The knee-slapping humor of Shostakovich
Welcome one and all to Mozart For Muggles, the series that explains classical music to people who don’t really “get” it. We keep things simple around here. No jargon, no technical terms, very little theory. Just lots of good music!
So far in this series, I’ve mentioned the Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich quite a bit in passing. The main reason is I just love him, plain and simple. But my personal bias aside, Shostakovich was — objectively — freaking awesome. And he had a great sense of humor.
Who was Shostakovich?
Shostakovich was the first truly Soviet composer (Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev both left Russia/the USSR when it became evident that crap was fixing to hit the fan, so they don’t really count as “true Soviet” composers).
He was born in in 1906 and died in 1975. He witnessed the Russian Empire transition into the Soviet Union, and he lived there his whole life. He rose and fell from favor with the state many times.
In the Great Purge beginning in 1936, he was denounced as “an enemy of the people”. A lot of his family members, friends, and colleagues were executed and imprisoned during this time, but somehow Shostakovich managed to survive and even write a bit of music. Until 1948 anyway, when the state came after him again. Most of his music was banned.
He joined the Communist Party. Awk.
In 1960, Shostakovich was apparently blackmailed into joining the Communist Party in order to keep composing. Although by this point the party — now overseen by Khrushchev — wasn’t quite as controlling as when Stalin was the head, joining was still a significant event in the composer’s life.
He had managed to stay out of it during Stalin’s reign of terror, yet he wasn’t able to resist it completely. Shostakovich’s son wrote that he had only ever seen his father cry twice in his life: first, when the composer’s mother died, and second, when he joined the Community Party.
Shosty wrote a ton of music: ballets, operas, symphonies, chamber music, concertos, you name it. And one of the things that is particularly charming about him is that despite the fearful, horrendous time he was living in (and the oppressive regime he was born under), there is a lot of humor in his music. We’re going to look at some of that today.
The majesty of the 9th symphony!
This is what a 9th symphony sounds like. Listen for a few seconds.
This is the epitome of the 9th symphony — every composer ever strove to make their 9th as great Beethoven’s. Our homeboy Mahler even “postponed” his 9th symphony so that he could write one as powerful and magnificent as it “ought to be”.
Shostakovich, however, was a nonconformist. His 9th symphony was a joke. Honestly. This is what the finale to his 9th sounds like.
For the first two seconds, it reminds me of an old car that’s having trouble starting its engine. There is nothing really magnificent, celebratory, or grand about this movement. It’s loud, sure. But it sounds like a march of clowns (at 5:09, the clowns come out of the woodwork!). It’s ridiculous. It’s laughable. It’s even funnier when you listen to the whole build up (the whole 6 minute excerpt).
The beginning of the movement starts out with the bassoon playing this uncertain, insecure theme. Everyone in the orchestra takes turns humming this theme, and each time it’s played, it’s just goofy.
And it’s not just the finale that’s weird in Shosty’s 9th.
Traditionally in symphonies, the second movement is slow and lyrical, sometimes even romantic. Here’s what the second movement of Dvorak’s 9th Symphony sounds like:
Now compare this to the second movement of Shostakovich’s 9th.
This is just uncomfortable and weird. I mean, yeah. It’s fits conventions by being slow and lyrical, but it’s not romantic or sweet or anything we’re used to second movements being! It’s not relaxing, it’s anxiety-inducing. It’s lethargic and makes you feel kinda sick.
There are lots of other “jokes” in Shostakovich’s 9th symphony, but I’m sure you get the idea. Shostakovich makes a mockery of the usual reverence for the 9th symphony. It’s all good-natured and very amusing.
The romance of a fine waltz suddenly “spoiled”
Listen to this famous waltz that our boy Shosty wrote.
Wow, so romance! Many beauty! Do you know what the face of this enchanting, heart-tugging theme is? (From 2:23–2:41)
A trombone. The same instrument notorious for the "wah wah wah wahhh…” sound. I don’t care who you are, that’s hilarious. Shostakovich is hilarious.
Why didn’t he have the violins play this melody? Or the cello? Or a flute or clarinet or something? Well, the saxophone and string section did play this theme at the beginning before the trombone got a hold of it. Listen to the whole piece, you’ll hear it.
But the fact that Shosty gave the lone trombone this theme at all is brilliant. It’s unexpected and funny. He builds up this enchanting romance with the whole orchestra — and then hands it over to the trombone to work its magic. Hilarious.
Shosty thumbed his nose at Stalin.
Shostakovich, the madman!, even had the guts to mock Stalin and his favorite song.
[Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto no. 1] contains a great many quotations notably the Trepak from Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death and Stalin’s favorite folk song Suliko.
In his cantata Rayok, Shostakovich used Suliko in its entirety as a sarcastic tribute to the “Great Leader and Friend of Children”. The quotation is not especially obvious.
During a rehearsal Shostakovich asked Rostropovich, “Slava, have you noticed?” [he didn’t] then laughed and sang “Suliko, Suliko, where is my Suliko.”
— Quote from Gene De Lisa: Classical Music Brain Droppings
Wow. Let’s take a listen, shall we?
This is The Red Army Choir singing the Georgian folk song Suliko. Listen from 0:48–1:03. This is Stalin’s favorite song. The guy was an outright monster, but still enjoyed the softer and more beautiful things in life. Somehow.
In the cello concerto, the theme is condensed to a maniacal 3 seconds (from 0:34–0:37).
It might be hard to hear the relation, so here’s the music written out if you’re not convinced (images taken from Gene De Lisa).
From Suliko:
From Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto:
Shosty turned his Dear Leader’s favorite bedtime song into a nightmare-inducing ball of racket. That’s insane. Insanely hilarious.
Keeping our humor about us
Often times we think of 20th century classical music as being noisy and ugly. Sometimes it very well is — I’m not going to dispute that. But sometimes, it’s grotesque for a reason. It’s not always meant to be beautiful or intellectual. Sometimes the ugliness and grotesqueness is tongue-in-cheek. Sometimes, as we saw with a handful of Shostakovich’s compositions, it’s all in jest.
I believe Dmitri Shostakovich to be one of the most brilliant and hilarious composers ever. Dude could tell a joke.
Related resources:
- Bernstein talks about Shostakovich’s 9th Symphony
- Bernstein conducting the Vienna Philharmonic — Shostakovich’s 9th Symphony
- Young People’s Concerts: A Birthday Tribute to Shostakovich — it looks boring at first glance, but it’s really interesting! Give it a chance! The whole series is on YouTube.
- Capucon playing Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto no. 1 — but if you can find a recording by Mischa Maisky, I recommend it more!
As always, please follow and recommend so you and your friends can fulfill your long held dreams of becoming hat-tipping, monocle-adjusting, classical music enthusiasts!
