Testimony- The memoirs of Shostakovich, as related to & edited by Solomon Volkov

urn:iso:std:iso:639:ed-3:eng

173

text excerpt

Braga’s serenade, 'A Maiden’s Prayer', plays an important part in 'The Black Monk'. Once upon a time it was very popular, but now the music is forgotten. I’ll definitely use it in the opera. I even have a recording of it, I asked some young musicians to play it for me. When I listen to it, I can picture clearly what the opera must be like. I also think about this: what, in essence, is good music and bad music? I don’t know, I can’t answer definitively. Take that serenade, for instance. According to all the rules it should be bad music, but every time I listen to it, tears come to my eyes. And that music, that 'Maiden’s Prayer', must have affected Chekhov too, or he wouldn’t have written about it as he did, with such insight. Probably there is no good or bad music, there is only music that excites you and music that leaves you indifferent. That’s all. / And that, by the way, makes me sad. For example, my father liked gypsy songs and sang them, and I liked the music. But then those songs were humiliated so much, reduced to mud. They called it ‘Nepman’ music, bad taste, and so on. I remember how shocked Prokofiev was when I told him that I personally wasn’t offended by gypsy music. He used every opportunity to point out that he felt above such things.

excerpt from 'Testimony- The memoirs of Shostakovich, as related to & edited by Solomon Volkov' pp. 173 (256 words)

1431347822701:

1431347822701