50 years after his death, Shostakovich is still very much alive
His exceptional talent became evident at the age of thirteen when he was admitted to the Saint Petersburg Conservatory after just four years of piano lessons. With his First Symphony, which he composed as his graduation piece in 1925, Shostakovich largely adhered to the traditional rules of classical composition. This changed drastically in 1927 when he wrote his Second Symphony (“October”). In this piece, he largely abandoned those conventions, creating a structure where a melody is at times almost unrecognizable. Nevertheless, the work reflected the spirit of the times, as the ideology of the Soviet Union’s musical avant-garde was becoming increasingly popular.
Propaganda
The situation changed drastically as Stalin consolidated power. Art, including music, increasingly became a tool to glorify socialist ideology. The dictator insisted that art must be accessible to every worker and—equally important—portray the socialist regime in a positive light. Shostakovich was no exception; he, too, had to adapt his music to meet the demands of the totalitarian leader. This became glaringly evident in 1936, when his opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District was savaged in the propaganda newspaper Pravda. The article, titled Chaos Instead of Music, harshly criticized the opera’s negative themes and described it as “a deliberately dissonant, muddled stream of sound.” More than just scathing criticism, the article was a thinly veiled warning: his life and career hung by a thread if he failed to conform to the rules. And that warning applied to all artists.
Toe the line
Shostakovich took the criticism to heart and immediately shelved his Fourth Symphony. He returned with his Fifth Symphony, a work that expressed—whether sincerely or not—his remorse for his opera, underscored by the subtitle A Soviet Artist’s Response to Just Criticism. This was no coincidence. Shostakovich himself was not particularly satisfied with the symphony but felt he had no choice but to toe the line. Failing to do so could well have cost him his life. Reflecting on this later, he remarked: “Surely, it must be clear to everyone what’s happening there. It’s as if someone beats you with a stick and says, ‘Your job is to bring joy,’ and you get up, groaning, and say, ‘It’s my job to bring joy!’” Despite this, the piece received the regime’s approval.
During the Second World War, Shostakovich’s creative freedom was further curtailed. Music was expected to highlight the triumphs of the Red Army above all else. However, both his Eighth and Ninth Symphonies were deemed inadequate in meeting this requirement. The Eighth Symphony, despite numerous victories on the front lines, was considered too sombre in tone. Conversely, the Ninth Symphony was criticised for being overly cheerful—a tone deemed inappropriate, as the piece was completed shortly after the end of the Second World War.
During a speech to the Union of Soviet Composers in 1948, Soviet official Andrei Zhdanov criticised Shostakovich, along with fellow composers such as Prokofiev and Khachaturian, accusing their music of being overly complex and inaccessible. His music was subsequently banned, stripping him of both his artistic voice and financial security. Shostakovich was forced to issue a public apology and lost his position at the Moscow Conservatory.
Desk drawer
Shostakovich was forced to step back. All his works ended up in his desk drawer, as he did not want to risk them being misinterpreted again. To make a living, he focused primarily on composing film scores, a medium in which he enjoyed more freedom than in his official compositions.
Everything changed when Stalin died in 1953. This not only meant that Shostakovich’s desk drawer could finally be opened again, but also that his distinctive style—one in which he cast aside traditional compositional rules—re-emerged, although it never quite reached the radical nature of his Second Symphony. Stalin’s death also opened doors that had previously remained firmly shut. For the first time, Shostakovich visited Western countries such as England and the United States, where he came into contact with other composers, including Benjamin Britten and Leonard Bernstein.
50 years ago
On 9 August 1975, Shostakovich passed away from lung cancer. He was honoured with a state funeral attended by thousands. Now, in 2025, it has been exactly fifty years since his death. Yet his music remains as vibrant as ever. Musicians around the globe are commemorating this milestone year with concerts in his honour. On 22 January, Muziekgebouw Eindhoven will present a special tribute to Shostakovich, featuring four masters of classical music—pianist Evgeny Kissin, violinist Gidon Kremer, cellist Gautier Capuçon, and violist Maxim Rysanov—who will bring his masterpieces to life.
Other facts about Dmitri Shostakovich
- Famous Works: Jazz Suites for Orchestra (featuring The Second Waltz) • Symphony No. 5 • Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk • Cello Concerto No. 1 • The Gadfly • Symphony No. 7 (“Leningrad”) • Piano Concerto No. 2 • String Quartet No. 8
- Shostakovich often incorporated his musical signature, D–E♭–C–B (DSCH, based on the German spelling of his name, “Dmitri Schostakowitsch”), into his compositions. In the German system, “H” corresponds to what we know as B natural. This motif appears in works such as Symphony No. 8, Symphony No. 10, and his First Violin Concerto.
- The Second Waltz from his Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 2 has become a signature piece for André Rieu, who includes it in every concert. Rieu’s rendition even made it into the Top 40, where it remained for an impressive 28 weeks.
- Shostakovich enjoyed incorporating humour and satire into his music, often mocking traditional musical conventions. Regarding his Symphony No. 9, he once remarked that he thought it would be more enjoyable for musicians to play than for audiences to listen to, precisely because it defied expectations of what a symphony should be.