Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) Symphony No.10 in E minor, Op.93

i. Moderato ii. Allegro iii. Allegretto – Largo – PiÙ mosso iv. Andante – Allegro – L’istesso tempo

…I did depict Stalin in my next Symphony, the Tenth. I wrote it right after Stalin’s death, and no one has yet guessed what the Symphony is about. It’s about Stalin…

James Watson and Francis Crick announce their discovery of the structure of the DNA molecule.

Ian Fleming publishes his first James Bond novel.

Rationing of sugar ends in the UK.

The above quote is taken from Shostakovich’s memoir Testimony. Although the book’s authenticity is widely questioned, it is difficult not to sense that the terror of the Stalin years is imprinted in Shostakovich’s work. The wide-ranging cultural restrictions, and the sometimes life or death implications of following them, made composing music in the Soviet Union an inherently political act. Shostakovich, like all prominent Soviet artists, had to contend with the dizzyingly dichotomous official reaction to his works, and cycled through periods of acclaim (Symphony No.5) and denouncement (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk).

As with many Shostakovich symphonies, the long opening movement begins ominously with the lower strings, the initial thematic material gradually unravelling until a haunting melody emerges from the clarinet. Soon the orchestral texture grows as the music builds in intensity before retreating into a solemn brass chorale following which the clarinet, at first playing entirely on its own, reiterates its opening motif. While hardly deviating from the Moderato pace, the central section builds to a number of sustained climaxes, with shrieking woodwinds, stalked by the presence of a side drum, before a quiet, and desolate, return to the music of the introduction.

The short, fast and furious second movement is regarded to be the most explicit allusion to Stalin in the symphony. Whether it is true that Shostakovich intended it to be a direct musical portrait is contested, but this frenetic scherzo is undoubtedly imbued with a sense of terror and violence, the side drum once more an unrelenting presence.

The third movement introduces Shostakovich’s musical signature: D-E flatC-B. Using the German transliteration of his name (Schostakowitsch), and the German spellings of those notes (D-EsC-H), Shostakovich can spell the initial of his first name (Dmitri) and the first three letters of his last, in what is otherwise known as the D-S-C-H motif. Another theme in this movement is thought to represent one of his pupils, Elmira Nazirova (E-A-E-D-A, or E-La-Mi-Re-A). The interplay between these two musical signatures played on the horn, piccolo and flute at the movement’s end, are thought to signify Shostakovich’s unrequited longing for his pupil, and offers a more personal reading of the symphony, aside from the more overt political content.

The final movement could be seen as a microcosm of the entire symphony, with stark changes in tempo and abrupt atmospheric shifts, until a jaunty, possibly sardonic, bassoon solo, soon taken up by the clarinet, begins to hint at a more optimistic ending. As the symphony reaches its climax, the D-S-C-H motif is repeatedly asserted by the horns and trumpets, accompanied by a whirlwind of unison scales in the woodwind and strings before reaching a hysterical and, seemingly, joyous conclusion.

By Jack Johnson (© NYOS, 2022)

Further Listening

Sofia Gubaidulina – Concerto for Two Orchestras

While Shostakovich’s works are often scrutinised for hidden political content, Gubaidulina viewed music as an escape from the realities of Soviet Russia.

Shostakovich – Symphony No.5

A fascinating work that appears to celebrate and parody Stalin all at the same time.