Ru
EnE. Zinkevich
“The Shakespearean path” of D. Shostakovich and B. Pasternak
The published article examines the prospects of research comprehension of the deep origins of creative work of the greatest contemporary artists through the prism of certain generalizing concepts. With regard to D. Shostakovich and B. Pasternak, a very significant concept, according to the author of the article, can be positioned as a metaphorical “Shakespearean path”. It is noted that this “path” actually runs through all the main stages of composer’s biography of D. Shostakovich (from the early 1930s to the mid-1970s) and primarily implies the creation of music for outstanding theatrical productions and films based on the tragedies “Hamlet” and “King Lear”. In addition, these “Shakespearean” works enter into a peculiar “interaction” with Shostakovich’s works of other genres – symphonies, instrumental concertos, string quartets, chamber vocal cycles – on the figurative-semantic, intonational-thematic, tonal-harmonic, and other levels (up to self-quotation). The corresponding motifs attract the composer and are found in the legacy of highly esteemed poets by him – A. Blok and M. Tsvetaeva. Dmitri Shostakovich's epistolary legacy and memoir publications about him contain very indicative mentions of the “Shakespearean beginnings” in the artist’s worldview, in his ethical principles, and so on. The representation of this concept in Boris Pasternak’s creative biography and literary heritage is characterized by a similar versatileness. We are talking about poems from different years, essays, letters, as well as translations of Shakespearean tragedies – a true “discovery of the classics” in the Russian poetry and drama of the second half of the 20th century. As the researcher notes, the “Shakespearean path” became a crucial factor determining the “selective affinity” between D. Shostakovich and B. Pasternak, and the special significance of their “intersections” in the artistic sphere of the late Soviet era.
Key words
conceptual approach in musicology, “Shakespearean path”, D. Shostakovich, B. Pasternak, G. Kozintsev, “Hamlet”, “King Lear”.
For citation
Zinkevich E. “The Shakespearean path” of D. Shostakovich and B. Pasternak. In: South-Russian Musical Anthology. 2026. No. 1. Pp. 137–151.
