Shostakovich on music

“There can be no music without idealogy … We, as revolutionaries, have a different conception of  music from the composers of other [non Soviet-Russia] countries.  Lenin himself said the “Music is a means of unifying people”.  It is not a leader of the masses, perhaps, but certainly an organising force … I think an artist should serve the greatest possible number of people.  I always try to make myself understood as widely as possible, and if I don’t succeed I consider it my own fault.

Dmitry Shostakovich.

Cited in: Norris, Chistopher (ed.) (1982) Shostakovich the Man. London: Lawrence and Wishart, p. 221-222.

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