Quote:
Originally Posted by Jamie Whitmarsh
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In the next episode, Shostakovich, shocked and depressed after the article in the "Pravda" does not dare to let his symphony nr 4 be performed! The article also labels him as "Formalist" (Solomon Volkov - Shosta expert)
Arnold Schönberg is also labeled as a formalist by Joseph Stalin, and is not aloud to be played in Russia at that time.(according to Leonard Bernstein - Harvard lectures "The twentieth century crisis".)
Shosty did not have any friends in the West during the Stalin era, except for Benjamin Britten. Shosty's main problem was that nobody in the West believed his stories about the Gulag, which increased his bitterness towards the western world. Have you ever wondered why Shosty looks so serious!
It was not a coincidence that Shostakovich later dedicated his 14th symphony for soprano, bass and chamber orchestra to Britten, where the protagonist in the story is thrown in jail. The prisoner screams out the words: "the crypt is over me, I have died here for everyone!".