No other composer reflects the hardships of the Russian people as deeply as Shostakovich. His work reflects the political upheavals that shaped both the tumultuous life of the composer and his homeland, giving a voice to victims of oppression.
Dmitri Shostakovich was born in 1906, just a few months after the outbreak of the 1905 revolution. Instead of growing up amid Slavic folk songs and tales, young Shostakovich heard the revolutionary anthems of a tumultuous Russia. The October Revolution erupted when he was only 11, and the violence of the events began to fuel his creativity, which quickly took a distinct turn, composing pieces he called Little Revolutionary Symphony, Hymn to Liberty and Funeral March for Victims of the Revolution.
Many years later, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the fall of the tsarist regime, the government encouraged artists to produce works inspired by this significant period in Russian history. Shostakovich saw this as an opportunity to write his Symphony No. 11, with the events of 1905 as the theme—particularly Bloody Sunday—which led to the October Revolution of 1917. The symphony follows the classical four-movement structure, but each movement begins attacca (without a pause), giving the work the feel of a continuous symphonic poem recounting the fateful day of January 9, 1905.
The symphony opens with an adagio subtitled “The Palace Square,” setting the scene for the upheavals to come. The opening was described by musicologist Grigori Schneerson as “the dreary, empty, static harmony of the strings painting the eerie dawn of that memorable winter morning, rising over the deserted squares of imperial St. Petersburg.” This gloomy, oppressive and tyrannical atmosphere is enough to immerse the audience in a state of anxious, almost hypnotic anticipation.
Low strings break the stifling calm with the arrival of the allegro, “The 9th of January,” which features the crowd of workers gathered in front of the tsar’s palace. A fugue unfolds frenetically, building relentlessly toward the horrific massacre carried out by the Cossacks, who fire point-blank at the assembled demonstrators—depicted here by a powerful uproar of brass and percussion. After a final burst of gunfire, the movement returns to its original tranquility… except with the Palace Square now littered with bodies.
The third movement, “Memory Eternal,” is an adagio that starts out in silence, broken only by the pizzicati of the lower strings. The violas come in gracefully, playing the Russian revolutionary march “You Fell as Victims.” This slow procession serves as a mournful lament for fallen heroes.
The fourth and final movement, “Tocsin,” brings the procession to a sudden halt. Fury spreads among the people, who demand revolution. In a rousing finale, Shostakovich revisits many of the popular themes integrated into the symphony. The monumental work culminates with the promise of a triumphant people and the punishment of the executioners, foretold by the bells.
Shostakovich incorporated several workers’ and revolutionary songs from 1905 into the symphony, including the funeral march “Vy zhertvoiu pali” (“You Fell as Victims”), which Lenin is said to have sung with his compatriots upon learning of the atrocities of Bloody Sunday. With these popular tunes woven throughout the score, the symphony truly embodies the voice of the people. Premiered in Moscow on October 30, 1957, to unanimous acclaim—a rarity for the composer—it also earned him the Lenin Prize.
