Shostakovich and Stalin

Posted by admin in Biography & Autobiography on 04 18th, 2008 | no responses
Exploring the situation of artists during the reign of Joseph Stalin, Solomon Volkov finds an atmosphere in which artists were encouraged as long as they didn't make waves--but, surprisingly, were allowed some freedoms, including a certain amount of dissent. Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-75) was one who managed to walk the line and stay alive and producing, spouting the proper words while defying Stalin's anti-Semitism by using Jewish themes and motifs in his music.



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