Soviet Union

The goal of this research is to discover Shostakovich's inspiration and motivation for writing the Twenty-Four Preludes and Fugues. Through the in-depth research of the cycle, this thesis will discuss the different aspects of the unique harmonic ambiguity of both the preludes and the fugue subjects so that readers understand Shostakovich's language of musical communication. Shostakovich lived during a transitional period in the history of Russia when totalitarianism was being challenged. The research will also explore how the political environment influenced his composition during those years.

This thesis argues that in the wake of the Decembrist Revolt in Russia in 1825, the British Foreign Office was forced to address the tension between two conceptions of stability-one domestic and one international. It contends that the aristocratic ethos of the British diplomatic corps both magnified the fragile social condition of the Russian Empire and organized the political response which subordinated this concern to the international equilibrium of Europe. Ambassadors such as Lord Strangford and Edward Cromwell Disbrowe helped interpret the events of the Decembrist conspiracy while stationed in St. Petersburg and reported back to their Foreign Secretary, George Canning, who used the revolt as an attempt to realign British interests with Russia. In the end, elite Britons chose to protect the international balance of power in post-Napoleonic Europe instead of the traditional social hierarchies believed to be under siege in Russia.

In 1919, the Soviet filmmaker Dziga Vertov declared a "death sentence" on fictional films. Vertov championed his own unique method of non-fiction filmmaking, called Kino-Eye, which is based on Vertov's ideas regarding truth in cinema. Although he does not write specifically about Vertov or film, the philosopher Nelson Goodman offers a contrasting view of truth in general. By comparing the Kino-Eye method to Goodman's philosophy, we can better understand Vertov's radical ideas and see more clearly how the concept of cinematic truth has changed over time.