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Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District
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Abstract
Shostakovich’s lurid opera of sex and violence, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, is famous for being banned by personal decree of Joseph Stalin in 1936. Dramatically revived by Shostakovich’s close friend, the cellist and Soviet émigré Mstislav Rostropovich, in 1979, Lady Macbeth is now an international hit. In the first-ever study of this beloved but still controversial opera, this book asks whether audiences have become so distracted by its traumatic reception history that they overlook what is truly shocking about it: namely, Lady Macbeth’s frank portrayal of sexual violence against women. Arguing that Shostakovich himself vacillated over how consensual its central sex scene should be, the book grounds the opera’s presentation of women, sexuality, and sexual violence in both real-life events and the culture of early Soviet Russia.
Title: Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District
Description:
Abstract
Shostakovich’s lurid opera of sex and violence, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, is famous for being banned by personal decree of Joseph Stalin in 1936.
Dramatically revived by Shostakovich’s close friend, the cellist and Soviet émigré Mstislav Rostropovich, in 1979, Lady Macbeth is now an international hit.
In the first-ever study of this beloved but still controversial opera, this book asks whether audiences have become so distracted by its traumatic reception history that they overlook what is truly shocking about it: namely, Lady Macbeth’s frank portrayal of sexual violence against women.
Arguing that Shostakovich himself vacillated over how consensual its central sex scene should be, the book grounds the opera’s presentation of women, sexuality, and sexual violence in both real-life events and the culture of early Soviet Russia.
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