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Summary:

Abstract: The censorship of Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District is a familiar story to musicologists, but reception of the opera is not frequently mentioned. Examining the reception of a work can bring a work's relative importance into focus. In this thesis, German literary and reception theorist Hans Robert Jauss's model of the horizon of expectations is applied to reviews of American productions of Lady Macbeth. Curiosity about communism following the Great Depression in 1930s, America and American music critics' knowledge that Soviet composers worked for the Soviet regime led to the belief that Lady Macbeth was officially approved export from the Soviet Union. When the article condemning the opera as a Western formalism appeared in the Soviet magazine, Pravda, Americans needed to adjust their understanding of Lady Macbeth as a socialist expression. Following the work's revival in San Francisco in 1981, the influence of Solomon Volkov's Testimony is prevalent in many reviews. Many reviewers use Volkov's narrative of Shostakovich as covert dissident of the Soviet Union to assert that the censorship of the opera was about the content of the plot and not the music. Following the Soviet rejection of the work, American critics tried to claim Shostakovich for the West based on the values of individual freedom and feminism set forth in Lady Macbeth.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction: Shostakovich and Shostakovich reception. Introduction ; Literature on Shostakovich and Shostakovich reception ; Reception theory and the horizon of expectations
• Reception 1935-1981. Introduction ; Hype for Lady Macbeth's American premiere ; Reactions to performances in Cleveland and New York ; Philadelphia Orchestra: first opera season ; Soviet censorship ; Katerina Ismailova
• Reception 1981-present. Introduction ; Rostropovich and Volkov ; Early revival: 1981-1994 ; Reception 1994-present ; Conclusion.

Author/Creator:

Cassell, Holly , author

Contributors:

McKnight, Mark, 1951- , major professor

Languages:

English

Language Notes:

Item content: English

Main Work:

Looking through a Different Lens, Beyond Censorship: The American Reception of Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District [by Cassell, H.]

Related Series:

NT thesis, Music (Complete); [volume] 2017

Subjects:

Shostakovich, Dmitriĭ Dmitrievich, 1906-1975 — Ledi Makbet Mt︠s︡enskogo uezda

Shostakovich, Dmitriĭ Dmitrievich, 1906-1975 — Criticism and interpretation

Operas — Performances

Shostakovich, Dmitriĭ Dmitrievich, 1906-1975

Ledi Makbet Mt͡senskogo uezda (Shostakovich, Dmitriĭ Dmitrievich)

Criticism and interpretation

Operas

Genres:

Academic theses

Dissertation Notes:

M.A. ― University of North Texas, 2017.

General Notes:

Discipline: Musicology.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 61-64).
Description based on: Online resource; title from PDF title page (UNT Digital Library, viewed April 6, 2020).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (iv, 64 pages) : illustrations.

Digital Characteristics:

text file

Call Numbers:

Electronic Thesis

OCLC Numbers:

1269301267