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This article offers an overview of musical nationalism. It considers how states have used music as a political tool as well as the ways in which communities have employed music to reject national identities and challenge nation-states.

Dmitri Shostakovich composed in an environment which was extremely hostile toward artists—especially those that were innovative. Shostakovich was denounced by the Soviet government and had to be cautious with his compositions. If the government disapproved of his work, they could have killed him, as they did other artists. Shostakovich obviously had to keep his opinions to himself for fear of being killed. Although he had to keep his unfavorable views of the Soviet government private, he found ways to make bold, rebellious statements through his music. This paper will seek to show several pieces in which Shostakovich demonstrated his disapproval of the Soviet government. The main pieces that will be examined are his fifth, ninth and tenth symphonies, as well as his lesser known Anti-Formalist Rayok.

A deceptive aspect of the 'writing about music is like dancing about architecture' cliché is the function of the preposition 'about'. Literature and music, dance and architecture, painting and film – all are discrete aesthetic forms that nonetheless simultaneously feed off and provide nourishment for each other as part of art's perpetual drive toward diversity and innovation. Nowhere is the aptness of the association between writing and music more obvious than in the phenomenon of album liner notes. Rather than merely an attempt at describing or translating musical experience, liner notes contribute to the dialogue between composer and listener and are a significant part of the culture of contemporary music.