eo aspirational. His is the kind of passionate integrity necessary to be immune from systems of oppression. In Yevtushenko’s understanding personal drive is not necessarily at odds with the collective good, and may be necessary to advance the cause of humanity. His words and Shostakovich’s composition suggest that they aspire to be “careerists” in the mold of Galileo. The final movement of their symphony leaves listeners to question whether they, too, share that fire? The chorus sings the praises of careerists, and mocks those who abuse them as forgotten to history. They are underscored by strings that rise into a complex, invigorating fugal pattern with different sections of the orchestra reiterating the main melody. Their rousing beauty grows not out of their uniformity, but difference. The fugal pattern fades to a calm pastoral soundscape, dissolving, finally, into the chime of a bell that recalls the funeral march of "Babi Yar.' The symphony’s conclusion thus ties together the preceding movements, asking listeners to reflect on world it has invoked, and where they stand amidst its callous disregard, oppression, hunger, suffering, sorrow, strength, resilience, and hope. . . . The 13th Symphony is evidence of Shostakovich and Yevtushenko’ courage in the face of the limitations the Soviet Union imposed on artists. After the first two performances in Moscow, the symphony trickled out of existence, labelled as “not recommended for performance” by Soviet officials (Wilson 362). It wasn’t until the 1970s that Soviet audiences heard it again. Clearly, their collaboration between the composer and poet was a great risk. It is a testament to their love of humanity, their hope for a better world, their artistic integrity – all seemingly immune from the Soviet Union’s repressive measures – that they felt it was worth taking. Unfortunately, the world still needs work like theirs. When I began this project a year ago in the Fall of 2021, the world looked very different. Vladimir Putin had not yet ordered the invasion of Ukraine. The Babi Yar Memorial in Kyiv had not yet been destroyed in an attempted Russian bombing of a nearby telecommunications tower. It is haunting to consider history’s repetitive patterns. Each movement of Shostakovich’s 13th Symphony resonates as much today as it did when they were crafted in response to an oppressive regime that prioritized ideology over humanity. Works Cited Bergma n, Jay. “Soviet Dissidents on the Holocaust, Hitler and Nazism: A Study of the Preservation of Historical Memory.” The Slavonic and East European Review, vol. 70, no. 3, 1992, pp. 477–504, www.jstor. org/stable/4211013. Blokke r, Roy, and Robert Dearling. The Music of Dmitri Shostakovich : The 81
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