History Music / DmitriShostakovich

* 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, 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. 11 in G minor ("The Year 1905"), composed in 1957.
** Symphony No. 12 in D minor ("The Year 1917"), composed in 1961.

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

* 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 death.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Plenty of examples, though they're more subversive politically than sexually. For instance, it was probably not a coincidence that his String Quartet No. 8, 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 NKVD's infamous early-morning knock on the door.

His music provides many awesome moments. Most notably, his Symphony No. 5 moved his audience to tears because it evoked to them vivid images of their oppression under the Soviet dictatorship. Somehow, at the same time, that same dictatorship praised the symphony for being patriotic and pro-communist; the censors never picked up on the subtle musical subversions.

[[caption-width-right:220:To quote Music/LeonardBernstein, a true son of [[Music/PyotrIlyichTchaikovsky Tchaikovsky.]]]]

His music provides many awesome moments. Most notably, his Symphony No. 5 moved his audience to tears because it evoked to them vivid images of their oppression under the Soviet dictatorship; and somehow, at the same time, the said dictatorship praised the symphony for being patriotic and pro-communist; the censors never picked up on the subtle musical subversions.

His music provides many awesome moments. Most notably, his Symphony No. 5 moved his audience to tears because it evoked to them vivid images of their oppression under the Soviet dictatorship; and somehow, at the same time, the said dictatorship praised the symphony for being patriotic and pro-communist, the censors never picking up on Shostakovich's subtle musical subversions.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Plenty, though more politically subversive than sexually. For instance, it was probably not a coincidence that his String Quartet No. 8, 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 NKVD's infamous early-morning knock on the door.

* DramaticTimpani: The finale of Symphony No. 5 went to town on this trope.

* SanitySlippage: Shostakovich struggled pretty hard to keep himself on the party line - to the point where his wits almost eroded. Consider that Shostakovich pre-1930 was out of reins in a fashion that would surprise any member of the party after ThePurge.

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.

* DramaticTimpani: Symphony No. 5 went to town on this trope.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Plenty, though more politically subversive than sexually. For instance, it was probably not a coincidence that his String Quartet No. 8, written after he was 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 NKVD's infamous early-morning knock on the door.

* StealthParody: Symphony No. 5, '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.

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 to hide clever musical hints beneath bombastic, "clichéd" music.

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 to hide clever musical hints beneath bombastic "clichéd" music.

Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (1906-1975) 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 to hide clever musical hints beneath bombastic "clichéd" music.

* DramaticTimpani: Symphony #5 went to town on this trope.

* StealthParody: Symphony No. 5, '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.
* 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 death.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The style of the young Shostakhovich is ''vastly'' different from the older one, for obvious reasons.

* 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. See the other tropes on the list for further details.
** One good example is his ''Festive Overture'', written very shortly after JosephStalin's death.

* 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. See the other tropes on the list for further details.

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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 to hide clever musical hints beneath bombastic "clichéd" music.

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