A) Solomon Volkov was a Russian journalist and musicologist who is mostly known for “Testimony"

following his emigration from the Soviet Union in 1976, claimed that the book was a collection of
memories by Dimitry Shostakovich edited by Volkov. According to the article, this book influenced the
posthumous reception of Shostakovich in the western world by creating a great attraction and curiosity
about the composer that was expressed in The Bard festival in New York, two weekends of concerts in
which Shostakovich was heard, indicating that the composer had a vital appeal, every performance was
packed, and even 10 a.m. panels drew crowds. The main criticism regarding this book has concerned
whether it is authentic and accurate since in seven out of the eight chapters Volkov quoted word for word
an older Shostakovich essays. Which leads to the conclusion that Volkov achieved the composer's
approval of publishing this book under false pretenses. the American scholar Laurel Fay was the first to
question the credibility of the book and brought evidence which supported her argument.
B. * The term ‘Formalism’ from a Soviet perspective is associated with the western world style of art.
The term “socialist realism” was an artistic style that is perceived to have a political goal of promoting
and deepening the ideas of socialism and communism.
*Lady Macbeth has been denounced to be “formalist” and that it contains modernistic defects and “coarse
naturalism” which is associated indissolubly with the taste of the bourgeois west. Lady Macbeth has been
criticized by “Pravda,” the official newspaper of the communist party in the Soviet Union.
*The premiere of Shostakovich fifth symphony scored an absolute unforgettable triumph with the
listeners which obviously was an ominous development considering Pravda's criticisms of the composer,
additionally some of the composer colleagues did their utmost to remove the composer from the
provocative scene. The director of the Leningrad Philharmonic confirmed that bureaucratic functionaries
did, in fact the enthusiasm among the audience during the premiere as a challenge for the communist
party.
*Eventually the concert did not take place because Shostakovich requested to withdraw his fourth
symphony from performance claiming that the piece does not correspond with his current creativity and
conviction. I personally think that Shostakovich could not stay indifferent to the horrible developments in
the Soviet Union back then. Many friends and colleagues of Shostakovich have disappeared, and it is
reasonable to think those events affected him and deterred him from performing his piece. preventatives
from the soviet party forced him to deliver the announcement by himself.
C. The composition ‘Babi Yar’ is a straightforward condemnation of anti- semitism by the Russian poet
‘Yevgeniy Yevtushenko’ this piece provoked intense public debate and the slander campaign against him.
He was charged with attempted murder to drive a wedge between nationalities, of inciting ethnic hatred
by raising the suffering of the Jews during the war exceeded that of the Russians.

D. “The Fifth Symphony and the Thirteenth Symphony unveil opposite aspects of Shostakovich
’relationship with the communist regime of the Soviet Union.” Shostakovich wrote his fifth symphony
after his life was in danger by the authorities in the Soviet Union, when he presented the opera "Lady
Macbeth" which applied a brutal narrative Offended the Great Leader. Shostakovich publicly described
the piece as "a Soviet artist's answer to righteous criticism", From this it can be concluded that there was
some attempt on his part to soften the hostility of the regime towards him. Privately he said the ending
was a satirical picture of the dictator, deliberately hollow but disguised as admiration. Thus he was able to
convey a double message. tthe Thirteenth Symphony. Dissident poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko’s 1961
poem “Babi Yar” reflects on the massacre and is a searing condemnation of anti-Semitism and the Soviet
system that condoned it. If you consider the name of the work and the fact that it is originally a poem with
a text that Before it was censored was very sharp in his criticism towards the soviet authorities, it can be
concluded that Shostakovich was much more open with his criticism of the Soviet regime and its
treatment of the Jews during World War II.

* Béla Bartók’s pantomime ballet The Miraculous Mandarin;

Béla Bartók composed his pantomime The Miraculous Mandarin between October 1918 and May 1919. When he
wrote this piece, he was living under difficult conditions in a small village east of Budapest. When Bartok wrote this
piece Dramatic political changes have taken place .in 1919 a right-wing government took power, and the right-wing
press attacked Bartok since at that time he was forced to live in Transylvania due to his ethnomusicological
activities, they attacked him for secretly being a Romanian Nationalist and a traitor to Hungary, and indeed the work
was not performed in Budapest until after Bartók's death, in 1945. The scenario masks a symbolic fable about
the enduring power of love with a brutal plot dripping with sexuality and violence . Three tramps force a
girl to lure passers-by into a dank room so they can rob the hapless men. The first sign, a ragged beard,
has no money, so the tramps throw him back on the street. The second victim, a shy young man, met the
same fate. But the third person is something unusual, the Mandarin. His unworldly look scares the girl, but
the tramp forces her to dance for him. The mandarin overcomes in love the variety of passion in violence;
He chases the girl, and when he catches her, the tramps rob him and drag him to bed, where they try to
suffocate him with a pillow. but the mandarin is not dead. He looks back at the girl, with a look of wild
longing in his eyes. One of the tramps grabs a rusty old sword and runs it through the mandarin three
times. The Mandarin sinks to the floor for a moment, but gets up again and throws himself at the girl. The
three vagabonds take control of him, tie him up and hang him from the light. His limp body falls to the floor
and begins to glow a sickly greenish-blue. The girl signals to the tramps to release the mandarin, and she
lets him hug her. As soon as he satisfied his desire, he died. " The Miraculous Mandarin was not intended
to be a ballet at all but a pantomime, There are only two parts in the whole piece that are marked as
dances

*Michael Tippett's oratorio A Child of Our Time;

A Child of Our Time is a secular oratorio by the British composer Michael Tippett (1905–1998), who also
wrote the libretto. Composed between 1939 and 1941. This work was written in the shadow of two
historical events that the composer was influenced by, such as the murder of a German diplomat by a
Jewish refugee and the radical reaction on the part of the German government afterwards by carrying out
a pogrom against the Jewish population that lived there. This work deals with events of this kind in the
context of people or an ethnic group subjected to constant oppression, The text's recurrent themes of
shadow and light reflect the Jungian psychoanalysis which Tippett underwent in the years immediately
before writing the work. The oratorio uses a traditional three-part format based on that of Handel's
Messiah, and is structured in the manner of Bach's Passions. Tippett shared in the public horror which
this aroused, deciding that he must respond with a composition which, as it turned out, was to be his first
major public statement as an artist, and one that is now performed all over the world.

*Arthur Honegger’s oratorio Jeanne d’Arc au Bucher.

is an oratorio by Arthur Honegger, originally commissioned by Ida Rubinstein. It was set to a libretto by
Paul Claudel, The drama begins in 1431 when the heroine is about to be burned alive in early 1430,
After Joan organized a company of volunteers to liberate Compiegne, which was besieged by the
Burgundians - French allies of the English. in her last minutes she had flashbacks and she
remembers the voices of the Holy voices Motivated her to lead the French army to victory against
the English, who then controlled a large part of France. Betrayed by a faction of pro-English nobles,
she is condemned as both a witch and a heretic and now revisits episodes of her past.

Sources I used:

https://www.schott-music.com/en/a-child-of-our-time-no175102.html

https://www.laphil.com/musicdb/pieces/4161/the-miraculous-mandarin-suite

https://www.schott-music.com/en/a-child-of-our-time-no175102.html

https://bachtrack.com/review-honegger-jeanne-arc-deneve-royal-concertgebouw-september-2018