Shostakovich failed to warship Stravinsky as the leading composer. He spoke out in public, while Prokofiev hideously remained silent in this case.

@@The1976spirit Stravinsky is overrated.

I'd suggest you do a bit of research on this opera's history, because this ending was not "tacked on" - it was kind of the whole point of the opera. It was premiered in 1934, and a quick search will tell you that while Katerina was obviously not a good person, "the composer justified the sympathetic portrayal of Katerina in Soviet terms, saying she was a victim of the circumstances of oppressive, pre-revolutionary Russia." For the Communist Party, this opera was the tipping point that caused a nation-wide ban of Shostakovich's music for almost 30 years, and its history of censorship persisted to the end of the 20th century. Stalin indirectly threatened the composer after hearing the work, saying that "bad things could happen" to Shostakovich unless he reformed his compositional ways. So yes, Shostakovich did, in fact, intend for his brilliant opera to have an anti-Stalin ending. And beginning. And middle.

@@MaggieGraceWebb Exactly.