Russian composer (1906-1975). Autograph Manuscript unsigned. no place. 8vo. 1 1/2 pp. With the original envelope signed, "DShostakovich," and addressed in his hand to the "Literary Bureau of Great Britain," in Russian, lacking postal markings.
$ 8,015 / 7.500 €
(61408)
A speech [for the Sheffield World Congress of the Supporters of Peace], in Russian. "The ties between the Soviet Union and England are unbreakable. In the first years of the revolution, English workers protested with the slogan 'Hands off Soviet Russia!' When fascism was defeated in the last war, people of the Soviet Union saved England and Europe from immanent catastrophe. "Our peoples of the Soviet Union and England, shoulder to shoulder, are joining in the fight for peace. . . . "Artists, composers, writers, workers in all of the arts are the voice of consciousness of all the people, and that's why that voice should loudly rumble against the war.
Under the protection of peace, and under the protection of Democracy, artists, statesmen of England, workers of all countries, expand and strengthen the powerful front of the Supporters of Peace." The second World Congress of the Supporters of Peace was scheduled to be held in Sheffield, England, in November of 1950. Because the British government suspected that the meeting organizers had seditious objectives and represented a threat to national security, the visa applications of a vast majority of the delegates were declined. Consequently, the meeting was moved to Warsaw, Poland. Among the delegates who were turned away was Shostakovich..