Dmitri Shostakovich (25 September [O.S. 12 September] 1906 – 9 August 1975) was a Soviet-Russian composer and pianist.
[For last year's limericks on Jean-Philippe Rameau and Glenn Gould click here.]
Dilemma
With Shostakovich we don’t know
What is it we’re getting.
Do we hear the muses’ glow,
Or governmental vetting?
Is the music what it seems,
Or are there hidden meanings?
Does it favor Red regimes,
Or are there Western leanings?
Is it for the Bolsheviks,
Or is it just discursive?
Is it free from politics,
Or secretly subversive?
Even with his Memoirs, we
Are far from a consensus,
For the author seems to be
A fake amanuensis.
Critical opinion, too,
Is drastically divided.
There are not too many who
Will listen undecided.
Should his music have a place
On every season’s roster,
Or was his just a vulgar case -
A popular imposter?
I won’t have the final say
(It’s very complicated),
And yet, it is his natal day
No matter how he’s rated.
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