Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony

Leningrad, 1937: Shostakovich's Fifth becomes Soviet music's answer to official criticism.

Related

ModernSymphonySonata FormTimpani

Time and place

21 November 1937, Leningrad Philharmonic Hall. Mravinsky conducted the Leningrad Philharmonic. In January 1936 Pravda had attacked his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk as Muddle Instead of Music; the symphony was his first large response.

What happened

The work has four movements in D minor and no programme. The first begins with a low canon and builds to a climax; the second is a mocking scherzo; the third is a broad slow movement; the finale drives toward D major on march rhythm. Shostakovich was later quoted as calling it a Soviet artist's creative response to just criticism.

What changed

The symphony became a double language for public occasions. It met the official demand for an optimistic ending while letting listeners feel its emptiness. Shostakovich showed that under censorship form itself could carry dissent. It became a model for Soviet symphonies.

Listen for the turn

Begin with the low canon and hear it climb step by step to the full orchestra. Then hear the finale, where drums and brass pin the rhythm while the melody repeats. Finally try the Twenty-Four Preludes and Fugues, whose cool counterpoint contrasts with the Fifth.

Related

This turn belongs to Modern and connects Symphony, Sonata Form and Timpani.

Sources

• The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed., entry "Shostakovich, Dmitry" — 1937 premiere checked, not quoted
• Grove Music Online 的 Symphony 条目，用于核对第五交响曲的创作背景与首演

Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.