This course is a biographical and musical study of Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975), whose brilliant music reflected messages from a buried life and was testimony to the triumph of the human spirit under totalitarianism.

His life and compositions parallel the rise and fall of his native country, the Soviet Union, and all are filled with disinformation and doublespeak.

Publicly, the composer explained his work as a tribute to Soviet ideology and the Soviet people. In private, however, he detailed the real impetus behind his music: his experiences during the terror of Stalin, the Nazi destruction of his country, post-war reconstruction, and the arms race.

These lectures include excerpts from more than a dozen of Shostakovichs symphonies, operas, and other works.