READINGS
The first work to be so regarded, the Fifth Symphony, was also the work that won Shostakovich his rehabilitation and return to official favor. It was first performed in Leningrad, on 21 November 1937, at the very height of Stalin’s so-called “purge” of the Party and government, in the midst of mass arrests, disappearances, and executions, to an audience that, according to reliable reports, had been weeping openly during the slow movement and cheered the symphony for fully half an hour when it was over. The history of its reception is a most revealing narrative, not only in the context of Soviet music, but in the more general context of music created, presented, and interpreted under conditions of modern totalitarianism at its most stringent.
- Citation (MLA):
- Richard Taruskin. "Chapter 13 Music and Totalitarian Society." The Oxford History of Western Music. Oxford University Press. New York, USA. n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2025. <https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume4/actrade-9780195384840-div1-013010.xml>.
- Citation (APA):
- Taruskin, R. (n.d.). Chapter 13 Music and Totalitarian Society. In Oxford University Press, Music in the Early Twentieth Century. New York, USA. Retrieved 21 Jan. 2025, from https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume4/actrade-9780195384840-div1-013010.xml
- Citation (Chicago):
- Richard Taruskin. "Chapter 13 Music and Totalitarian Society." In Music in the Early Twentieth Century, Oxford University Press. (New York, USA, n.d.). Retrieved 21 Jan. 2025, from https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume4/actrade-9780195384840-div1-013010.xml
