Schostakovich - Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk

Schostakovich - Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.
This opera in four acts by Dmitri Shostakovich is based on an original story by Nikolai S. Leskov written in 1865. The action takes place in Mtsensk immediately before the Revolution in October 1917. The Ismailov family are rich landowners, and the household consists of Boris, who rules the house in a typically patriarchal manner, his weak son, Zinovy, and Zinovy's wife, Katerina. When Zinovy is away on business, Katherine starts an intense affair with the new farm hand, Sergei, which threatens their entire way of life in this powerful, passionate opera. This filmed opera by director Petr Weigl features the vocals of famed Russian soprano Galina Vishnevskaya as Katerina, a role written by Shostakovich expressly for her, and music conducted by her husband, Mstislav Rostropovich.

Later when the discussions have started, I will tell you the truth... what happened to Dmitrij after having written this music!

I read about this opera when I was doing a research project on Russian composers. Thanks for posting.

Does anyone where i can find a clip/recording of the opera The Nose, a Shostakovich opera that preceded Lady McBeth?

Originally Posted by Dan Gilbert

I read about this opera when I was doing a research project on Russian composers. Thanks for posting.

Does anyone where i can find a clip/recording of the opera The Nose, a Shostakovich opera that preceded Lady McBeth?

Hehehe, The Nose.. one of my friends had a disk of that. It's not really "typical" Schostakowitch, at least not "mature" Schosta. It's quite surprisingly dissonant.

As for Lady MacBeth, I have a DVD of it. It's got some really beautiful music, though the story is pretty rough. There's a terrible rape scene.

I do prefer Schosta in his symphonies over his operas. But that's just my taste.

Originally Posted by QcCowboy

Hehehe, The Nose.. one of my friends had a disk of that. It's not really "typical" Schostakowitch, at least not "mature" Schosta. It's quite surprisingly dissonant.

As for Lady MacBeth, I have a DVD of it. It's got some really beautiful music, though the story is pretty rough. There's a terrible rape scene.

I do prefer Schosta in his symphonies over his operas. But that's just my taste.

I agree that his symphonies are better than his operas, but the nose is brilliant (especially the galop), and the gamblers is very good as well. My friend has been pestering me to listen to lady macbeth for quite a while now, and I might just get around to listening to it soon...

When I was starting my undergraduate degree, sadly I had a strong dislike for all things opera. However, I loved Shostakovich (and still do). Lady MacBeth was the opera that got me listening to and liking opera in general.

It's so full of raw brutality, brooding, beauty, sarcasm, you name it ... I love it, especially if I'm in a bad mood.

I have a recording of the original version of the opera. I've heard a suite of the interludes from Katerina Ismailova, the revised version he did in the '60s, but I haven't heard it in its entirety. Some of the interludes are quite different.

Hi Grainger,

I hope that you are in a bad mood now... cause I digged up some facts about the opera while reading an episode in Solomon Volkow's biography of Schosta! (the book was signed by Schosta himself to make sure the truth would reach the Western part of the world!)

Episode one - Schostakovich is declared a genius 1935 after his "Lady Macbeth" at the Metropolitan!


"Lady Macbeth" was a tremendous success for being contemporary music.
The opera was performed 36 times in Leningrad during 5 months after it's premiere 1934 and performed 94 times in Moscow.

Immediately, after the opera was shown in Stockholm, Prague, London, Zürich and Copenhagen; Toscanini added parts of it to his repertoire.

The American premiere under Arthur Rodzinsky made a very strong impression, Virgil Thomsons article in the "Modern Music" (1935) bore the title "Socialism at the Metropolitan!"

Schostakovich was declared a genius!

__________________________________________________ _______________

Episode two - Personal disaster for Dmitrij ... 1936 after performance of "Lady Macbeth".

Schostakovich gets a warning in the "Prawda".... (episode two coming soon!)

Anything Shosty is awesome to me.
I grew up listening to him... So I think that is why I have an affinity for him over Prokofiev.

Originally Posted by QcCowboy

Hehehe, The Nose.. one of my friends had a disk of that. It's not really "typical" Schostakowitch, at least not "mature" Schosta. It's quite surprisingly dissonant.

As for Lady MacBeth, I have a DVD of it. It's got some really beautiful music, though the story is pretty rough. There's a terrible rape scene.

I do prefer Schosta in his symphonies over his operas. But that's just my taste.

Hi Michel,

Fun to meet again

New material coming up soon... How Stalin scared the shit out of poor Dmitrij...

Originally Posted by grainger

When I was starting my undergraduate degree, sadly I had a strong dislike for all things opera. However, I loved Shostakovich (and still do). Lady MacBeth was the opera that got me listening to and liking opera in general.

It's so full of raw brutality, brooding, beauty, sarcasm, you name it ... I love it, especially if I'm in a bad mood.

I have a recording of the original version of the opera. I've heard a suite of the interludes from Katerina Ismailova, the revised version he did in the '60s, but I haven't heard it in its entirety. Some of the interludes are quite different.

Hi again Grainger,

Here is the episode two: a historical document of what happened when Joseph Stalin heared Dmitri Shostakovich's opera, "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk."

Stalin came to see and hear the opera, and left in incredible anger. On January 28, the headline "Chaos instead of Music" appeared in the "Pravda":

"Already from the first moment on, the listener's hearing ability is severely affected by the clumsy and totally confusing tone screams made on purpose. Fragments of melodies, embryos of musical episodes just drown, vanishing in a hell hole of squeaking and banging. To follow this 'music' is difficult;to remember it is impossible!"

This was the time when terror started to roar all around the nation. The cleaning processes now quickly increased in gigantic proportion. A new state within the state, "the Gulag," was created.

In this context, Stalin's warning to Shostakovich in the "Pravda" was: "This is like playing with fire, which could end very badly! A betrayal!"

Next week, a second article appeared in the "Pravda", this time about his ballet music that was about to be performed at the Bolschoi Theater. Shostakovich and everybody near him were sure that he was going to get arrested. So his friends now kept a distance. Like others at that time, he had a suitcase packed, ready to escape at any moment. The victims were always deported at night. Shostakovich didn't sleep, he was lying there, waiting in the dark...

Next episode: Shostakovich accused by Stalin of being an enemy of the people.

So this went from "Hey check this out" to "Here's shosti's life story"


Why Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk was too scary for Stalin | | guardian.co.uk Arts