Strauss, Shostakovich, Hitler, and Stalin

Synopsis

Decades after their deaths, Richard Strauss and Dmitri Shostakovich still remain politically controversial. Strauss worked in Nazi Germany under Hitler, and Shostakovich in the Soviet Union under Stalin. Was their art compromised by politics —and should that influence how we hear their music today?

In July of 1935, Strauss pleaded with Hitler for a personal meeting to explain his resignation as President of Germany’s office of musical affairs. He needn’t have bothered: the Gestapo had intercepted a letter Strauss had sent to the Jewish writer, Stefan Zweig, the Austrian librettist of Strauss’ latest opera. In that letter, Strauss mocked the Nazi’s obsession with race and urged Zweig to continue to work with him, even if they would have to meet in secret. Strauss was asked to resign, and, anxious to avoid further trouble for himself and his family, appealed directly to Hitler, who never responded.

Dmitri Shostakovich also ran afoul of his dictator when, in 1936, Stalin attended Shostakovich’s opera “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” and hated it. The next day Shostakovich was harshly condemned in the official press, and lived in terror for the rest of Stalin’s reign, redirecting his music according to Party line and making obsequious political utterances whenever asked. Even so, many today claim to hear both terror AND heroic—if coded—resistance in Shostakovich’s best scores.

Music Played in Today's Program

Richard Strauss (1864-1949) Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40 Daniel Majeske, violin; Cleveland Orchestra; Daniel Barenboim, cond. London 414 292

Dimitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk excerpts Scottish National Orchestra; Neeme Jarvi, cond. Chandos 8587

On This Day

Births

• 1932 - Danish composer Per Norgaard, in Gentofte (near Copenhagen);

Deaths

• 1951 - Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg, in Los Angeles, on a Friday the 13th; He was superstitiously obsessed with the number 13 and, ironically, was 76 years old at the time of his death (7+6 = 13)

Premieres

• 1829 - Mendelssohn: Double Concerto (in e) for two pianos and orchestra, in London at a benefit concert, with the composer and Ignaz Moscheles as the soloists

• 1995 - Corigliano: "Soliloquy" for clarinet and string quartet, in Portland, Oregon, by Chamber Music Northwest

Others

• 1937 - The first Pan-American Chamber Music Festival is held in Mexico City