Shostakovich all the 5s

1
Shostakovich all the 5s

• Condemnation following the attack in Soviet Press
  on the opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.
• 1936 saw his works under real scrutiny and little
  was composed in the immediate aftermath.
• Irony the Lady Macbeth was in many ways
  unobjectionable and far less abstract or
  un-Soviet than The Nose which was highly
  ironic.
• But it was sympathetic to the female character in
  a time of state crisis tender understanding
  anathema to state authorities.

2
Fifth Symphony

• Formalism the great sin yet Fifth follows form
  conventional sonata form.
• Tragic feel of first movement also suspect.
• Art supposed to reflect folk or national idioms
  yet very little of such reference is made in the
  work. Shostavokich had been told in party
  publications to represent heroic Soviet peasants
  through folk idioms.
• Paradox that official reception was so positive.

3
New directions in style

• Economy mammoth orchestra of earlier symphonies
  is gone though extra percussion and two harps.
• He had abandoned the huge 4th Symphony realising
  that it would get him into even greater problems
• Avoids complex treatment of themes.
• No idea inflated beyond its capacity.
• Clarity and simplicity of style to the fore.

4
Neo-Classicism?

• Some similarities with Stravinskys neo-classical
  style. (Appollon)
• But Shostakovichs work more programmatic to
  show the making of a man
• I saw a man with all his experiences in the
  centre of the composition which is lyrical in
  form from beginning to end. The finale is the
  optimistic solution of the tragically tense
  moments of the first movement.
• Need to cover anticipated official criticism of
  tragedy in symphonic writing.

5
First Movement

• Comparison with first symphony first movement.
• Opens with close canon foundation semitone drop
  from bflat to A (Dominant to D).
• Widest interval at the beginning resolving into
  lesser jumps tension to resolution.
• Lots of clever links derived from the thematic
  material overlapping effect of themes appearing
  first as accompaniments. Feeling of continuity.
• E.g. repeated chords of second subject provide
  shape of transition to central section.
  Interlocking material.

6
Other Movements

• Second subject is more cool at arms length.
  Single melody with basic triadic accompaniment.
• Second and third movements follow predicable
  patterns.
• Only the last has Slav overtones and seeks to
  be positive.
• A phrase from the settings of Four Romanzas op.46
  appears in the finale words from Pushkin And
  the doubts pass away from my troubled soul, As a
  fresh, brighter day brings visions of pure gold.

7
An artists response to just criticism

• The subtitle suggested submission.
• The style was conservative and less personal.
• It met with huge official success and restored
  him in official favour.
• In its wake he stared on the first quartet.
• It saved the Symphony as an acceptable form for
  Soviet composition.

8
Fifth Quartet (1951-52)

• Attaching of all three movements reflects and
  underlying concern with thematic unity,
• First four notes of the motive played by the
  viola at the outset (heard 5 times in the first
  12 bars) are a permutation of Shostakovichs
  musical signature DSCH (D-Eflat-C-B) also motif
  of the tenth symphony.

9
10th Symphony

• First two movements of the quartet and the first
  three of the symphony initiated by the pattern
  C-D-Eflat of viola.
• Quartet anticipates symphony successive opus
  numbers.
• Uses minor-major third constellation a
  Shostakovich obsession

10
5th Quartet

• Opening allegro non troppo is a large scale
  sonata-form movement complete with repeated
  exposition.
• Intense even tragic slow movement presents a
  simple alternation of Andante and Andantino
  sections.
• More complex finale is full of finely wrought
  counterpoint from writing of 24 Preludes and
  Fugues for piano (1950-51). Influence of piano
  in polyphony and thematic integration