Irony, Satire, Parody and the Grotesque in the Music of Shostakovich

This study views music as a form with semantic content. In exploring the interrelationship between artistic technique and ideology, Sheinberg (music, U. of Edinburgh) delves into the music of Shostakovich, with a focus upon irony. He offers new methodologies for the semiotic analysis of music and inspects the ironical messages independently of political and biographical bias. Comparing musical devices with artistic principles and literary analyses of satire, irony, parody and the grotesque, he inspects and defines each mode as a form independent of music. He then applies the results of his investigation to music, first in general and then more specifically to Shostakovich's compositions, taking into account the composer's cultural and historical milieux. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

A former student and colleague of Raymond Monelle, Esti Sheinberg's scholarship contributes to the developing field of music signification by combining music analysis and historical research with the semiotics of music.