Dmitri Shostakovich at Carnegie Hall

By Rob Hudson

Dmitri Shostakovich entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory (which had been renamed the Petrograd Conservatory) in 1919 to study piano and composition. Six years later, at age 19, he composed his First Symphony as a graduation piece and gained almost instant recognition as an important new composer. On November 6, 1928—the day on which Herbert Hoover defeated New York Governor Al Smith to become the 31st President of the United States—Leopold Stokowski led The Philadelphia Orchestra in the New York premiere of Shostakovich’s First Symphony at Carnegie Hall. This marked the first performance of any of Shostakovich’s music at the Hall.

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There can be no music without an ideology. The old composers, whether they knew it or not, were upholding a political theory … We, as revolutionists, have a different conception of music.
—Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975)

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By age 24, Shostakovich had finished two more symphonies, an opera, several film scores, music for plays, and many smaller works. His second opera, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, seemed at first destined to be yet another triumph, garnering acclaim around the world after its premiere in Leningrad in January 1934. Music from the opera was first heard in the US on November 22, 1934, when the New York Philharmonic and conductor Artur Rodziński performed two of the opera’s entr’actes at Carnegie Hall. In 1936, the Soviet regime suddenly launched a bitter attack on the opera, calling it “chaos instead of music.” The episode marked a turning point for Shostakovich, who found himself denounced by his government, fellow composers, and even some of his friends. Political tumult dogged him for the rest of his life. Debates about Shostakovich’s music and its relationship to Soviet politics continue to this day.

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To me he seemed like a trapped man, whose only wish was to be left alone, to the peace of his own art and to the tragic destiny to which he, like most of his countrymen, has been forced to resign himself.
—Composer Nicolas Nabokov on meeting Shostakovich in 1949 in New York

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The New York Philharmonic gave premieres at Carnegie Hall of at least 10 major works by Shostakovich:

Two selections from Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (US Premiere) conducted by Artur Rodziński: November 22, 1934
Piano Concerto No. 1 (New York Premiere) conducted by Otto Klemperer with soloist Eugene List: December 19, 1935
Symphony No. 7 (New York Premiere) conducted by Arturo Toscanini: October 14, 1942
Symphony No. 8 (US Premiere) conducted by Artur Rodziński: April 2, 1944
Symphony No. 9 (New York Premiere) conducted by Artur Rodziński: November 7, 1946
Symphony No. 10 (US Premiere) conducted by Dimitri Mitropoulos: October 14, 1954
Violin Concerto No. 1 (US Premiere) conducted by Dimitri Mitropoulos with soloist David Oistrakh: December 29, 1955
Piano Concerto No. 2 (US Premiere) with Leonard Bernstein as soloist and conductor: January 2, 1958
Festive Overture (New York Premiere) conducted by Dimitri Mitropoulos: February 16, 1956