Tradition and Dissent in Music: Dmitri Shostakovich

Shostakovich: Secret Memoir

This article explores how the composer Dmitri Shostakovich offers both tradition and dissent within his music, especially in that of his string quartets. String quartet, or chamber music, as a genre can be romantic, modern, or classic in style. Shostakovich (1906 – 1975) was a Russian composer who had the ability to communicate personal messages and feelings in a seemingly covert fashion through his music. At a time of great turbulence and censorship in his homeland, he found ways to covertly speak from the heart without, for the most part, being pushed around and controlled by his government. His musical works include fifteen string quartets among many other pieces.

Chamber music was initially produced to be heard in private locations to small audiences, making it a much more intimate account as opposed to a symphony being played in a hall in front of large numbers of spectators (Richards, 2008, p196). Without the intense scrutiny of a large audience, string quartets had far more potential to bear expressions of dissent. So not only did Shostakovich have freedom to develop traditional music conventions with the string quartet, he was also able to play on deep emotions and responses to a communist society in harsh times during a dictatorship, by dissenting in music to touch the audience in a particularly moving manner.

The compositions of Shostakovich were created during turmoil, oppression, and censorship in Russia in the 20th Century. During which, the country saw revolutions, wars, civil unrest, protests, famine, and industrialisation to name a few. Stalin’s rise to absolute power in the 1930s saw a highly oppressive nature from this power and composers of the time suffered at the hands of the Stalin regime, whereby their compositions were restricted, encouraged to adopt socialist realism and promote Soviet ideals within their music. Historically, dissenting was common in Russia; not only in music, but also in cinema and writing. These were not free to publish without strictly meeting Socialist realism guidelines, Stalin’s dictatorship closely and meticulously applied pressure to all who were seen to be having their own opinions and making them heard.

Tradition in music is founded on where and when the music is created. They are kept alive by protecting and repeating accepted practices. Having said that, traditions are never protected from alterations and “Any artistic tradition ... is always receptive to outside influence and is therefore always evolving and changing” (Richards, 2008, p195). These traditions are kept alive by being passed down through time and habitually repeated from place to place. Shostakovich demonstrates traditions in some of his compositions. Notably, some of his string quartets harbour traditional methods in structure, form, and which instruments are chosen for use. Shostakovich used sonata forms in his compositions which are composed of three sections, being the exposition, development, and the recapitulation. Thus, this tradition is set and used in Shostakovich’s music.

Although Shostakovich followed tradition, he also dissented through his music. By using and altering known conventions in music he was able to open up deep emotions for the spectators, expressing his feelings about personal happenings and that of the political constraints at that time. The varied sounds within string quartets offer the ability to create unique and characteristic sounds which allowed Shostakovich to summon these feelings and emotions.

Shostakovich controlled the use of movement structure in his string quartets, which is one way he was able to dissent. This is evident in his treatment of the scherzo in string quartet No.3, the third movement of which would traditionally be a scherzo, or minuet, and trio. In this case he chose to create two scherzo movements for the second and third movement, deliberately creating a mysterious and interpretative feel to its perceived meaning. He could have created a standard movement structure and no doubt it would have been a great piece of music, but having inserted two back to back scherzi, he opens up the court for speculation and wonder.

The shape of Shostakovich’s work normally determines how the spectators perceive the music and serves to guide the bigger picture or responses towards the music. When considering the musical form of individual string quartets it is possible to understand the meanings and reflections that Shostakovich intends to project onto his listeners.

The use of mutes attached to the middle two strings of instruments, in this case the violin, greatly restricts the vibrations through the bridge into the body of the instrument, creating a special effect in the sound. The resulting sound gives off an undertone and quietness, giving a sobering feeling that adds depth to the mood of the music which adds to the stifled expression or emotion.

Shostakovich’s string quartet No.7 was created soon after his first wife passed away. This is reflected in No.7 by the moving emotions it creates within the listeners. There is a blend of a rather strong and slow mood which embodies a touching movement. The language of the music speaks volumes of the almost despairing emotions Shostakovich had to overcome after the loss of his wife. It is as though Shostakovich is able to speak directly to the audience through string quartet, and that he is able to run free in expressing his feelings through it, rather than simply being beautiful and pleasant to hear – the quartet conveys significance to Shostakovich’s life.

Shostakovich initially gave his string quartet No.8 a dedication, which strongly identified it with tragedy in remembrance of the victims of fascism and war. The work of this piece creates a feeling of gloom and dejection, again as with No.7 this piece has subliminal undertones of a message rather than simply being an outstanding composition. Showing signs of dissent once more, this piece is ambiguous in that the quotes throughout the quartet do not match up chronographically with the dedication about fascism and the Second World War. Shostakovich makes it clear that this is more than what it seems by including the initials for the German spelling of his own name in the musical notation of this quartet, D, S, C, and H “only a stupid person could not understand the combination in that quartet of his musical signature” (Feofanov, p390). This dissents from the traditional remembrance dedication and suggests that this quartet is actually autobiographical in some way.

So we can see that quartet No.8 is personal to Shostakovich and that it evokes gloom and despair, but the negativity it conveys predates the prelude to war. As such, this piece is attributable to his pain in a much more personal way. For the audience of the time in communist Russia, these feelings would have been far more widely and mutually understood. So much so, that he often moved his audience to tears.

In closing, Shostakovich did not always follow tradition and it is clear that he dissented through his music. Motivated by a restrictive and censoring regime, he covertly turned his back on what he felt was dark and unjust. His fate would have been sealed and no doubt he would have been purged out of the country, or worse, should he have explicitly spoken from the heart in a clear and obvious way. However, through enigmatic musical language, Shostakovich was able to use the string quartet to express dissent.







Bibliography

Richards, F. (2008) ‘Tradition and Dissent in Music: Dmitri Shostakovich’ in Price, C. (ed) Tradition and Dissent (The Arts Past and Present) Milton Keynes.

‘Shostakovich’ (2008) (The Arts Past and Present DVD Video), Milton Keynes.

Ho, AB and Feofanov, D. (1998) Shostakovich Reconsidered, Toccata Press.