Shostakovich: A life in song
22 October 2025, 3:00pm - 4:30pm
Philip Ross Bullock, Professor of Russian Literature and Music at the University of Oxford and always a brilliantly engaging speaker, explores the life and music of Dmitry Shostakovich in the 50th-anniversary year of the composer’s death. Throughout his life, Shostakovich faced censorship and criticism, developing a powerful yet enigmatic musical style that concealed his true sentiments. His extensive catalogue of songs is the most revealing of all his works for anyone wishing to understand the true depth of this fascinating composer.
Programme
- Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 - 1975)
- Two Fables of Krylov Op. 4
- Iunoshu, gor’ko rydaia, 'A youth and a maiden' (1936) Op. 46 no.2 from Four Romances on Poems by Pushkin
- Jenny from Six Romances on Verses by British Poets
- The King’s Campaign (The Grand Old Duke of York) from Six Romances on Verses by British Poets
- Kolybel’naya, 'Lullaby' (1948) Op. 79 no.3 from From Jewish Folk Poetry
- Rodina slyshit, 'The motherland hears' (1951) Op. 86 no. 1 from Four Songs to Words by Evgeny Dolmatovsky
- Kolibel'naya 'Lullaby' Op. 86 no. 4
- Ronda Op. 100 no. 4 from Ispanskije Pesni, 'Spanish Songs'
- Son, 'Dream' (1956) Op. 100 no. 6 from Ispanskije Pesni, 'Spanish Songs'
- Satirï, 'Satires' (1960) Op. 109
- Kritiku, 'To a critic'
- Produzhdeniye vesnï 'Spring awakening'
- Potomki 'The descendants'
- Nedorazumeniye 'Misunderstanding'
- Kreytserova sonata 'The Kreutzer Sonata'
- Gamajun ptica veshchaja (1967) Op.127 from Seven Romances on Poems of Alexander Blok
- Anne Akhmatovoy 'To Anna Akhmatova'
