in 1930 he wrote an important opera called "lady macbeth of the mtsensk district". it was a huge success, and the critics said that “it could only have been written by a soviet composer brought up in the best traditions of soviet culture”. one night in 1936 stalin came to watch it. he left before the end. two days later there was an article in the official government paper "pravda". the title was “chaos instead of music”. it said that this opera was primitive and vulgar, full of screaming and noise. the politicians were criticizing not just shostakovich but all modern soviet music. shostakovich was denounced, and his friends were too frightened to defend him in case they were denounced as well. shostakovich suffered quietly and wrote his fifth symphony. the politicians liked this symphony. he was once more thought of as the leading soviet composer. he was supposed to have said that his new symphony was the “creative reply of a soviet artist to justified criticism”, but it was actually a critic who said this. shortly afterward, he received the stalin prize for his piano quintet.