Ligeti Walton Shostakovich

The young Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) was terrified by Stalin’s wrath already in 1936, when the Soviet Union’s leader made a trip to the opera to experience the great musical sensation of the time, Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtensk. Stalin was strongly provoked by both the plot and the music, and it is likely that he was behind the powerful critical assault of the composer which soon resounded from the influential paper Pravda.

Shostakovich put away his rather radical fourth symphony, afraid that it would result in his arrest or death. Instead he started on his fifth symphony, which was much more moderate in style and well placed to win back the goodwill of those in power. The plan worked, and the fifth symphony became a success with both the authorities and the public. Many listeners arguably understood its double meaning; the symphony can be described as a lament for the people’s suffering, disguised as a hymn of triumph for the leaders.

After having offered a strong patriotic contribution during the Second World War with his seventh symphony, the world premiere of which was given in a Leningrad under siege in 1941, one might expect Shostakovich’s position in the Soviet Union to have been assured. But he soon gained a new notoriety; the authorities criticised his ninth symphony, written after the defeat of Nazi Germany, for not being more forceful and triumphant. In 1948 the composer experienced new accusations, this time followed up with concrete sanctions.

The sanctions relaxed somewhat in the following year, but it was only in 1953 that Shostakovich was embraced fully - Josef Stalin died that year, and the composer’s tenth symphony was played for the first time. According to the composer’s own letters he wrote the symphony in the summer of 1953, although other sources maintain it must have been written some years earlier. The meaning behind it is also debated; in a book of reflections published after the composer’s death it is claimed that the symphony describes the time of Stalin, but little indicates that it was perceived in this way at the time.

The first movement is the longest, and builds up slowly to a nightmare-like climax halfway through. The short, intensely rhythmical second movement represents, according to the above-mentioned book, a portrait of Stalin himself. In the somewhat lighter third movement we can hear the influence of Mahler, one of Shostakovich’s great idols. Here, two important musical ideas become clear: the DSCH-motif represents the composer himself, and the Elmira-motive a student who fascinated him. The latter may be reminiscent of Sibelius’ famous “swan theme” from the final movement of his fifth symphony.