p Shostakovich considered the resolution issued by the Party Central Committee on 23 April ’On the Restructuring of Literary and Artistic Organisations’ an important landmark in the histoiy of Soviet art, an important step towards consolidating the country’s artistic forces in the name of creating a new, socialist art. On 23 and 25 April he took part in a conference organised by Andrei Bubnov, the People’s Commissar for Education, to discuss topical problems affecting the country’s musical life. Later he became one of the founders of the Leningrad composers’ organisation, and was elected to its governing body together with other respected musicians such as Boris Asafiev, Mikhail Gnesin, Yuri Shaporin, Maximilian Steinberg, and Vladimir Shcherbachev. This marked the start of Shostakovich’s lifelong participation in the official, public side of the country’s musical affairs.

p 1932 was a year of intensive work on his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk: Act Two was completed on 8 March, and Shostakovich showed what he had written to Mordvinov, a director of the Nemirovich-Danchenko Theatre. He began work on Act Three in Leningrad on 5 April, and continued during his summer break in Gaspra. The last act was written from October to December, and the opera was completed on 17 December - even earlier than the composer himself had hoped.

p Though utterly engrossed in writing his opera, Shostakovich did not abandon all other work. On 19 May the Vakhtangov Theatre in Moscow staged the premiere of N. Akimov’s new production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, with music by Shostakovich. This was the first time the composer had treated a Shakespearian theme. He also compiled an orchestral suite from the music for the play.

p In the autumn, Shostakovich wrote the music for Ermler’s film The CounterPlan, which included the popular ’Song of the Counter-Plan’, with words by Boris Komilov. The film was released on 7 November.

At the very end of the year, once work on Lady Macbeth was completed, he began composing the cycle Twenty-Four Piano Preludes.

p In the first place I believe that the Third Regional Congress of the Art Workers Union should do its utmost to bring into effect the Communist Party’s historic resolution of 23 April.

p Secondly, it should devote considerable attention to questions relating to the actual creation of music.

p Thirdly, it should deal with the everyday material needs of the composer.

p Fourthly, it should strive in every possible way to promote the best musical works which have been written in our country since the October Revolution.

p Fifthly, it should give every encouragement to the creation of largescale musical works, both instrumental (i. e. symphonies) and theatrical (operas, operettas and ballets).

p Sixthly, we must revive one forgotten sphere qf music-works for various solo instruments (piano, violin) and for chamber groups (quartets, trios).

p Seventhly, while encouraging and developing popular songs, it is also imperative to get rid of the domination of popular songs, since the proletariat also demands the creation of new forms.

p Eighthly, a highly qualified school of musical criticism must be created. At present this sphere is prone to too much dilettantism and phrase-mongering.

p Ninethly, musical criticism must also be rid of leftist vulgarising tendencies, and even occasionally barefaced charlatanism, inherited from the days of the Russian Association of Proletarian Musicians {RAPM).

p Tenthly, leading music scholars should be encouraged to write for our newspapers and periodicals.

p Eleventhly, we should pay greater attention to our musical establishments: the concert halls, opera and ballet houses, etc.

And finally, I should like to wish the Art Workers Union further success in helping produce great art, worthy of our great age.’

p The Resolution of the Central Committee provides us with new impetus in our creative work, placing on each of us great personal responsibility, I personally see the Resolution as a sign of faith in composers who are not members of RAPM, a document which raises the development of Soviet music to new heights...

p The Resolution is not a call for some kind of ‘liberalism’, but a historically important document which will determine the future of Soviet music.

What I should like to see is the establishment in the near future of a Union of Soviet Composers.^^2^^

p I have been working on Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk for about two and a half years now. It is to be the first part of a trilogy about the position of women at various times during the history of Russia. The subject of the opera is taken from a story of the same name by Nikolai Leskov. This excellent story is a vivid, realistic and tragic portrayal of the fate of a remarkable, talented and intelligent woman who perished in the nightmarish conditions of pre-revolutionary Russia. Maxim Gorky once said: ’We must learn; we must get to know out country, its past, present and future.’ Leskov’s story is invaluable in giving us the kind of insight Gorky had in mind. It is an unusually powerful evocation of one of the darkest periods in pre-revolutionary Russian history. The story has endless potential for the composer. I was attracted by the vivid descriptions of the characters and the dramatic conflicts. The libretto was written by the young Leningrad dramatist A. Preis, with my collaboration, jit is based almost entirely on Leskov’s work, with the exception of Act Three, where we diverged slightly from the text in order to give the opera greater social significance. The scene at the police-station was added, and Katerina’s murder of her nephew was omitted.

p I would call Lady Macbeth a tragic, satirical opera. Despite the fact that Katerina murders bolh her husband and her father-in-law, I still 34 sympathise with her. I tried to paint her milieu in dark, satirical colours. By ‘satirical’ I do not mean Tunny’ or ‘scoffing’. On the contrary, in Lady Macbeth I wanted to unmask reality and to arouse a feeling of hatred for the tyrannical and humiliating atmosphere in a Russian merchant’s household.

p The music of Lady Macbeth differs greatly from that of my last opera, The Nose. An opera, when it comes down to it, is meant to be sung, and all the vocal parts in Lady Macbeth are melodious and contilena-like..^;At certain climactic passages the orchestra builds up to enormous heights. A military band and various additional instruments are also incorporated.

So far, three of the intended four acts have been written. I hope to have the whole opera finished in three or four months.^^3^^