Editing Dmitri Shostakovich (section)

=== Jewish themes ===
In the 1940s Shostakovich began to show an interest in Jewish themes. He was intrigued by [[Jewish music]]'s "ability to build a jolly melody on sad intonations".{{sfnp|Wilson|1994|p=268}} Examples of works that included Jewish themes are the [[String Quartet No. 4 (Shostakovich)|Fourth String Quartet]] (1949), the [[Violin Concerto No. 1 (Shostakovich)|First Violin Concerto]] (1948), and the ''Four Monologues on Pushkin Poems'' (1952), as well as the [[Piano Trio No. 2 (Shostakovich)|Piano Trio in E minor]] (1944). He was further inspired to write with Jewish themes when he examined [[Moshe Beregovski|Moisei Beregovski]]'s 1944 thesis on Jewish folk music.{{sfnp|Tentser|2014|p=5}}

In 1948 Shostakovich acquired a book of Jewish folk songs, from which he composed the song cycle ''[[From Jewish Folk Poetry]]''. He initially wrote eight songs meant to represent the hardships of being Jewish in the Soviet Union. To disguise this he added three more meant to demonstrate the great life Jews had under the Soviet regime. Despite his efforts to hide the real meaning in the work, the [[Union of Composers]] refused to approve his music in 1949 under the pressure of the anti-Semitism that gripped the country. ''From Jewish Folk Poetry'' could not be performed until after Stalin's death in March 1953, along with all the other works that were forbidden.{{sfnp|Wilson|1994|pp=267–269}}