The Mass Appeal of Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony

Authors

Terry Klefstad, Belmont UniversityFollow

Abstract

Throughout his life, Dmitri Shostakovich was surrounded by political controversy, and since his death, the ideological debate has continued. The story of his career as a Soviet composer, in and out of favor with the Communist government, and his music, stylistically eclectic and sometimes populist in nature, gives rise to political and often controversial questions: Should an artist submit to governmental policy? Can music express a political message? How do we respond to such music? Ever since the publication of Solomon Volkov’s Testimony in 1979, a book purported to be Shostakovich’s memoir, and its subsequent rebuttal by Laurel Fay in Russian Review, the controversy has intensified.

Keywords

Humanities Symposium

Recommended Citation

Klefstad, Terry (2011) "The Mass Appeal of Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony," Belmont Humanities Symposium Journal: Vol. 2, Article 7.
Available at: https://repository.belmont.edu/humanities_symposium_journal/vol2/iss1/7