Solomon Volkov

Solomon Moiseyevich Volkov (Russian: Соломо́н Моисе́евич Во́лков; born 17 April 1944) is a Russian journalist and musicologist. He is best known for Testimony, which was published in 1979 following his emigration from the Soviet Union in 1976. He claimed that the book was the memoir of Dmitri Shostakovich, as related to him by the composer.

Volkov was born in Uroteppa (Russian: Ura-Tyube, now Istaravshan), near Leninabad (now Khujand), Tajikistan. He studied violin at the Leningrad Conservatory, receiving his diploma with honors in 1967. He continued graduate work in musicology there until 1971. He also served as artistic director of the Experimental Studio of Chamber Opera.

He went to the United States in June 1976. Early on, he was a Research Associate at the Russian Institute of Columbia University. He lives in New York City with his wife, Marianna (née Tiisnekka), a pianist and photographer. He is also a United States citizen.

His primary area of expertise has been the history and aesthetics of Russian and Soviet music, as well as the psychology of musical perception and performance. He published numerous articles in scholarly and popular journals and wrote the book Young Composers of Leningrad in 1971. This book, which contained a preface by Shostakovich, was reportedly well received.

Since taking residence in the United States, he has written various articles for The New York Times, The New Republic, Musical America, The Musical Quarterly and other publications.

Testimony prompted a continuing debate over its authenticity and accuracy. Some say that the words of Dmitri Shostakovich are indeed presented in the book. Unfortunately it is difficult without access to Volkov's original notes (left behind when Volkov emigrated and apparently lost or destroyed) to ascertain where Shostakovich ends and Volkov possibly begins. Ever since the American scholar Laurel E. Fay demonstrated that the beginning of each chapter closely parallels earlier published texts by Shostakovich, musicologists have remained divided on the value of Testimony. Questions about Testimony's authenticity are summarized in Malcolm H. Brown's book A Shostakovich Casebook (2004), whereas a defense of the memoirs and their authenticity is presented in Allan B. Ho and Dmitry Feofanov's Shostakovich Reconsidered (1998). The latter also have written The Shostakovich Wars, a 220-page long response to Brown's Shostakovich Casebook.

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