Dmitri Shostakovich, a tightrope walker in the face of power

LONG-FORM ARTICLE, Jean-David Ponci | Member of the Supreme Soviet in 1947, General Secretary of the Union of Soviet Composers in 1960, Hero of Socialist Labor in 1966… These appointments, accepted reluctantly, were often merely a means of publishing articles in his name that he had not written, or of making him read speeches he did not approve of. This fits well with the totalitarian conception of power, according to which everything is at the service of the state. Shostakovich was supposed to be just another cog in this gigantic machine. How can an artist remain creative under such conditions? Shostakovich does more than simply respond to this dilemma; he embodies it through his very life. Just as a tightrope walker must submit to the laws of gravity if he is to survive, Shostakovich submits to the regime’s relentless laws, yet at the same time defies them by composing music that can be interpreted as a mockery.