got to do with Jews? Wait, you'll
see.
Shostakovich was arguably the Beethoven of the 20th century, the most
brilliant composer who suffered terribly from the persecution of Stalin and
communism,but was not murdered like many of his contemporaries because
even Stalin recognized his musical genius.
Shostakovich graduated from the St. Petersburg/Leningrad conservatoire in
1924 and was instantly recognized as a musical great from his first symphony.
However, from the time of his 2nd symphony in 1927 he was put on the
black-list because it was considered too modern and individualistic and was
not based on "social realism." Nevertheless, Shostakovich remained a
committed communist, although his work often defied the party line and he was
denounced publicly and lived in fear and apprehension. During the subsequent
purges one of his best friends, Emil Meyerhoff, a Jew and a theatrical
producer was arrested and disappeared, and his wife was hacked to pieces
and left in her apartment as a warning.
I will not cover the details of the ups and downs of Shostakovich's life,
since that has been covered in the famous book, "Testimony" published after
his death in 1975 by his young protege, Solomon Volkov, who moved to the
West. A truly brilliant movie was made based on this book, directed by Tony
Palmer and starring Ben Kingsley as Shostakovich, that I highly recommend.
In 1941 Shostakovich composed his 7th "Leningrad" Symphony that was
considered to relate the Nazi attack upon his city, and was widely and
successfully performed. He was back in favor. But, in 1948, Minister of
Education Zhdanov publicly criticized him and his works were banned again.
From then until Stalin's death in 1953 Shostakovich wrote mainly for "the
drawer."
So what was the connection to Jews? Because he was so harassed and
persecuted strangely Shostakovich identified strongly and secretly with the
Jews. Certainly he had many Jewish friends and certainly Jews did and still
do play a crucial role in Russian music. But, his identification was very
personal. From the point at which he decided to have no further dealings
with the Soviet system and to write music for himself (that would obviously
have to be kept secret and not published or performed for many years),
Shostakovich put actual Jewish songs or Jewish themes he made up into
nearly all of his compositions. So it is very surprising to find that the
best works of the greatest Russian composer of the 20th century are
suffused with a Jewish ethos.
Therefore, it is not unexpected that his 13th Symphony of 1962 is the
"Babi Yar" Symphony and is a setting of the poem by that name and others
by Yevgeny Yevtushenko, named after the gorge outside Kiev where a
massacre of 100,000 Jews was carried out by the Nazis in 1941. It is a
powerful piece of music not for the faint-hearted, with a strong Jewish
connection.
I have a personal story about this piece of music. When I visited Moscow in
1972 I visited the Melodiya store which was the main music store in Moscow
and asked for the 13th Symphony by Shostakovich. They brought me the 12th
Symphony, so I repeated my request with the use of a phrase book, and I got
something else again. So I asked for the Manageress, and when she refused to
understand me I asked if there was anyone in the store who spoke English and I
had him translate my request. I said I would not leave until they brought me
the 13th Symphony (then it was not available in the West), and finally I got
it. If I was not already being followed by the KGB for contacting Jewish
refuseniks I might have been more worried.
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For more information about Brenda Miller's talks go to: www.musiclovers.co.il
For my past messages see: www.commentfromisraelblog.blogspot.com