Traces how Shostakovich's music in France shifted from being seen in its communist context to an emblem of humanism and resistance across the twentieth century.


This book examines shifting critical responses to Shostakovich's music in France throughout the twentieth century - from its introduction in Paris during the 1930s, through to the 1990s, when the symphonies and Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District were being performed and staged widely in the capital and across the regions.
The book's account begins with the role of Shostakovich's music during the era of the Front populaire in 1930s Paris. Following repression under Vichy France and German Occupation, an influx of Shostakovich symphonies would premiere in the newly liberated post-war Paris, before Shostakovich made his only visit to France in the early years of the Cold War. In this period his music becomes entangled with international political and aesthetic debates regarding the influence and creative freedom of artists. The era of political and cultural détente accompanies a warmer reception of Shostakovich's music in Paris and regional cities alike, while Shostakovich's music receives intense promotion across France during the revolutions of 1989. The book concludes with a look at Shostakovich programming in Paris and France's regions following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Throughout the twentieth century, Shostakovich's music served as a means for French critics and writers to articulate their own ideas, opinions and concerns about the Soviet Union: ultimately, the music of Shostakovich evolved from an icon of French Communism to a symbol of humanism and resistance with broad social and political appeal.