Solomon Volkov
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Solomon Volkov (born 1944) is a Russian journalist and musicologist. He is best known for Testimony, which was published in 1979 following his emigration from the Soviet Union in 1976. He claimed that the book was the memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich, as related to himself.
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[edit] Life
Volkov was born in Leninbad, Central Asia. He studied violin at the Lenningrad 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. He has been a Research Associate at the Russian Institute of Columbia University. He lives in New York City with his wife, Marianna, a pianist and photographer. He is also a United States citizen.
[edit] Expertise
His primary area of expertise has been the history and aesthetics of Russian and Soviet music, as well as the psychology of musical perceptopn and performance. He published numerous articles in scholarly and popular journals and wrote the book Young Composers in Lenningrad in 1971. The 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.
[edit] Controversy over Testimony
Testimony prompted a continuing debate over its authenticity and accuracy. Some journalists 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. However following rigorous research by American musicologist Laurel Fay who proved a portion of each chapter was plagiarised, musicologists stand divided on the value of Testimony.
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,"[1]. 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 corrrect."[2]
An interesting point is that despite translation into 30 different languages the Russian original has never been published.
Until Volkov admits how much of Testimony is genuine Shostakovich and how much is pastiche from other sources, every sentence may have to be taken with a grain of salt. Nevertheless, Maxim's endorsement of the book makes it impossible to reject it in all but some minor details.[3] 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 at least some of what had appeared in Testimony
[edit] Other works
His other books include St. Petersburg: A Cultural History and Shostakovich and Stalin: The Extraordinary Relationship Between the Great Composer and the Brutal Dictator (2004). In Russia Solomon Volkov is also well known due to his dialogues with Joseph Brodsky, collected and published in 1994.
[edit] References
[edit] Bibliography
- 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: Harper & Row, 1979). ISBN 0-06-014476-9.
- Volkov, Solomon, tr. Bouis, Antonina W., Shostakovich and Stalin: The Extraordinary Relationship Between the Great Composer and the Brutal Dictator (London: Little, Brown, 2004). ISBN 0-316-86141-3.
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