Story of a Friendship: The Letters of Dmitry Shostakovich to Isaak Glikman, 1941–1975

by Dmitri Shostakovich

After considerable hesitation and soul-searching I have decided to publish the letters Dmitry Dmitriyevich Shostakovich wrote to me. This choice by the composer's close friend Isaak Glikman brought the tormented feelings of the musical genius into public view. Now those feelings resound in the first substantial collection of Shostakovich's letters to appear in English. From the early 1930s until his death in 1975 Shostakovich wrote regularly to Glikman, a Leningrad theater critic and historian. The 288 letters included in this volume began in 1941, at the time of Operation Barbarossa and the composition of the controversial (Leningrad) Symphony no. 7, and continue until 1974, by which time Shostakovich was too frail to write. Glikman's extensive introduction explains that the earlier letters were lost―presumably left behind when both men were evacuated from besieged Leningrad. In his account of those years, Glikman relates personal details of the composer's life during the height of the Stalinist Terror, including Shostakovich's response to the public humiliation inflicted by the regime after the premiere of his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Taken together, the letters and Glikman's fascinating commentary form a portrait of a complex and acutely sensitive personality endowed with enormous moral integrity, humanity, compassion, and a sharp, often self-deprecating, sense of humor. The book recounts some of the most pivotal episodes of Shostakovich's life, including the long withdrawal of the Symphony no. 4, the regime's 1948 attacks on the composer, his subsequent trips to the United States and other Western countries, his frame of mind upon joining the Communist party in 1960, his reactions to the music of his contemporaries, and his composition of the devastating late symphonies and final string quartets. The battles over the politics of Dmitry Shostakovich and his music continue with undiminished vehemence, and Story of a Friendship is sure to occasion still more argument. At the same time, the book provides a unique opportunity better to understand the man and his music, on the one hand, and the regime that alternately hailed and reviled him, on the other.

Genres: Music

416 pages, Hardcover

First published October 22, 2001

About the author

Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (25 September [O.S. 12 September] 1906 – 9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and thereafter was regarded as a major composer.

Reviews

[Shawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another set of nice insights into the everyday voice of Shostakovich. Glikman is not a good writer -- a bit too pathetic, working a bit too hard to be persuasive. And the lack of copies of his own letters makes things a bit one sided.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shostakovich clearly has great affection for Glikman if this correspondence over nearly 40 years is anything to go by. Sadly we only have the composer’s side as he was unsentimental about what people sent him and so appears to have kept records. He was equally dismissive of any who might want to write biographical accounts (this casting a question mark over Volkov’s Testimony) and so Glikman’s efforts here are significant.
There are certainly real gems along the way especially about other musicians and performances of his work. And the notes are vital for making sense of much of what he says. However, the constant but mundane refrains of poor health, changes of address, the deaths of friends etc do begin to pall a little. There’s inevitably precious little historical or cultural comment, which is of course the great mystery. What exactly did he think about what was going on in the USSR. Likewise, there is nothing about the death of his first wife, nor about the circumstances of his subsequent two marriages.
However Glikman’s description of Shostakovich’s deep distress when forced into the corner of having to join the communist party is poignant and telling. We do get a glimpse of a real man with frailties and deep needs. But in the end, he undoubtedly revealed himself more to friends through conversation and ultimately, to us all, through the music.

[Tristram · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful and sensitive collection of letters from Shostakovich to one of his closest friends, Isaak Glikman. When you read biographies of Shostakovich, you always get a slightly skewed impression of what he was really like due to people inserting their own bias into his life, so it is nice to have a confirmed and untainted view of his character through his own writing. The accompanying notes, introduction and appendices by Glikman further emphasise that this is a respectful and essential piece in researching the composer. They provide much more information and insight, and clarification against some of these portrayals that are prevalent in Shostakovich literature.

[Joann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel like Michelangelo's Pieta when I think of this man.

[Andrew Spitznas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Indispensable for learning more about the composer, but the author is too worshipful to be completely reliable. Elizabeth Wilson's book would be a better starting place.