Shostakovich, the Waldorf Conference and the Cold War

The purpose of this article is to examine Shostakovich’s trip to the United\ud States in 1949: why he went, why he experienced such extreme discomfort—\ud ‘‘I still recall with horror my first trip to the USA’’\ud —and what it suggests about the paradoxical position of the creative artist from a Communist country during\ud the early Cold War. Using Shostakovich as its primary focus, this article will\ud reveal the contradictions between his officially sanctioned role and his private\ud doubts and misgivings. Because the first subsumed the second, the costs were\ud considerable: his creative work diminished and his self-respect suffered. This\ud public/personal disjuncture was most acute from February 1948, associated\ud with the ideological assault on his music led by Soviet functionary Andrei\ud Zhdanov, until the death of Stalin in March 1953. In March 1949 it reached\ud its apotheosis