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"Muddle Instead of Music: On the Opera ''Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District''" (Russian: Сумбур вместо музыки – Об опере «Леди Макбет Мценского уезда») is an
editorial An editorial, or leading article (UK) or leader (UK), is an article or any other written document, often unsigned, written by the senior editorial people or publisher of a newspaper or magazine, that expresses the publication's opinion about ...
that appeared in the
Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
newspaper ''
Pravda ''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, 'Truth') is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most in ...
'' on 28 January 1936. The unsigned article condemned
Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and thereafter was regarded as a major composer. Shostak ...
's popular
opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...
'' Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District'' as, among other labels, " formalist", "
bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...
", "coarse" and "vulgar". Immediately after publication rumors began to circulate that
Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
had written the opinion. While this is unlikely, it is almost certain that Stalin was aware of and agreed with the article. "Muddle Instead of Music" was a turning point in Shostakovich's career. The article has since become a well-known example of Soviet censorship of the arts.


Background


Premiere of the opera and initial praise

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
composer Dmitri Shostakovich completed his opera ''Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District'' in 1932. Set in pre-
revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates for, a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective to describe something producing a major and sudden impact on society. Definition The term—bot ...
times, ''Lady Macbeth'' deals with themes of
lust Lust is an intense desire for something. Lust can take any form such as the lust for sexuality (see libido), money, or power. It can take such mundane forms as the lust for food (see gluttony) as distinct from the need for food or lust for red ...
,
loneliness Loneliness is an unpleasant emotional response to perceived or actual isolation. Loneliness is also described as social paina psychological mechanism that motivates individuals to seek social connections. It is often associated with a perc ...
and
murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...
. Some of its scenes are sexually explicit; a review in the ''
New York Sun ''The New York Sun'' is an American conservative news website and former newspaper based in Manhattan, New York. From 2009 to 2021, it operated as an (occasional and erratic) online-only publisher of political and economic opinion pieces, as we ...
'' called the opera "pornophony". On 24 January 1934 the work premiered to great success, lauded by critics and government officials. ''Lady Macbeth'' quickly spread to
opera house An opera house is a theater building used for performances of opera. Like many theaters, it usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, backstage facilities for costumes and building sets, as well as offices for the institut ...
s worldwide, cementing Shostakovich's status as an international celebrity. In the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
it received instant praise. The newspaper ''Sovetskoe iskusstvo'' honored ''Lady Macbeth'' as "a triumph of musical theatre", while '' Sovetskaya muzyka'' called it "the best Soviet work, the chef-d'oeuvre of Soviet creativity".
Party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will oft ...
officials were likewise pleased, extolling the opera and terming Shostakovich "a Soviet composer brought up in the best tradition of
Soviet culture The culture of the Soviet Union passed through several stages during the country's 69-year existence. It was contributed to by people of various nationalities from every one of fifteen union republics, although the majority of the influence was ...
". In 1934 and 1935 the opera was performed several hundred times nationwide.


Stalin's disapproval

Almost exactly two years after the opera's premiere, Shostakovich was invited to a
Bolshoi Theatre The Bolshoi Theatre ( rus, Большо́й теа́тр, r=Bol'shoy teatr, p=bɐlʲˈʂoj tʲɪˈat(ə)r, t=Grand Theater) is a historic opera house in Moscow, Russia, originally designed by architect Joseph Bové. Before the October Revolutio ...
performance on 26 January 1936, where he found Stalin in attendance with several associates, among them
Andrei Zhdanov Andrei Aleksandrovich Zhdanov ( rus, Андрей Александрович Жданов, p=ɐnˈdrʲej ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪdʑ ˈʐdanəf, a=Ru-Андрей Жданов.ogg, links=yes; – 31 August 1948) was a Soviet politician. He was ...
and
Vyacheslav Molotov Vyacheslav Mikhaylovich Molotov (; – 8 November 1986) was a Soviet politician, diplomat, and revolutionary who was a leading figure in the government of the Soviet Union from the 1920s to the 1950s, as one of Joseph Stalin's closest allies. ...
. Nine days prior Stalin had attended another opera, Ivan Dzerzhinsky's ''The Quiet Don'', and had praised it as a model of socialist realism for its lyrical clarity and emotional directness. ''Lady Macbeth'' did not make the same impression on the Soviet leader. Shostakovich later wrote to his friend Ivan Sollertinsky that he witnessed Stalin cringing at loud parts of the score and laughing at sexual moments. Displeased, Stalin left after the end of the third act. A frightened Shostakovich was reportedly "white as a sheet" when he bowed for the audience. Two days later "Muddle Instead of Music" appeared on the third page of the 28 January issue of ''Pravda''.


The article


Content

"Muddle Instead of Music" begins by stressing the necessity of "good" popular music and its role in Soviet progress: "With the general cultural development of our country there grew also the necessity for good music…The people expect good songs, but also good instrumental works, and good operas." Shostakovich, it claims, failed to provide such work for an "appreciative audience". The piece calls ''Lady Macbeth'' "coarse, primitive and vulgar", a "cacophony" of "nervous, convulsive, and spasmodic music" that is little more than a "wilderness of musical chaos". Turning now to the composer himself, it admits that Shostakovich had talent but argues that he "deliberately" turned music "inside out", lamenting the lack of "simple and popular musical language accessible to all". It warns that such complexity endangers Soviet music, leaving it vulnerable to "leftist distortion", "formalism" and "petty-bourgeois 'innovation'". ''Lady Macbeth''s success abroad was only further proof that it is an anti-Soviet opera that "tickles the perverted taste of the bourgeois". Perhaps the editorial's most dangerous pronouncement is that Shostakovich was not a class-conscious composer, rather an introspective artist who "ignored the demands of Soviet culture" and cared little for his audiences. Leaving no room for doubt about the depth of its deprecation, the editorial regrets that: "The power of good music to infect the masses has been sacrificed to a petty-bourgeois, 'formalist' attempt to create originality through cheap clowning. It is a game of clever ingenuity that may end very badly."


Aftermath

The article immediately cast Shostakovich into disgrace. Performances of ''Lady Macbeth'' dwindled rapidly until the opera was completely banned. It was last performed that year on 11 March at the Nemirovich-Danchenko Theatre in Moscow. Those who had praised it before were compelled to retract their opinions. The composer lost most of his income and commissions. Many of his colleagues in the arts community sought to dissociate themselves from him, although some, such as
Isaac Babel Isaac Emmanuilovich Babel ( – 27 January 1940) was a Soviet writer, journalist, playwright, and literary translator. He is best known as the author of ''Red Cavalry'' and ''Odessa Stories'', and has been acclaimed as "the greatest prose write ...
, Abram Lezhnev and
Vsevolod Meyerhold Vsevolod Emilyevich Meyerhold (; born ; 2 February 1940) was a Russian and Soviet theatre director, actor and theatrical producer. His provocative experiments dealing with physical being and symbolism in an unconventional theatre setting m ...
spoke out in support of Shostakovich (all three would be executed in the purges). Shostakovich, half-finished with his Fourth Symphony, was in
Archangelsk Arkhangelsk (, ) is a city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina near its mouth into the White Sea. The city spreads for over along the banks of the river and numerous islands o ...
on a concert tour when he read the article in ''Pravda''. Ten days later another scathing editorial appeared in the newspaper, this time about his
ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
'' The Limpid Stream''. Named "Ballet Falsehood", the piece unleashed more castigation, calling the composer a musical
charlatan A charlatan (also called a swindler or mountebank) is a person practicing quackery or a similar confidence trick in order to obtain money, power, fame, or other advantages through pretense or deception. One example of a charlatan appears in t ...
and a peddler of "aesthetic formalism". The ballet's librettist, Adrian Piotrovsky, was arrested and executed the next year. Though shaken by the attacks, Shostakovich continued writing his Fourth Symphony and completed it in April 1936. He booked a premiere for December and distributed the score to the Leningrad Philharmonic for rehearsals, which began in autumn. His friends expressed fear that the authorities would be angered by the work, which is influenced by
Gustav Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic music, Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and ...
(disliked by the Party) and is structurally unconventional. Late in the year Shostakovich was summoned for a meeting with a representative of the
Union of Soviet Composers The Union of Russian Composers (formerly the Union of Soviet Composers, Order of Lenin Union of Composers of USSR () (1932– ), and Union of Soviet Composers of the USSR) is a state-created organization for musicians and musicologists created in 1 ...
, who advised him to withdraw the symphony on threat of "administrative measures" for noncompliance. The composer submitted to the demands and cancelled the premiere. Shostakovich was formally rehabilitated with the premiere of his Fifth Symphony in November 1937. Encouraged by "Muddle Instead of Music" and other slander, he simplified his music to suit the prescriptions of socialist realism. The Fifth was an official success; Party members who had attacked him before acknowledged that he had "seen his errors" and improved.


Authorship

It was unknown who wrote "Muddle Instead of Music", as it was common for articles detailing an official Party stance to be published anonymously. Scholars have speculated about the piece's authorship. Likely candidates included Zhdanov, at the time Leningrad's Communist Party manager and later Stalin's unofficial culture minister; Boris Reznikov, another ''Pravda'' employee;
Platon Kerzhentsev Platon Mikhailovich Kerzhentsev (), (real name Lebedev (Ле́бедев), pseudonym V. Kerzhentsev; 4 August 1881 – 2 June 1940) was a Soviet Union, Soviet state and party official, revolutionary, diplomat, journalist, historian, playwri ...
, a party official, playwright and journalist; and David Zaslavsky, one of ''Pravda''s senior writers. Rumors spread that Stalin himself had written the article, although this is now thought to be unlikely. Based on archival research of personal papers, it is now accepted that David Zaslavsky was indeed the author.


See also

*
Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...
* Anti-formalist campaign *
Mass song Mass song ( ''Massovaya pesnya'') was a genre of Music of the Soviet Union, Soviet music that was widespread in the Soviet Union. A mass song was written by a professional or amateur composer for individual or chorus singing and intended for "br ...
* Lev Mekhlis


References

Sources * * * {{Authority control Socialist realism Censorship of music Censorship in the Soviet Union Works originally published in Pravda 1936 essays 1936 in the Soviet Union Dmitri Shostakovich