Allusion and Quote: The Social Meaning of Musical References in Shostakovich’s Works

Across different eras and cultures, allusions have been one of the most subtle and at the same time effective artistic devices for conveying an author’s message through subtext. The Soviet era in Russian history was one of those socio-cultural contexts that gave birth to so many artifacts of this kind that it could easily be considered a classic example of the use of this technique in the modern times. The article analyzes various forms of allusion, including quotation as a type of contextual metaphor, in the works of the leading and at the same time most targeted Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich. Quotations from famous classical works in Shostakovich’s music, whether or not they are considered to have a predetermined meaning, are addressed along with references to classical, popular, or folk music, as well as messages conveyed through Jewish idiom, whatever it may be, which in itself seems truly unique to the Russian composer’s toolkit.

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