The name of the composer Ivan Ivanovich Dzerzhinsky (1909–1978) is remembered today mainly for his opera Quiet Flows the Don, based on the first and second books of Mikhail Sholokhov's novel.
Having received his first music lessons in his native Tambov, Ivan Dzerzhinsky studied in Moscow (at the 1st Yavorsky Musical Training College and the Gnessins Training College, composition class of Mikhail Fabianovich Gnessin). In Leningrad from 1930–1932 he continued his studies at the Central Musical Training College, composition class of Pyotr Borisovich Ryazanov. The composer's earliest works include Poem about the Dniepr, Northern Songs and Spring Suite for Piano... That was when Dzerzhinsky composed his first opera, Quiet Flows the Don.
On the recommendation of Dmitry Shostakovich the opera was accepted for production by Leningrad's Maly Opera Theatre (it premiered on 22 October 1935 under Samuil Samosud). The first publication of the score of Quiet Flows the Don was issued with a dedication to Dmitry Shostakovich, who provided the young composer with great assistance in developing the idea and writing the operatic score.
At the performance of the Maly Opera's Quiet Flows the Don in Moscow, Stalin was pleased with it (for its simple and "democratic" language and revolutionary theme) and it was immediately staged at the capital's two opera houses – the Bolshoi and the Nemirovich-Danchenko Theatre. Stalin preferred Dzerzhinsky's opera to Shostakovich's brilliant Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, which was torn to shreds in Pravda in a monstrously unjust review in an article entitled Muddle instead of Music.
Quiet Flows the Don was performed at most theatres in the Soviet Union, laying the foundations for the genre of so-called "songful" opera, which entirely met with the precepts of "soviet realism". Yesterday's apologists for Shostakovich's masterpiece extolled Dzerzhinsky's opera. "On the stage once again there were people with a genuine intonation and natural habits, the melodies are inspiring with their songful nature, and the lyricism became an expression of healthy emotion" (Boris Asafiev). Dzerzhinsky wrote of Stalin's lofty praise of the opera in the newspaper Leningrad Pravda in an article entitled We Will Create Soviet Classical Opera.
In Quiet Flows the Don – Dzerzhinsky's finest opera according to the respected researcher Abram Gozenpud – the strong sides of the composer's talent are vividly displayed: "... The comprehension of folk songful-ness while rejecting a quoted use of folklore, the melodic gift, the sense of theatricality... The composer has succeeded in conveying the drama of Grigory's destiny, and particularly that of Aksinia. But at the same time the music is devoid of symphonic development There is insufficient use of rich musical forms; in particular the composer has fully rejected ensembles."
Among the most memorable parts of Quiet Flows the Don are the lyrical songs and ariosos of Aksinia and Natalia and the thoughtfully majestic chorus "Oh, and our quiet Don is proud". One real "hit" was to be the final fighting and marching song "From region and to region", performed independently from the opera for wider audiences.
In 1967 the composer concluded the opera Grigory Melekhov, completing a musical version of Mikhail Sholokhov's epic. And it is namely the final chorus of Quiet Flows the Don, which became a truly folk piece, that we can hear soon after the overture to Grigory Melekhov, linking this opera "series" separated by three decades. In the second part of the "series" Dzerzhinsky appears as a more experienced composer (by that time he had written several operas: The Upturned Virgin Soil, Volochayevka Days and Nadezhda Svetlova and the musical comedy A Winter Night). He makes broader use of varied solo and choral genres – lyrical and dramatic, shading them with character episodes and brief dance scenes...
But the most important thing is that the opera reveals, albeit insufficiently strongly, symphonic breath: this can be felt in the individual "well-rounded" parts, and in general, affording the work that unity without which the opera would have been a divertissement. We note with gratitude the support that the opera's creator received from his colleague, the Leningrad composer Mikhail Matveyev. A brilliant maestro, he gave Dzerzhinsky much invaluable advice and helped him instrument the piano score of the opera. The premiere of Grigory Melekhov took place at the Kirov Theatre in 1967 under the baton of conductor Konstantin Simeonov.
... The fate of the protagonist of Mikhail Sholokhov's novel is well known to Russian readers. We live through it again as we absorb the music: it throws light on pages of the novel and it finds an echo in listeners' hearts.
Iosif Raiskin
