![]() ![]() The first movement is titled Nocturne, beginning in a low register, a slow pace, and producing a haunting atmosphere. There are four movements in Opus 77 (sometimes also called opus 99 after its publication in 1956.) At one time, Shostakovich noted that his concerto was “a symphony for solo violin and orchestra.” Even Oistrakh begged the composer to give the opening of the finale to the orchestra so that ‘I can at least wipe the sweat off my brow’ after the daunting solo cadenza that concludes the third movement.” (Program notes, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra) “Shostakovich’s First Violin concerto is a veritable “iron man” concerto, calling on everything in the violinists’ technical arsenal, as well as vast physical and emotional stamina. In 1948 he was condemned for formalist perversions and antidemocratic tendencies in music, alien to the Soviet people and its artistic tastes. ![]() And Shostakovich and Stalin did not get along. It was easy to get a one-way ticket on the Trans-Siberian railroad during Stalin’s regime, and during his dictatorship, over a million people would lose their lives in exile to one of the camps. The term GULAG was the acronym for Main Administration of Corrective labor Camps. It also meant direct persecution and possible expulsion to the Siberian Gulag and forced labor camps. The decree was not limited to an artistic critique. Too incomprehensible for the lowest denominator of Soviet music audiences to easily enjoy. And he also knew that his First Violin Concerto would not have been acceptable: it was too individualistic. ![]() The 1946 Zhdanov Doctrine, named after his “Witchfinder General” Andrew Zhdanov, had stated that the post war world was divided in two camps: the imperialist United States and the democratic Soviet Union, and it included a thinly disguised warning: “The only conflict that is possible in the Soviet culture is the conflict between good and best.”Īlthough a decree on music was not specifically issued until February 10, 1948, Shostakovich knew that the meaning of the Zhadanov Doctrine would apply to his work that “best” meant adherence to specific government cultural standards. It was not safe to bring it out until two years after Stalin’s death. The First Violin Concerto, written in 1947-48, lay hidden in a desk drawer until its premier October 29, 1955, with the Leningrad Philharmonic and the dedicatee as soloist. Shostakovich wrote his two violin concerti for his friend, master violinist David Oistrakh, who was very helpful to him in the writing of the solo parts. ![]()
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