Dmitri's Dacha

[AnotherSpin]

Someone who participates in a thread only to be an antagonistic propagandist is pathetically petty. You need a more wholesome hobby.

Honestly, I haven't the faintest clue what it is you need — and, to be perfectly frank, I'm not exactly bursting with enthusiasm to ponder it either. Sorry, but there we are.

[Madiel]

It was commissioned by Vasily Nebolsin, a conductor at the Bolshoi Theatre, who was a master of producing works for every conceivable public holiday or ceremonial occasion. Beforehand there would be a lot of commotion. Meetings were called at the Bolshoi and at the Ministry of Culture, where, in heated discussions and pompous arguments it was decided what particular work Stalin (or his successors) should listen to and which composer should be commissioned to write the necessary piece. These commissions incidentally were much sought after as they were very well paid, and composers fell over themselves to get one. Shostakovich was the only one never to get one. The other composers wrote terrible shit. On this occasion for some reason nothing suitable was ready for the celebration of the October Revolution. Nebolsin was in trouble. In desperation Nebolsin came to see Shastakovich at his flat. I happened to be there at the time.

This text is very clearly setting the scene for what would usually happen in these events, and contrasting it with the one time that Shostakovich was called upon. To read it as only relevant to the particular year and particular event that Shostakovich wrote something is... well, is to not actually read it.

[AnotherSpin]

By the way, fans of Shostakovich biographies might find this amusing. The name Lev Lebedinsky rang a faint bell from years ago, so I decided to look him up on Wikipedia. And what do you know — he was born in 1904, and by 1919, at the age of 15, he was already taking part in the Russian Civil War, leading a cavalry reconnaissance unit. Not bad for a teenager!

But wait, there's more. In the early 1920s, he served in the Cheka. Yes, a sixteen-year-old secret police officer — almost sounds like satire. Even Putin didn't pull that off.

Then, by 1923, at just nineteen, he became one of the leaders of the so-called Russian Association of Proletarian Musicians — the very group that hounded composers deemed unsuitable by the regime, including Mosolov.

The rest of his biography continues in much the same spirit. So, it turns out that the author of those glowing descriptions of Shostakovich's compositional method was a Chekist from a tender age. Should we be surprised? Probably not...

Maybe some have forgotten, but the Cheka (short for All-Russian Extraordinary Commission) was the first Soviet secret police, created in 1917 by Lenin to suppress counter-revolution and sabotage; it quickly became infamous for its role in the Red Terror — a campaign of mass arrests, torture, and executions during the Russian Civil War. As the regime evolved, so did the Cheka, transforming through various names (GPU, NKVD, etc) before becoming the KGB, the feared security agency of the Soviet Union.

[ritter]

The word "Cheka" that @AnotherSpin explains above was incorporated into the Spanish language (spelled "checa") during the Civil War, to denote the makeshift, "Stalinist style" (as per the dictionary of Royal Spanish Academy) detention and torture centres that were established in the Republican zone between 1936 and 1939.  The word appears in the title of one of the great Spanish novels of the 20th century, Agustín de Foxá's Madrid de corte a checa.

Apologies for the tangential off-topic deviation.

[AnotherSpin]

The word "Cheka" that @AnotherSpin explains above was incorporated into the Spanish language (spelled "checa") during the Civil War, to denote the makeshift, "Stalinist style" (as per the dictionary of Royal Spanish Academy) detention and torture centres that were established in the Republican zone between 1936 and 1939.  The word appears title of one of the great Spanish novels of the 20th century, Agustín de Foxá's Madrid de corte a checa.

Apologies for the tangential off-topic deviation.

I've come across some accounts of the Kremlin's role in orchestrating terror during the Spanish Civil War.

[Karl Henning]

The word "Cheka" that @AnotherSpin explains above was incorporated into the Spanish language (spelled "checa") during the Civil War, to denote the makeshift, "Stalinist style" (as per the dictionary of Royal Spanish Academy) detention and torture centres that were established in the Republican zone between 1936 and 1939.  The word appears title of one of the great Spanish novels of the 20th century, Agustín de Foxá's Madrid de corte a checa.

Apologies for the tangential off-topic deviation.

Interesting!

[Florestan]

The word "Cheka" that @AnotherSpin explains above was incorporated into the Spanish language (spelled "checa") during the Civil War, to denote the makeshift, "Stalinist style" (as per the dictionary of Royal Spanish Academy) detention and torture centres that were established in the Republican zone between 1936 and 1939.  The word appears title of one of the great Spanish novels of the 20th century, Agustín de Foxá's Madrid de corte a checa.

Apologies for the tangential off-topic deviation.

Surely they couldn't have been established without the complicity, or at least the acquiescence, of the Republican authorities. In this respect, Largo Caballero may have indeed been el Lenin español, although the label might perhaps apply even better to Negrín. 

[Karl Henning]

This is from Laurel Fay's Shostakovich: A Life.
On 24 April 1948, facing his colleagues at the Composers' Congress, Shostakovich had pledged to place melody at the heart of his future works, melody infused with the essence of folklore. He had promised to produce romances and songs. In May the composer began querying a Jewish friend about the pronunciation of certain Yiddish words and the rhythmic flow of folk texts that he knew only in Russian translation. What he was studying was a collection of translated texts, Jewish Folk Songs, that had been published in Moscow in 1947. By August 1948, which Shostakovich spent in Kellomäki, He had selected texts from this volume and, between 1 and 29 August, he completed settings of eight of the poems for soprano, contralto, tenor, and piano. On his return to Moscow, Shostakovich played the score to soprano Nina Dorliak and her husband, Svyatoslav Richter. Both were moved. At Shostakovich's suggestion, Dorliak recruited other singers to perform the composition. They unveiled the eight songs for a private gathering of musicians and friends at Shostakovich's birthday party on 25 September 1948. Dorliak recalled: " The new work was striking and profound, and everybody was moved by its intense and simple sincerity." Among those present was Natalya Mikhoels: "On this occasion, Shostakovich, rubbing his hands together, nervously introduced the recently written songs with the words 'I have here, you might say, some new songs.'" [p. 167]

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

Why drag Stalin into this? To add some spooky flair? The guy had been dead for over a year by the time Shostakovich slapped this piece together in a hurry.

Why comment at all? I read the excerpt @Karl Henning posted and found it informative.

[Karl Henning]

This is from Laurel Fay's Shostakovich: A Life.
On 24 April 1948, facing his colleagues at the Composers' Congress, Shostakovich had pledged to place melody at the heart of his future works, melody infused with the essence of folklore. He had promised to produce romances and songs. In May the composer began querying a Jewish friend about the pronunciation of certain Yiddish words and the rhythmic flow of folk texts that he knew only in Russian translation. What he was studying was a collection of translated texts, Jewish Folk Songs, that had been published in Moscow in 1947. By August 1948, which Shostakovich spent in Kellomäki, He had selected texts from this volume and, between 1 and 29 August, he completed settings of eight of the poems for soprano, contralto, tenor, and piano. On his return to Moscow, Shostakovich played the score to soprano Nina Dorliak and her husband, Svyatoslav Richter. Both were moved. At Shostakovich's suggestion, Dorliak recruited other singers to perform the composition. They unveiled the eight songs for a private gathering of musicians and friends at Shostakovich's birthday party on 25 September 1948. Dorliak recalled: " The new work was striking and profound, and everybody was moved by its intense and simple sincerity." Among those present was Natalya Mikhoels: "On this occasion, Shostakovich, rubbing his hands together, nervously introduced the recently written songs with the words 'I have here, you might say, some new songs.'" [p. 167]

N.B. Dorliak and Shostakovich are two of the performers in this recording. 

[AnotherSpin]

N.B. Dorliak and Shostakovich are two of the performers in this recording.

Perfect timing! For a bit of historical context:

The Doctors' Plot (Дело врачей-убийц) was a criminal case orchestrated by the Kremlin against a group of prominent Jewish physicians accused of plotting to assassinate top Soviet leaders. The campaign began in 1948, when doctor Lidiya Timashuk reported a misdiagnosis in the treatment of Andrei Zhdanov. Later, the government launched a wave of arrests, framing the case as a Zionist conspiracy linked to the international Jewish organization "Joint," allegedly controlled by American intelligence. Laced with antisemitic rhetoric, the affair became part of a broader crackdown on so-called "rootless cosmopolitanism" that swept the USSR from 1947 to 1953. It all came to a halt shortly after Stalin's death in March 1953. Just a year earlier, in 1952, the regime had concluded a related purge of the so-called Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee which ended with the execution of 13 prominent Jewish figures, including Shimeliovich, chief physician at Botkin Hospital.

[JBS]

I think most people already realize Shostakovich's decision to set Jewish songs was a deliberate choice made in the context of Stalinist antisemitism.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

Speaking of Shostakovich's songs, I just have to give a shout out to the song cycle Seven Romances on Poems by Alexander Blok, Op. 127. Such a masterful work.

[Karl Henning]

Speaking of Shostakovich's songs, I just have to give a shout out to the song cycle Seven Romances on Poems by Alexander Blok, Op. 127. Such a masterful work.

Fabulous.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

Fabulous.

Indeed and I'm overdo for a revisit. I've got to make time for it.

[AnotherSpin]

I think most people already realize Shostakovich's decision to set Jewish songs was a deliberate choice made in the context of Stalinist antisemitism.

Shostakovich didn't oppose the regime. On the contrary, he enjoyed privileges granted to a few who were close to it.

[JBS]

Shostakovich didn't oppose the regime. On the contrary, he enjoyed privileges granted to a few who were close to it.

I have the privilege of not worrying if the KGB will arrest me in the middle of the night. He didn't.

There are plenty of living Russians collaborating with Putin right now. Why not focus on them instead of hating on a man who's been dead for almost half a century?

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

Shostakovich didn't oppose the regime. On the contrary, he enjoyed privileges granted to a few who were close to it.

And at what point do we forget about all of this and just enjoy the man's music?

[AnotherSpin]

I have the privilege of not worrying if the KGB will arrest me in the middle of the night. He didn't.

There are plenty of living Russians collaborating with Putin right now. Why not focus on them instead of hating on a man who's been dead for almost half a century?

What made you think I hate Shostakovich? I don't. But I do hold him in contempt — as a lackey of a criminal regime.

Your remark — that you never had to worry about the KGB arresting you in the middle of the night — is oddly amusing. No, of course you didn't. But I did. I lived in the USSR for a significant part of my life and had my own encounters with its repressive machinery. That's why my attitude toward the regime and its loyal servants isn't something you can easily relate to.

So go ahead — listen to the music, and enjoy the comfort of geographical and historical distance from all of this, then and now.

As for Russain collaborators of Putin — most Russians are thoroughly steeped in imperialist thinking, even those who say they disapprove of Putin. But I honestly can't recall any significant composers among them now. Can you?

What I do remember is a vivid discussion on a Russian musical forum some about fifteen years ago. The topic: who is the most important living Russian composer? In the end, they came to a telling conclusion — Arvo Pärt, Giya Kancheli, and Valentin Silvestrov.

[Florestan]

Shostakovich didn't oppose the regime. On the contrary, he enjoyed privileges granted to a few who were close to it.

You've made this point a thousand times already. In case you didn't notice, this thread is dedicated to Shostakovich's music, not to his ethics. Why can't you just leave people alone, who enjoy his music and want to discuss it? You keep saying you don't care about what other people think yet that's exactly what you do. You keep preaching detachment and equanimity yet you involve yourself in controversies of your own making. You should practice what you preach more and talk less.