Shostakovich and Berg: Parallels and intersections
Abstract
The article is dedicated to the memory of one of the leading Russian researchers of Dmitri Shostakovich’s work, Tamara Nikolaevna Levaya. Turning to the genre of the “double portrait,” widely represented in her works, the author attempts to identify parallels and intersections in the creative destinies of two classics of the twentieth century — Dmitri Shostakovich and Alban Berg. First of all, biographical facts related to the Leningrad premiere of Wozzeck, which Shostakovich attended, are traced and clarified, and its influence is determined not only on Shostakovich’s operatic style, but also on the reception of both his operas. In addition, Berg’s interested attitude to Shostakovich’s First Symphony is documented. The most indicative ones are selected from a number of artistic and typological parallels: the phenomenon of processuality, which determined the involvement of both composers in energetics as an archetype of musical thinking in the 1920s, and a passion for Aesopian language and a hidden program, which finds expression in the use of musical monograms (their formation is traced on the basis of the signature). The chosen perspective allows us to clearly see not only similar aspects of creativity, but also to identify fundamental differences. Based on linear patterns, the development of thematic material in Berg maintains a connection with the principles of Schoenberg’s “musical prose.” His secret program is of a purely private nature, and the monograms do not have intonational specificity and are not designed for recognition. Shostakovich’s “thematically concentrated development” is associated with neo-baroque linearity. His Aesopian language was perceived by listeners as a “coded message to his contemporaries,” and the DSCH monogram became the intonational emblem of Shostakovich’s music.
Keywords: Dmitri Shostakovich, Alban Berg, processuality, Fortspinnung, Aesopian language, monograms
For citation: Veksler, Yu. S. (2026). Shostakovich and Berg: Parallels and intersections. Contemporary Musicology, 10(1), 75–105. https://doi.org/10.56620/2587-9731-2026-1-075-105References
Levaya, T. N. (2017). Kontrasty zhanra: Ocherki i issledovaniya o D. Shostakoviche [Contrasts of the genre: Essays and research on D. Shostakovich]. Nizhny Novgorod Conservatory Publ. (In Russ.).
Levaya, T. N. (2017). Dvadtsatyi vek v zerkale russkoi muzyki [The twentieth century in the mirror of Russian music]. N. I. Novikov Publishing House; Galina Skripsit Publishing House. (In Russ.).
Veksler, Yu. S. (2018). Reception of Alban Berg’s music in the USSR. Art of Music. Theory and History, 18, 31–88. (In Russ.). https://imti.sias.ru/upload/iblock/4d9/imti_2018_18_31_88_yuliya_veksler.pdf
Veksler, Yu. S. (2023). Arnold Schönberg’s and Alban Berg’s personal libraries as a source of study of artistic biographies. Contemporary Musicology, (4), 29–49 (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.56620/2587-9731-2023-4-029-049
Veksler, Yu. S. (2022). Al’ban Berg i ego muzyka v gorode na Neve (1920–1930-e gody) [Alban Berg and his music in the city on the Neva (1920–1930s)] | Alban Berg und seine Musik in der Stadt an der Newa (1920–1930er Jahre). In L. V. Popkova (Ed.), Nemetskie muzykanty
v gorode na Neve [German musicians in the city on the Neva] = Deutsche Musiker in der Stadt an der Newa (pp. 300–319). Keller. (In Russ., In Germ.).
Tsaregradskaya, T. V. (2017). “Energeticism” as a trend of the twentieth-century music analysis. The Music Theory Society’s Journal, (4), 36–48. (In Russ.). https://eng.journal-otmroo.ru/sites/eng.journal-otmroo.ru/files/2017_4%2820%29_2_Tsaregradskaya_Energeticism.pdf
Danuser, H. (1984). Die Musik des 20. Jahrhunderts. Laaber.
Veksler, Yu. S. (2019). About methodological basis of Alban Berg’s creative process. Contemporary Musicology, (4), 68–99. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.56620/2587-9731-2019-4-068-099
Bobrovskii, V. P. (1961). Kamerno-instrumental’nye ansambli D. Shostakovicha [Chamber instrumental ensembles by D. Shostakovich]. Sov. Kompozitor Publ. (In Russ.).
Hakobian, L. O. (2020). What Beethoven was to Shostakovich (and what Shostakovich became to Beethoven). Review of the Russian Christian Academy for the Humanities, 21(4(2)), 352–364. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.25991/VRHGA.2021.2.21.021
Hakobian, L. O. (2018). Fenomen Dmitriya Shostakovicha [The phenomenon of Dmitri Shostakovich]. Russian Christian Academy for the Humanities Publ. House. (In Russ.).
Digonskaya, O. G. (2013). Ot podpisi k monogramme [From signature to monogram]. In L. Kovnatskaya (Ed.), Shostakovich v Leningradskoj konservatorii [Shostakovich at the Leningrad Conservatory]: Vol. 2: 1919–1930 (pp. 241–262). Kompozitor Publ. (In Russ.).
Klimovitskii, A. I. (1996). Eshche raz o teme-monogramme D-Es-C-H [Once again about the theme-monogram D-Es-C-H]. In L. Kovnatskaya (Ed.), D. D. Shostakovich: sbornik statei k 90-letiyu so dnya rozhdeniya [D. D. Shostakovich: Collection of articles for the 90th anniversary of his birth] (pp. 249–268). Kompozitor Publ. (In Russ.).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.56620/2587-9731-2026-1-075-105
Copyright (c) 2026 Yulia S. Veksler
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/