- Solomon Volkov
Solomon Volkov (born 17 April 1944) is a
Russia n journalist and musicologist. He is best known for "Testimony", which was published in 1979 following his emigration from theSoviet Union in 1976. He claimed that the book was the memoirs ofDmitri Shostakovich , as related to himself.Life
Volkov was born in Ura-Tyube, near Leninabad, Tajikistan. He studied violin at the Leningrad Conservatory, receiving his diploma with honors in 1967. He continued graduate work in
musicology there until 1971. He also served as artistic director of the Experimental Studio of Chamber Opera.He came to the United States in June 1976. Early on, he was a Research Associate at the Russian Institute of
Columbia University . He lives inNew York City with his wife, Marianna, a pianist and photographer. He is also a United States citizen.Expertise
His primary area of expertise has been the history and aesthetics of Russian and Soviet music, as well as the psychology of musical perception and performance. He published numerous articles in scholarly and popular journals and wrote the book "Young Composers of Leningrad" in 1971. This book, which contained a preface by Shostakovich, was reportedly well-received.
Since taking residence in the United States, he has written various articles for "
The New York Times ", "The New Republic ", "Musical America ", "The Musical Quarterly " and other publications.Controversy over "Testimony"
"Testimony" prompted a continuing debate over its authenticity and accuracy. Some say that the words of Dmitri Shostakovich are indeed presented in the book. Unfortunately it is difficult without access to Volkov's original notes (claimed to be lost) to ascertain where Shostakovich ends and Volkov begins. Ever since the American scholar Laurel Fay demonstrated that portions of each chapter closely parallel earlier published texts by Shostakovich, musicologists have remained divided on the value of "Testimony". Questions about "Testimony's" authenticity are summarized in Malcolm H. Brown's book "A Shostakovich Casebook" (2004), whereas a defense of the memoirs is presented in Allan B. Ho and Dmitry Feofanov's "Shostakovich Reconsidered" (1998).
Especially noteworthy is Shostakovich's son Maxim's about-face on the accuracy of the book. After he defected to the West in 1981, he told the "Sunday Times" that it was a book "about my father, not by him," [MacDonald, 4.] . However, in a BBC television interview with composer
Michael Berkeley on 27 September 1986, Maxim admitted, "It's true. It's accurate.... The basis of the book is correct." [MacDonald, 7.]An interesting point is that despite translation into 30 different languages, the Russian original has never been published.
Volkov continues to affirm that everything in "Testimony" came from Shostakovich's mouth, but some believe that it is a pastiche from other sources as well, which has caused them to take the book with several grains of salt. Nevertheless, Maxim's endorsement of the book makes it impossible to reject it in all but some minor details. [MacDonald, 10.] Also, with the dawning of "
glasnost ", those who were still alive and had known Shostakovich could now share their own stories with impunity. By doing so, they helped corroborate a number of previously controversial passages in "Testimony". In addition, Maxim and Galina Shostakovich provided a statement for the second Russian edition of Volkov's book "Shostakovich and Stalin" (2006) in which they strongly praise Volkov for his publications and work on behalf of their father. If the composer's children believed that Volkov misrepresented their father's memoirs, would they endorse his most recent book on Shostakovich?Other works
His other books include "St. Petersburg: A Cultural History" (1995), "Shostakovich and Stalin: The Extraordinary Relationship Between the Great Composer and the Brutal Dictator" (2004), and "The Magical Chorus: A History of Russian Culture from Tolstoy to Solzhenitsyn" (2008). In Russia Solomon Volkov is also well known due to his dialogues with
Joseph Brodsky , collected and published in 1998. He has also published volumes of memoirs with other major figures, including "Balanchine's Tchaikovsky: Conversations withBalanchine on his Life, Ballet and Music" (1985) and "From Russia to the West: the Musical Memoirs and Reminiscences ofNathan Milstein " (1990).References
Bibliography
*Ho, Allan B., "Volkov, Solomon", "New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians" (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001), Vol. 26, p. 885.
*MacDonald, Ian, "The New Shostakovich" (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1990). ISBN 1-55553-089-3.
*Volkov, Solomon, tr. Antonina W. Bouis, "Testimony: The Memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich" (New York: Harper & Row, 1979). ISBN 0-06-014476-9.
*Volkov, Solomon, tr. Bouis, Antonina W., "St. Petersburg: A Cultural History" (New York: The Free Press, 1995). ISBN 0-02-874051-1.
*Volkov, Solomon, tr. Bouis, Antonina W., "Shostakovich and Stalin: The Extraordinary Relationship Between the Great Composer and the Brutal Dictator" (New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 2004). ISBN 0-375-41082-1.
*Volkov, Solomon, tr. Bouis, Antonina W., "The Magical Chorus: A History of Russian Culture from Tolstoy to Solzhenitsyn" (New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 2008). ISBN 978-1-4000-4272-2.
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