Although Shostakovich is regarded as the greatest Russian composer after Igor Stravinsky, he was denounced multiple times by the authorities and had his work banned during his lifetime. The first denunciation—of his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, in which he experimented with avant-garde trends—made a strong impression on him and led him to adopt a very different style that was serious and elegiac, with a directness aimed at the public. What brought him back into Stalin’s good graces? Discuss