History Music / DmitriShostakovich

* {{Theremin}}: Shostakovich pioneered the use of the Russian-invented electronic instrument in a film score as early as 1931.

* SellOut: Many of his western contemporaries considered him to be this, as he lived as good a life an artist could in the Soviet Union, writing what are effectively Soviet and Stalinist propaganda pieces. It didn't help that [[IChooseToStay he refused to leave the Soviet Union despite being given the opportunity to]].

** Symphony No. 13 ''Babi Yar'' was a setting of poems that were openly critical of the Soviet government, mocking the careerism of government officials and referencing the fear of the government and women waiting in line for goods at sparsely-stocked stores. It was a struggle to find a conductor and soloist for the premiere, and the text was edited without his consent.
** ''Antiformalist Rayok'' [[note]]Subtitled ''As an aid to students: the struggle of the realistic and formalistic directions in music.''[[/note]] was an entire cantata for piano, four voices, and chorus, written to satirize the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhdanov_decree Zhdanov Doctrine]]. Mocking the official Soviet artistic and cultural policy of the time, it was never performed during Shostakovich's lifetime; he intended to publish it in the 1960s, but the backlash to his Symphony No. 13 persuaded him to keep it a secret, and it was only premiered in 1989.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (25 September 1906 – 9 August 1975) was a Russian composer of classical music. His style is, on the one hand, well known for its exaggerated, tense emotions often bordering on the grotesque; and on the other hand, for its subtle irony and light wit. Not very surprising, considering that Shostakovich worked in an era when Soviet censors dictated what kind of art is acceptable. He had to learn to be discreet and hide clever musical hints beneath bombastic, "clichéd" music.

* TakeThat:
** After Pravda denounced ''Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District'', forcing him to adhere more closely to Soviet-approved forms of music or face dire consequences, his work became littered with these. One good example is his ''Festive Overture'', written very shortly after UsefulNotes/JosephStalin's [[AndThereWasMuchRejoicing death]].

** Symphony No. 13 ''Babi Yar'' was a setting of poems that were openly critical of the Soviet government, mocking the careerism of government officials and referencing the fear of the government and women waiting in line for goods at sparsely-stocked stores.

* StealthParody: Symphony No. 5 in D minor, 'An Artist's Creative Response to Just Criticism', was hurriedly composed to curry favour with the Party apparatchiks through the sort of simple, heroic classical music that they preferred, after Pravda's slamming of ''Lady Macbeth'' left Shostakovich on very thin ice indeed. They happily lapped it up, too, not noticing the little details that he had slipped in to convey his own opinion of the project, like the PsychoStrings in the grand, triumphant finale.

** Symphony No. 9 in E♭ major shows him in full-on DeadpanSnarker mode, with victory celebration music (this was just after UsefulNotes/WorldWarII ended) vying rather hopelessly with a CircusOfFear theme representing the Soviet leadership. Also, Wagnerian motifs are used to hint at the fact that UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans regimes arn't so different from each other.

** Symphony No. 9 in E♭ major shows him in full-on DeadpanSnarker mode, with victory celebration music (this was just after UsefulNotes/WorldWarII ended) vying rather hopelessly with a CircusOfFear theme representing the Soviet leadership. Also, Wagnerian motifs are used to hint at the fact that UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans regimes are NotSoDifferent from each other.

* TakeThat: After Pravda denounced ''Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District'', forcing him to adhere more closely to Soviet-approved forms of music or face dire consequences, his work became littered with these. One good example is his ''Festive Overture'', written very shortly after UsefulNotes/JosephStalin's [[AndThereWasMuchRejoicing death]].

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Plenty of examples, though they're more subversive politically than sexually. For instance, it probably wasn't a coincidence that his String Quartet No. 8 in C minor, written after being coerced into joining the Communist Party in 1960 and 'dedicated to the victims of fascism and war', was littered with his four-note musical signature, incorporated the tune of an old Russian prison song, and featured short, sharp bursts of PsychoStrings that strongly resembled the infamous early-morning knock on the door by the NKVD.

** Symphony No. 9 in E♭ major shows him in full-on DeadpanSnarker mode, with victory celebration music (this was just after UsefulNotes/WorldWarII ended) vying rather hopelessly with a CircusOfFear theme representing the Soviet leadership. Also, Wagnerian motifs are used hint at the fact that UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans regimes are NotSoDifferent from each other.

** Symphony No. 9 in E♭ major shows him in full-on DeadpanSnarker mode, with victory celebration music (this was just after UsefulNotes/WorldWarII ended) vying (hopelessly) with a CircusOfFear theme representing the Soviet leadership. Also, Wagnerian motifs are used hint at the fact that UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans regimes are NotSoDifferent from each other.

** Symphony No. 9 in E-Flat Major shows him in full-on DeadpanSnarker mode, with victory celebration music (this was just after UsefulNotes/WorldWarII ended) vying (hopelessly) with a CircusOfFear theme representing the Soviet leadership. Also, Wagnerian motifs are used hint at the fact that UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans regimes are NotSoDifferent from each other.