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Shostakovich

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Dmitry Shostakovich was a Russian composer whose symphonies and quartets, numbering 15 each, are among the greatest examples from the 20th century of these classic forms.Spotify

His style evolved from the brash humor and experimental character of his first period, exemplified by the operas The Nose and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, into both the more introverted melancholy and nationalistic fervor of his second phase (the Symphonies No. 5 and No.Spotify

7, "Leningrad"), and finally into the defiant and bleak mood of his last period (exemplified by the Symphony No. 14 and Quartet No. 15).Spotify

Early in his career his music showed the influence of Prokofiev and Stravinsky, especially in his prodigious and highly successful First Symphony. He could effectively communicate a melancholic depth and profound sense of anguish, as one hears in many of his symphonies, concertos, and quartets. Solomon Volkov, in his controversial Testimony: The Memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich explains the composer's seeming bombast as deft satire of the pomposity of the Soviet state, pointing to the "forced rejoicing" of Fifth Symphony's ending.Spotify

Typical traits of Shostakovich's style include short, reiterated melodic or rhythmic figures, motifs of one or two pitches or intervals, and lugubrious and manic string writing. Shostakovich was born in St. Petersburg in 1906 and educated at the Petrograd Conservatory.Spotify

The acid style of his early Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk irritated Stalin, and Shostakovich was attacked in the Soviet press. Fearing imprisonment, he withdrew his already rehearsed Fourth Symphony; his Fifth Symphony (1937) carried the subtitle "A Soviet Artist's Reply to Just Criticism." It is more ingenious than most critics have fathomed, for it managed to satisfy both the backward tastes of the party censors and those of more demanding aesthetes in the West. The 1941 German invasion of Russia inspired the composer's Seventh Symphony, subtitled "Leningrad." Impressed by the symphony's epic-heroic character, Toscanini, Koussevitzky, and Stokowski vied for the Western Hemisphere premiere; the score had to be microfilmed, flown to Teheran, driven to Cairo, and flown out.Spotify

The work became an enormous success the world over, but eventually fell into obscurity. Still, the composer had for a time become a worldwide celebrity, his picture even appearing on the cover of Time. Shostakovich ran afoul of the government again in 1948, when an infamous decree was issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party accusing Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and other prominent composers of "formalist perversions." For some time he wrote mostly works glorifying Soviet life or history.Spotify

Artistic repression diminished in post-Stalinist Russia, but curiously Shostakovich still drew in his modernist horns until the Thirteenth Symphony, "Babi Yar," a 1962 work based on poems by Yevgeny Yevtushenko. The work provoked major controversy because of its first movement's subject: Russian oppression of the Jews. In 1966 Shostakovich wrote his Second Cello Concerto, a work on an even higher level than his solid First, but one that did not capture as much attention from either artists or the public.Spotify

That year, Shostakovich was diagnosed with a serious heart condition. He continued to compose, his works growing more sparsely scored and darker, the subject of death becoming prominent. His Fourteenth Symphony (1969), really a collection of songs on texts by Lorca, Apollinaire, Küchelbecker, and Rilke, is a death-obsessed work of considerable dissonance and showing little regard for the Socialist Realism still demanded by the state.Spotify

Shostakovich died on August 9, 1975.Spotify

~ Rovi Staff, Rovi

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role: composer · 90%era: Romanticmovement: Romantic1906–1975

Movement

Romantic · Wikipedia

Romantic music is a stylistic movement in Western Classical music associated with the period of the 19th century commonly referred to as the Romantic era. It is closely related to the broader concept of Romanticism—the intellectual, artistic, and literary movement that became prominent in Western culture from about 1798 until 1837.

How this movement sounds

rubatochromatic harmonybig climaxesricher timbrelong lyrical linesnarrative feel

Romantic listening cues: heightened emotion, longer lyrical melodies, and more freedom with rubato (flexible timing) in performance.

Harmony is often more chromatic, with colorful chords and side-steps that create tension and release over longer spans. You may hear more delayed resolutions and more 'yearning' harmonic motion.

Dynamics and texture often expand: thicker sonorities, bigger climaxes, and a strong sense of narrative or character (even in purely instrumental music).

In piano music, listen for the use of pedaling and resonance to create a halo around harmony; in orchestral music, listen for richer timbre and denser voicing (inner lines matter).

A useful trick: follow the bass line. In Romantic music it often shapes the drama, pulling the harmony through longer arcs rather than short phrase punctuation.

How Shostakovich sounds

rubatorich harmonylong melodybig dynamicscoloristic pedal

Romantic music tends to foreground emotion and color: long singing melodies, flexible tempo (rubato), and harmony that stretches and sighs.

You often hear thicker textures, wider dynamic range, and a more "orchestral" use of the piano with deep bass and resonant pedaling.

Look for heightened contrast and personal voice: the same musical gesture can feel intimate one moment and heroic the next.

Wikipedia

Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (25 September [O.S.Wikipedia

12 September] 1906 – 9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and thereafter was regarded as a major composer. Shostakovich achieved early fame in the Soviet Union, but had a complex relationship with its government.Wikipedia

His 1934 opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk was initially a success but later condemned by the Soviet government, putting his career at risk. In 1948, his work was denounced under the Zhdanov Doctrine, with professional consequences lasting several years. Even after his censure was rescinded in 1956, performances of his music were occasionally subject to state interventions, as with his Thirteenth Symphony (1962).Wikipedia

Nevertheless, Shostakovich was a member of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR (1947) and the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union (from 1962 until his death), as well as chairman of the RSFSR Union of Composers (1960–1968). Over the course of his career, he earned several important awards, including the Order of Lenin, from the Soviet government. Shostakovich combined various musical techniques in his works.Wikipedia

His music is characterized by sharp contrasts, elements of the grotesque, and ambivalent tonality; he was also heavily influenced by neoclassicism and by the music of Gustav Mahler. His orchestral works…Wikipedia

Study resources & scores

Curated study material and indexed score links related to Shostakovich.

Lecture 20. The Colossal Symphony: Beethoven, Berlioz, Mahler and Shostakovich

Yale (YouTube) · lecture · youtube, transcript

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Local matches

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Carnegie Hall · published 2026-04-15 · 2m

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra: Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 (excerpt)

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YouTube · published 2026-04-11 · 27m

UNT Concert Orchestra: Symphony No. 9 in E-flat Major, Op 70 by Dmitri Shostakovich

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