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"Muddle Instead of Music: On the Opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (Russian: Сумбур вместо музыки – Об опере «Леди Макбет Мценского уезда») is an editorial that appeared in the Soviet newspaper Pravda on January 28, 1936. The unsigned article condemned Dmitri Shostakovich's popular opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District as, among other labels, "formalist," "bourgeois", "coarse" and "vulgar." Immediately after publication rumors began to circulate that Stalin had written the opinion. While this is unlikely, it is almost certain that Stalin was aware of and agreed with the article.Moynahan, Brian. Leningrad: Siege and Symphony. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2013, p. 32. "Muddle Instead of Music" was a turning point in Shostakovich's career and factored into his public withdrawal of the Fourth Symphony some months later. The article has since become a well-known example of Soviet censorship of the arts. Background Premiere of the opera and initial praise Leningrad composer Dmitri Shostakovich completed his opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District in 1932. Set in pre-revolutionary times, Lady Macbeth deals with themes of lust, loneliness and murder. Some of its scenes are sexually explicit; a review in the New York Sun called the opera "pornophony".Moynahan, pp. 29–30. On 24 January 1934 the work premiered to great success, lauded by critics and government officials. Lady Macbeth quickly spread to opera houses worldwide, cementing Shostakovich's status as an international celebrity. In the Soviet Union it received instant praise. The newspaper Sovetskoe iskusstvo honored Lady Macbeth as "a triumph of musical theatre",Khentova, S. M. Shostakovich v Moskve. Moscow, 1985, p. 79. while Sovetskaya muzyka called it "the best Soviet work, the chef-d'oeuvre of Soviet creativity." Fitzpatrick, Sheila. The Cultural Front: Power and Culture in Revolutionary Russia. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1992, p. 184. Party officials were likewise pleased, extolling the opera and terming Shostakovich "a Soviet composer brought up in the best tradition of Soviet culture." Shostakovich, Dmitri. Shostakovich: About Himself and His Times, compiled by L. Grigoryev and Y. Platek, trans. Angus and Neilian Roxburgh. Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1981, p. 33. In 1934 and 1935 the opera was performed several hundred times nationwide.Fitzpatrick, p. 185. Stalin's disapproval Almost exactly two years after the opera's premiere, Shostakovich was invited to a Bolshoi Theatre performance on 26 January 1936, where he found Stalin in attendance with several associates, among them Andrei Zhdanov and Vyacheslav Molotov.Moynahan, p. 30. Nine days prior Stalin had attended another opera, Ivan Dzerzhinsky's The Quiet Don, and had praised it as a model of socialist realism for its lyrical clarity and emotional directness.Fitzpatrick, p. 186. Lady Macbeth did not make the same impression on the Soviet leader. Shostakovich later wrote to his friend Ivan Sollertinsky that he witnessed Stalin cringing at loud parts of the score and laughing at sexual moments. Displeased, Stalin left after the end of the third act. A frightened Shostakovich was reportedly "white as a sheet" when he bowed for the audience.Wilson, Elizabeth. Shostakovich: A Life Remembered. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006, pp. 128–129. Two days later "Muddle Instead of Music" appeared on the third page of the 28 January issue of Pravda. The article Content "Muddle Instead of Music" begins by stressing the necessity of "good" popular music and its role in Soviet progress: "With the general cultural development of our country there grew also the necessity for good music…The people expect good songs, but also good instrumental works, and good operas." Shostakovich, it claims, failed to provide such work for an "appreciative audience." The piece calls Lady Macbeth "coarse, primitive and vulgar", a "cacophony" of "nervous, convulsive, and spasmodic music" that is little more than a "wilderness of musical chaos." Turning now to the composer himself, it admits that Shostakovich had talent but argues that he "deliberately" turned music "inside out", lamenting the lack of "simple and popular musical language accessible to all." It warns that such complexity endangers Soviet music, leaving it vulnerable to "leftist distortion", "formalism" and "petty-bourgeois 'innovation.'" Lady Macbeths success abroad was only further proof that it is an anti-Soviet opera that "tickles the perverted taste of the bourgeois." Perhaps the editorial's most dangerous pronouncement is that Shostakovich was not a class-conscious composer, rather an introspective artist who "ignored the demands of Soviet culture" and cared little for his audiences. Leaving no room for doubt about the depth of its deprecation, the editorial regrets that: "The power of good music to infect the masses has been sacrificed to a petty-bourgeois, 'formalist' attempt to create originality through cheap clowning. It is a game of clever ingenuity that may end very badly.""Muddle Instead of Music", Pravda, 28 January 1936 (English translation) Aftermath The article immediately cast Shostakovich into disgrace. Performances of Lady Macbeth dwindled rapidly until the opera was completely banned. Those who had praised it before were compelled to retract their opinions. The composer lost most of his income and commissions. Many of his colleagues in the arts community sought to dissociate themselves from him, although some, such as Isaac Babel, Abram Lezhnev and Vsevolod Meyerhold spoke out in support of Shostakovich (all three would be shot in the purges).Moynahan, p. 33. Shostakovich, half- finished with his Fourth Symphony, was in Archangelsk on a concert tour when he read the article in Pravda.Fay, Laurel. Shostakovich: A Life. Oxford University Press, 2000, p. 87. Ten days later another scathing editorial appeared in the newspaper, this time about his ballet The Limpid Stream. Named "Ballet Falsehood", the piece unleashed more castigation, calling the composer a musical charlatan and a peddler of "aesthetic formalism". The ballet's librettist, Adrian Piotrovsky, was arrested and shot the next year.Clark, Katerina. Petersburg: Crucible of Cultural Revolution. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1995, pp. 291–92. Though shaken by the attacks, Shostakovich continued writing his Fourth Symphony and completed it in April 1936. He booked a premiere for December and distributed the score to the Leningrad Philharmonic for rehearsals, which began in autumn.Moynahan, p. 34. His friends expressed fear that the authorities would be angered by the work, which is influenced by Gustav Mahler (disliked by the Party) and is structurally unconventional.Muzykal'naia akademiia, 4 (1997), p. 74. Late in the year Shostakovich was summoned for a meeting with a representative of the Union of Soviet Composers, who advised him to withdraw the symphony on threat of "administrative measures" for noncompliance.Moynahan, p. 34. The composer submitted to the demands and cancelled the premiere. Shostakovich was formally rehabilitated with the premiere of his Fifth Symphony in November 1937. Encouraged by "Muddle Instead of Music" and other slander, he simplified his music to suit the prescriptions of socialist realism. The Fifth was an official success; Party members who had attacked him before acknowledged that he had "seen his errors" and improved.Wilson, p. 152. Authorship Andrei Zhdanov It is unknown who wrote "Muddle Instead of Music", as it was common for articles detailing an official Party stance to be published anonymously. Scholars have speculated about the piece's authorship. Likely candidates include Zhdanov, at the time Leningrad's Communist Party manager and later Stalin's unofficial culture minister; David Zaslavsky, one of Pravdas senior writers; Boris Reznikov, another Pravda employee; and Platon Kerzhentsev, a party official, playwright and journalist. Rumors spread that Stalin himself had written the article, although this is now thought to be unlikely. However, given Stalin's presence at the January 1936 performance and eyewitness accounts of his dissatisfaction, it is reasonable to assume that he approved of, if not sanctioned, the article. See also *Great Purge *Anti-formalist campaign *Mass song *Lev Mekhlis References Category:Socialist realism Category:Censorship of music Category:Censorship in the Soviet Union Category:Works originally published in Pravda Category:1936 essays Category:1936 in the Soviet Union Category:Dmitri Shostakovich "
"German South Africans refers to South Africans who have full or partial German heritage. A significant number of South Africans are descended from Germans. Most of these originally settled in the Cape Colony, but were absorbed into the Afrikaner and Afrikaans population, because they had religious & ethnic similarities to the Dutch and French. History Hundreds of Germans emigrated to the Cape Colony during the Dutch rule between (1652-1806) and in the succeeding centuries. In 1652 the Dutch East India Company's established a supplies station at the Cape of Good Hope under the command of Jan van Riebeeck. The party was made up of 90 settlers, most of them were Dutch & a number of people were from Germany. In the 1680s, more German farmers and women arrived at Cape Colony. In 1691, the population was 1000 Europeans especially Dutch (85%), German (5%) & Huguenots (10%) and 400 slaves. From this point onwards the white population increased to about 1300 by the year 1700. About 4000 Germans immigrated to the Cape during the Dutch period, almost all of them males. They came from all German-speaking areas of Europe. The Germans who arrived at the Cape in the seventeenth century were not emigrants but worked for the Dutch East India Company, perhaps initially in Holland, and then were sent to the Cape. Similarly in 19th century a lot of Germans came to the region on missionary purposes and settled in the region, followed by British assisted emigration of Germans to the Eastern cape region further boosted their population. Natal German settlers: 1848 A group of German settlers came to Natal in March 1848 on the ship Beta, under a private scheme arranged by a German Jewish businessman Jonas Bergtheil. He arrived in Natal in 1843 and established the Natal Cotton Company three years later. Bergtheil saw the potential of European settlement along the coast and approached the British colonial office for immigrants. When first the British and then the Bavarian governments rejected his plans, he turned to the Kingdom of Hanover for support. Thirty-five peasant families (about 188 people) from the Osnabrück-Bremen district accepted his offer and arrived in Natal on 23 March 1848. They were settled near Port Natal and called their new home Neu- Deutschland (New Germany). Bergtheil's cotton scheme failed after the first two crops were ravaged by bollworm. Furthermore, the ginning machinery he had ordered from England never arrived. The settlers soon abandoned cotton in favour of market gardening, and when their five-year contracts with Bergtheil ended many did not renew them. The initial years were a struggle for the settlers but gradually, with hard work, conditions improved. After about 10 years most had prospered and had been able to take ownership of their lands. Notable Germans in South Africa *Rudi Ball (1911–1975), German-South African Hall of Fame ice hockey player References Category:German South African Category:German diaspora by country Category:South African society Category:History of the Dutch East India Company "
"Kacey Wong (born 1970) is a Hong Kong visual artist and educator – formerly Assistant Professor at the School of Design, Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Wong has received the Hong Kong Contemporary Arts Award by the Hong Kong Art Museum (2012), Best Artist Award (2010); and Rising Artist Award and Outstanding Arts Education Award (2003). Wong is politically engaged through his art, and is founding member of art-activist groups Art Citizens and the Umbrella Movement Art Preservation. Early life and education Wong Kwok- choi was born in 1970 in Hong Kong. Due to concerns about the future of Hong Kong at the time, Wong was sent away at the age of 14 to Long Island in the United States as a secondary school pupil."生活達人﹕以抗爭藝術復修家園". Ming Pao, 9 March 2014 Archived from the original on 2 April 2015 His chosen name "Kacey" is derived from the initials of his Chinese name. Wong was admitted to Cornell University, from where he obtained a bachelor's degree in Architecture.Cha, Sylvia. "Building Dreams / 看透是一種藝術 – A look at 黃國才 (Kacey Wong)s delicate works", Muse (2008), He has practiced internationally as an architect and artist. His sculptures explore philosophical ideas that engage the body of the viewer. He holds a master's degree in Sculpture at Chelsea College of Arts. Wong also obtained his Doctorate in Fine Arts from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 2003. Career Upon graduation from university, Wong worked as an architect for nearly six years in New York, Japan, and Hong Kong, in the fields of graphic, interior and architectural design. He set up in independent practice. Finding that the professional world as an architect did not allow for the degree of freedom he desired, he gave up a well-paid professional career and left for further studies in England. After finishing the masters programme in London in 1998, Wong returned to Hong Kong and taught sculpture and art appreciation at the Chinese University of Hong Kong for two years."Cover story". iMag, 3 November 2000, pg. 8. Wong later became Assistant professor in the school of design at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, until 2015. In 2003, Wong was bestowed the Rising Artist Award by the Hong Kong Arts Council and Outstanding Arts Education Award. The Hong Kong Museum of Art awarded Wong their Hong Kong Contemporary Arts Award in 2012. Works Wong stated that most people take for granted what they possess, and may be without identity or culture. Wong says his self-awareness, and what Hong Kong represents to him, stem from the years he spent abroad. He says that only by living amidst a second culture can one fully come to realise what one represents and where one belongs. A thread that runs through much of his work is therefore the notion of home, homelessness and wandering."Kacey Wong is 'Superbeast'". Raw Magazine, No. 1. December 2011 Since 2011, his repertoire has taken on a political dimension. Space Home (1999), Personal Skyscraper (2000), and City Space (2001) were exhibitions where Wong was both exhibitor and curator. "10 Boxes: Everything I've Ever Thought About, I Put Inside a Box" in 2000 was Wong's first solo exhibition. The series of ten sculptures, housed in wall-mounted boxes, each having its own name, explores a different theme or spatial relationship.Thomas, Ralph (21 April 2000). "Box of tricks". South China Morning Post. For example, Office Block symbolises the power structures within companies; Only You is based on romantic relations; Destroy Them treats subjects like education and childhood influences.Binks, Hilary. "Boxed In". World Sculpture News (spring 2000) In 2008, Wong created Wandering Home, an installation consisting of a mobile home conceptualised on city living and the homeless, which was shown at the Venice Biennale of Architecture."「大鐵人」反思港人蝸居苦". Sing Tao Daily, 15 November 2009 The small tin hut on the back of a tricycle is a comment on Hong Kong society, and the plight of people who sleep on the streets and who are forced to move on periodically by government officials. Costing HK$5,000 to make, the house is not exactly a practical solution to the homeless, but the concept was tried out on street sleepers in Sham Shui Po."Mobilizing the Homeless", pg. HK-4, China Daily (Hong Kong edition), 24 January 2008"三個車轆裝起流浪的心", pg. A26. Ming Pao, 4 January 2008 Lai, Ying-kit (4 January 2008). "Tricycle mobile home offers little comfort for the homeless". South China Morning Post In 2008, Wong created Tin Man No.11, an essay in space in the form of a metallic robot that transforms into a bed. He extended the concept by creating Famiglia Grande, a series of transformable cases."一個流動豪宅之夢／Kacey Wong Dream of Street Sleepers", AM 730. 12 April 2010 "I, Robot", Plan Magazine, March 2010"Morar dentro de um carro", Sabado, 22 April 2010 In 2009, Wong attended the Subvision Festival in Hamburg as a skyscraper. His work Paddling Home, a floating house, was set to sea in January 2010. The work, symbolising the Hong Kong's property market where the accommodation is high-density, small and pricey, was selected at the Hong Kong & Shenzhen Bi City Biennale of Urbanism Architecture exhibition that year. The design includes tiled walls, wooden floorboards, bay windows, a television, air-conditioning, roof space from which to drive a few golf balls and a 5-horsepower outboard motor."Il était un petit... houseboat". Moteur Boat, Oct 2010, pp. 22–23 DeWolf, Christopher (17 January 2010). "Art show that's struggling to stay afloat", pg. 3, South China Morning Post It was priced at a symbolical HK$888,888 ($114,000). Wong said that, as the square foot price is [an astronomical] HK$55,555, Paddling Home is an ironic statement comparing the perils of owning a glitzily- and glossily-packaged high end residence to being on the high seas."16方尺漂流屋「售」88.8888萬". Sing Tao Daily, 4 December 2009 When asked in 2012, Wong said he considers Paddling Home his most challenging work to date."Kacey Wong", Time Out (Hong Kong). 9–22 May 2012, pg 24. Ball Ball (2014) He published a photographic book, Drift City 2000–2010, as the culmination of a ten-year project where he travelled the world and superposed himself as a cardboard skyscraper (Skyscraper Man) in different surroundings as a critique of modernism."紙皮大廈披上身 黃國才十載遊離都市". Headline News, 20 December 2010 For the project, Wong collected images from over 20 locations around the world, including one at the Egyptian pyramids made when he and his wife were on honeymoon in 2002. That image cost him a three-hour art lecture to police who demanded a substantial "photography fee". Environmentalism Wong became interested in environmentalism through visiting a waste reprocessing centre in Hong Kong, and realising just how little was recycled. His works re- use or recycle materials obtained from rubbish tips. In 2010, Wong curated "Memory of the Forest", a collection of animal sculptures by himself and 13 students made using discarded wood, which symbolises the animals' lost habitats."香港雕塑發展新貌", AM 730. 31 May 2010 "黃國才", U Magazine, April 2010 Wong contributed a similar "Mega Musical Art Piece" to the 2012 Hong Kong Cleanup campaign in the form of an octopus."The Hong Kong Cleanup Exhibit" . Hong Kong Cleanup, 18 January 2013 Wong participated in a campaign of the Ocean Recovery Alliance in Hong Kong in April 2013, contributing Death by Amputation – a sculpture of a life-sized finned shark – to an exhibition in Stanley harbour in the hope that it will provoke thought on the source of food and the cruelty inflicted by humans on animals."廢材藝術品喚醒保育海洋". pg. 46. Headline News (Hong Kong), 19 April 2013 In 2014, as part of an animal-themed exhibition with other artists, he unveiled Ball Ball, a substantial sculpture of his one-eyed cat again made of discarded wood. Wong's The Cultural Bureau leading 1 July 2012 protest march Protest art Wong cites his political awakening being in 2011, following the arrest of mainland artist Ai Weiwei. He responded by forming a group named Art Citizens (藝術公民), and rallied some 2,000 artists to march for Ai on 23 April. As curator for the group, he put together a month-long exhibition that opened on 26 May named "Love the Future" (愛未來) – a pun on Ai's name – with works of over 50 artists. Wong's own showpiece, a Caonima (alpaca) sculpture, was one of the stars of the show. Since then, Wong has become known for his highly visible displays at public demonstrations drawing attention to Hong Kong's political situation. Fond of quoting Ai, Wong believes that art and politics are indissociable, and that no art is completely without political connotation. Wong sees art as one of the organic elements in the mix of political movements, playing an indirect and auxiliary role. Wong drawing portraits during the Umbrella RevolutionWong was highly active during the Umbrella Revolution: he held a contest for the best logo to elevate awareness and generate more concern for the demand for "real universal suffrage" for Hong Kong. Using social media as a "safe platform" for universal participation, he generated considerable awareness and received entries from all over the world.Chow, Vivienne (29 September 2014). "Umbrella Revolution: more designs on Hong Kong’s protest movement". South China Morning Post Wong held sessions where he would draw a person's portrait in one minute without looking at the paper - the concept inspired by Nelson Mandela's maxim "It always seems impossible until it's done". He also co-founded Umbrella Movement Art Preservation, to make an inventory of works and their locations at protest sites, aiming to rescue key pieces before police clearances.Sataline, Suzanne (16 November 2014). "Will Hong Kong’s protest art be saved?" Boston GlobeLau, Joyce (14 November 2014). "Art Spawned by Protest; Now to Make It Live On". The New York Times. For his personal exhibition in March 2015 entitled "Resisting Against Absurdity", Wong reunited pieces he created for previous protest marches and added new works: in particular the Black Cop Candle – a set of wax statues of policemen in riot gear and raised batons. These symbolise the seven "black" (meaning corrupt) cops who beat up a protester and who were caught on film so doing during the 2014 protests; lighting the candles would melt them and transform them into light. = Performance art = Wong protesting at booksellers' disappearances with red gallows bearing the Chinese characters for "abduction" as props Wong has variously participated in the annual 1 July protest marches riding in a pink armoured personnel carrier, walking around with a facsimile washing machine on his head, and guiding a 10-foot red robot he created."城市夢遊"， Next Magazine, 13 September 2012 For the march on 1 July 2014, Wong created the “Warning Squad", where he and several people dressed as police officers holding parody banners inspired by those increasingly seen used by police officers at protests. His signs included “Love the Party” – echoing the CPC slogan “Love the country, love the Party” (愛國愛黨) – “Fake Commie”; “Party-State” referring to the one-party state within China; “Reddening” referring to the gradual infiltration of the communist ethos into Hong Kong; “Land Grabbing” referring to the land acquisition for development in the Northeast New Territories. At a march protesting at the disappearances of the staff of Causeway Bay Books in 2015, Wong symbolically constructed a red gallows carrying the Chinese characters for "abduction" (綁架), bound himself with red rope and gagged himself with red duct tape. In the run-up to the 30th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, Wong performed "The Loveliest Person" dressed as a dead soldier playing a funereal version of the Chinese national anthem. Wearing a spoiled khaki green uniform with a combat helmet, he played Frédéric Chopin’s funeral march Piano Sonata No.2, overlaid the March of the Volunteers on the accordion whilst walking around the bustling Causeway Bay district for two hours. For one of the protest marches during the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests, Wong created a mobile red-barred prison cell. Dressed as a mainland Chinese policeman, he proceeded to "arrest" participants in the pro-democracy demonstration and publicly whip them. Wong likens the imagery to "painting the nightmare". His performances changed as street violence escalated. Wong performed Black Flag during the 1 July march. Dressed all in black, he wore a mask, and waved a large black version of Hong Kong's red-and-white bauhinia flag which represents ‘live free or die’ – being the spirit of the time. In an August performance named The Five Commandments, Wong injected humour by adopting the persona of Moses, holding a staff and a tablet inscribed with the 5 key demands, hoping it would be a reminder that "art can play a humanistic role even in the worst moments." Other roles Wong co-founded Street Design Union to study and advance the role of artists and designers in the socio-political sphere. Since 2001, he has taken his "Personal Skyscraper Workshops" to primary schools to encourage children to admire the architecture. He does this by having pupils create wearable architectural clothing with foam boards and paper. In 2016, the M+ in Hong Kong commissioned Wong to create the "M+ Rover" – a mobile gallery for their schools outreach programme. The Rover was created out of a hollowed-out container in which was installed a wooden interior using disused pallets to create the feel of a whale. During the 2019 Hong Kong local elections, Wong was active in the campaign that saw the election of fellow artist Clara Cheung in the Happy Valley constituency of the Wan Chai District Council Personal Wong is an avid fan of war-games – an activity he partakes in every week which he says helps with mental agility. He also enjoys diving. Wong and his wife Margaret live with Ballball – a cat which had lost an eye in an accident. Wong chose to adopt him over other cats because he was unique."黃國才", pp 16–19, Art Plus. No. 41 Wong said: "Imagine you were to go to a pet shop and ask for a one-eyed cat... 'Sorry we don't do those' would be the response". References External links * , Kacey Wong * Kacey Wong, what's next 30 x 30 * Category:1970 births Category:Living people Category:Chinese contemporary artists Category:Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning alumni Category:Alumni of Chelsea College of Arts Category:RMIT University alumni Category:Hong Kong democracy activists Category:Hong Kong artists Category:Political artists Category:Hong Kong Polytechnic University faculty Category:Chinese University of Hong Kong people Category:Hong Kong architects "