The case of Dmitri Shostakovitch, por Nicolas Nabokov (6 de 6)

(Sexta y última parte del artículo sobre Shostakovich escrito por Nicolas Nabokov en 1943 para la revista Harpers).

VI

The actual significance of the case of Shostakovitch can be brought home by restating the crucial question that I asked myself in 1929 in Poland: are we going to see the rise of an eclectic collectivistic art which will put the individual at least temporarily in a completely subservient position to the state and society? Are we going to see the birth of an impersonal art written exclusively for the masses and in the fallacious belief that the masses have to be “talked down to”? For the present the music of Shostakovitch seems to answer this question in the affirmative–at any rate in so far as the music of Soviet Russia is concerned.

Is his art great? Is it unique and incomparably better than most modern music? Certainly not. There are many composers who both write better and have more to say than Shostakovitch. American and alien composers in this country have composed music which sees the concert hall less, but says infinitely more than his celebrated Seventh Symphony. Consider the scores of Piston, Copland, William Schuman, compositions by Stravinsky, Hindemith, Milhaud, Rieti–some of which are never played, because our maestros and their managers ordain otherwise.

It is these maestros and managers who are chiefly responsible for all the uproar in this country over one or two composers for one or two seasons. They have learned too well how to exploit a propitious political situation (what has become now of the “beloved” Finn, Sibelius?) and create a bubble reputation to relieve the stagnation of the concert repertory (always the same pieces of the same composers l); and they are now doing Shostakovitch immense disservice by placing him in a position in which he does not belong.

I sincerely hope that Shostakovitch has the power to undergo another complete regeneration and emerge a truly significant composer. But it is a gross misunderstanding of “collectivist” art to accept the popularity of his music now as evidence that he has found a universal formula. Soon his eclipse may come as swiftly as his leap to fame; this would be just as unfair and would indicate the same disbalance we see at present. Shostakovitch is a young man; he should develop as a solid and respected musician of the great New Russia. He does not now merit the injudicious acclaim he is receiving here; neither will he deserve the inevitable repudiation which will come in its wake. Both extremes are shameful evidence that contemporary music is judged indiscriminately and contemporary composers are used irresponsibly.


Nota: A partir de 1943, Shostakovich compuso obras tan importantes como su décima sinfonía y casi todos sus cuartetos de cuerda. Sería interesante saber qué opina Nabokov de estos trabajos - ¿cumplirían sus expectativas al fin?