T he composers in the West throughout history have been dictated to by the Cchurch or the Sstate. Some more than others. Beethoven was an exception. He said “Bishops and Dukes will come but there will be one Beethoven.” To this the patrons had no answer and left him alone. Let us take a look historically at composers who have fave faced this problem. Others were less lucky.
PALESTRINA:
Palestrina (1525-1594) saved music itself from dictatorship from the Church. It was the age when there was only vocal music and the church was the only outlet. In 1562 the Church decided that there would be no music in sacred places and called for The Council of Trent to pass the law. Palestrina, a great mass composer, stepped in and asked for one chance to prove that music for the Church could be holy. He composed the famous mass Missa Papae Marcelli. The pope was satisfied and lifted the ban. If Palestrina had failed the history of music would have been different.
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The English composer William Byrd (I543-1623) faced another kind of problem. He was a Roman Catholic in the age of Queen Elizabeth I, a staunch Protestant. Byrd had to go hiding and always faced the fear of death. He composed masses for four and five voices because he could not get more musicians who were all afraid to annoy the authority of Church which had dictated that only Protestant music would be permitted.
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The composer Johann Sebastian Bach was working for the court of Weimer when just before his term was over he received a tempting offer from the court of Kothen whose Duke was very musical. But Weimer refused to release Bach and when he fought for his rights sent him to jail for a month. But after that he went to Kothen where he composed some exquisite instrumental music like the violin concertos.
MOZART:
Mozart was a victim of dissent which changed his life. At that time he was attached to the Salzburg court whose Archbishop Collorado argued with Mozart over a musical point and upset his travel plans. Mozart did not relent and he was literally kicked out by Collorado who will go down in history as the man who changed Mozart's life. Mozart moved to Vienna where he became the world's first freelance composer. But he was always in poverty and ill health haunted him. Had he stayed in Salzburg he would have enjoyed many comforts of the Kappelmeister and may not have died so early.
SCHUBERT:
The composer Schubert was a simple and innocent child of nature. But he also could not avoid the policing of the notorious Matternich. Schubert had a circle of friends known as Scubertiads who wrote poems and had regular outings. The words became the lyric of Schubert's marvellous series of songs. Matternich did not approve of this group. Schubert was always afraid of being sent to jail.
DIMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH:
But no other composer has faced the problem of dissent like the Soviet composer Dimitri Shostakovich under Stalin. Shostakovich was not alone; there were Prokofiev, Kachaturian, Miaskowski. Some of the Russian composers like Stravinsky and cellist Rostrapovich took asylum in the West. But Shostakovich stayed back. Everything was going fine until he composed the opera “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk district”. The opera was very well received and its praise reached Stalin who decided to go and see the opera. It was a disaster. Halfway through it he walked out in rage. The opera was immediately withdrawn and Shostakovich began to fear for his life. He was then composing the Fourth Symphony and decided to hide it. It was never performed until 1962 when conductor Ormandy gave its world premiere in America. Instead of the Fourth, Shostakovich composed and premiered his famous Fifth symphony which he described as a Soviet artist's reaction to just criticism. Stalin liked that, but put his culture hound Zadanov on Shostakovich's track. From that time Shostakovich was driven to Paranoia. He had several nervous breakdowns and was not himself until Stalin died. But Zadanov continued to frustrate him. He composed his symphony number 14 based on poems of death and his eighth quartet on the war victims. Prokofiev who had fled came back to face the wrath of Zadanov. He composed a lot of propaganda music but there was also the glorious Fifth symphony and works for cello. Ironically he died on the same day as Stalin.
BELA BARTOK:
Bela Bartok, who used Hungarian folk music in his works, had to flee to America where though Menuhin tried to help him by giving commissions, he died in poverty. Shostakovich, Bartok and Prokofiev are all great masters of 20th Century music blending tradition with innovation. It was a pity they never enjoyed freedom. Their creativity was chained.