Shostakovich - A Soviet Artist

In the West, Dmitri Shostakovich has often been read as the tormented Soviet composer whose musical ambitions were constantly stifled by an all-powerful Communist Party - his music interpreted as coded messages and artistic responses to conflict with the state, the party, and Stalin.

But was the picture more complex? Was he a naive artistic myth who never grasped the role the Communist Party had assigned him? Or a biting satirist who managed to mock the Party through his music?

The lecture examines the man, the music, and the myth closely: how did Shostakovich understand himself, and how was he read by the Party and audiences in both East and West? It draws on Mikkel Thrane Lassen's biography "Shostakovich - A Soviet Artist" (Multivers 2022).

The lecture is arranged in collaboration with Folkeuniversitetet.