Turn of the Century French Composers

At the end of the nineteenth century, the French had a desire to withdraw from the vulgar aspects of life. They sought self-redemption through the arts, and beautified the subjects that most depressed them. For the painters, this was the impressionist movement. At the same time, French symbolist writers were attempting to evoke subjects with words. In the musical world, there was no desire to describe human frailties. All of these movements were taking place in Paris, which was flourishing with the arts just as much as Vienna was in Austria. Paris had a well established avant-garde tradition, and was also the home of a few very important French composers.

Camille Saint-Saens composed at the end of the nineteenth century, and at the beginning of the twentieth century. He wrote many popular songs in several different genres. He also founded the National Society of Music in 1871, just after the Franco-Prussian war. Saint-Saens was a conservative composer, and by 1890, his music was looked down upon by his country. However, in the US and England, he was haled as France's greatest composer.

Another composer that influenced the French style was Erik Satie. He was a key element to the evolution of modernism in French music. Satie supported the complete rejection of German Romanticism and all things related to Wagner. He instead attempted to reduce music to its simplest, purest core. Satie is also famous for a meeting with Claude Debussy, in which he advises Debussy to "look to the painters."

Whether Debussy took Satie's advice or not can be speculated. Debussy did, however, destroy the forms and harmonies that were typical in his day. Debussy did not have a wide following like Wagner did. For a while, Debussy worked for Lady Von Meck - and even traveled with her to Russia. It was during this trip that Debussy became infatuated with the music of Mussorgsky, and his ability to turn the Russian language into a melody line. This played into the development of Debussy's style. He was interested in making music that was created by musical colors and rhythms, and had a great instinct for harmonic color. Debussy could use this intuition to choose the on 'right' chord for the exact touch of 'color' he was looking for. Debussy had no interest in classical and romantic era forms either, and instead followed medieval music with modal harmonies and scales. Because he did not bother with these classical techniques, Debussy was free to compose his music the way he heard it inside his own head.

Dmitri Shostakovitch

Shostakovitch was a young child of about ten or eleven when the Soviets began to upsrise in 1922. Around 1928, there was unbridled enthusiasm for the Soviets to come to power. During this time, Shostakovitch was in the conservatory. Also in 1928, the five years plan was implemented by the Soviets. Under this plan, everyone worked toward goals set by the government (namely, Lenin, Stalin, and Zhdanov). This plan, however, was not successful.

During the Soviet uprising, the Union of Soviet Composers was created. Zhdanov was put in charge of this organization. Under the Union, he created a doctrine that mandated the composition of victorious, heroic, and beautiful music. The basic idea was to create a "Russian" style of music, much like the way Beethoven created a "German" style of music. This doctrine was also against folk-negating modern compositions. At the time, Russian composers had no idea how much the doctrine would ultimately limit their work.

Stalin did not get a chance to hear Shostakovitch's work until after his "great terror," in which 800,000 people were killed. "Lady MacBeth of the Mtensk District" was the opera that Stalin attended. The story was one of a loveless marriage, murder and crime - not the heroic themes that were mandated by Zhanov. Needless to say, Stalin was not amused. Fortunately for Shostakovitch, his fame was great enough at the time that he was not killed. However, on fear of death, Shostakovitch abandoned his Fourth Symphony, and instead wrote the Fifth Symphony in response to his criticism by the Soviet government. The Fifth Symphony is thick wit Russian themes, and follows in the tradition of Tchaikovsky. It is written in the style of the classical-era symphony, but is not considered neo-classic. It is truly a composition of the Russian symphonic tradition. The Fifth Symphony put Shostakovitch back in Stalin's good graces, and he was given a post in Stalingrad as the head of musical composition.

Unfortunately for Shostakovitch, Hitler decided to break the non-aggression pact with Russia, and invaded Stalingrad. During the invasion, Shostakovitch remained. When the city finally turned to a wasteland, all important people (including Shostakovitch) are evacuated. Shostakovitch moved to Leningrad shortly after, and composed the Seventh Symphony. This work is very patriotic, and symbolizes the Russian struggle over German imperialism.

In 1948, Zhdanov completely shut down all creativity of the Soviet composers. No one is completely sure why this happened. As a result, all Soviet composers were at risk of being arrested. Shostakovitch was not arrested, but lived in fear. For a while, he even slept on his front porch every night, so when the police came, it would not distress his family as much.

After 1948, Shostakovitch wrote three basic types of music. He wrote music for movies to pay the rent; symphonies to please the government; and "desk-drawer" music to express himself in a creative sense. It is through the "desk-drawer" music that we get a sense of Shostakovitch's true creative nature. If only this creativity were not suppressed by his country!

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