- Born
- Died
- Birth nameDmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich
- Dmitri Shostakovich, one of Russian culture's most acclaimed
intellectuals who was censored under the dictatorship of
Joseph Stalin, was an internationally
recognized composer whose music was in over 100 films.
He was born Dmitri Dmitrievich Shostakovich on September 25, 1906, in
St. Petersburg, Russia. He was the second of three children of Dmitri
Boleslavovich Shostakovich, a chemical engineer, and Sofia Kokaoulina,
a pianist. Young Shostakovich studied piano under his mother tutelage
and at a private school in St. Petersburg. His greatest influences were
Johann Sebastian Bach,
Ludwig van Beethoven and
Modest Mussorgsky. From 1919-1925 he
studied piano and composition at St. Petersburg (Leningrad)
Conservatory. He wrote his First "Classical" symphony as his graduation
piece. In 1927 he won an "honorable mention diploma" at the 1st
International Piano Competition in Warsaw. In 1929 he collaborated with
writer Vladimir Mayakovsky, artist
Alexander Rodchenko and director
Vsevolod Meyerhold.
In 1934 Shostakovich collaborated with
Aleksei Dikij on the legendary opera
Katerina Izmailova" (aka Lady Makbeth of Mtsensk). Dikij's production
of "Katerina Izmailova" had over 100 performances in Leningrad and
Moscow, and was considered a highlight in his directing career.
However, in 1936, the opera was severely criticized by some critics on the Pravda, the Communist Party's official newspaper, and accused of formalism and intellectualism.
In the summer of 1941 Nazi Germany and its allies invaded the Soviet
Union, and German and Finnish forces and encircled Leningrad (St.
Petersburg). Defenders and civilians in besieged Leningrad were doomed,
because the besieging forces cut supplies of food and energy to the
surrounded city. It wasn't long before the city's population of birds,
pets and even rats were eaten, and not long after there were reports of
cannibalism brought about by starvation. The siege of Leningrad was so
impenetrable that by December of that year an average of 4000 to 6000
residents a day were dying of starvation, disease, shellfire,
bombardment and a variety of other causes.
During the first months of the siege Shostakovich was in Leningrad. He
survived the first bombardments and joined the "night watch" patrol,
helping to put out fires during massive German air bombardments.
Shostakovich personally neutralized several incendiary bombs and was
actively involved in firefighting. After aerial and artillery
bombardments, during the rare quiet moments, Shostakovich was back to
his piano composing new music. He was evacuated from the besieged city
in the end of 1941.
The Seventh "Leningrad" Symphony, which Shostakovich started composing
during the Nazi aerial and artillery attacks during the siege, was the
masterpiece that won him national and international recognition.
His music helped lift the spirits of Leningrad citizens in
a time when they were struggling to survive.
On August 9, 1942, Karl Eliasberg gave a
premiere performance of Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony in Leningrad.
That famous concert was made possible because Eliasberg specially
created an orchestra of survivors who were still able to perform in
spite of starvation and dystrophy.
Eliasberg, who was also extremely emaciated, spent some time in the
hospital in the Astoria hotel and came to the rehearsals straight from
the sick ward. On the score of one of the musicians of that legendary
orchestra you can still see a drawing showing hollow-cheeked Eliasberg
conducting his orchestra sitting on a chair. The legendary performance
was broadcast live from the Radio Hall in Leningrad, so millions of
civilians and defenders of the besieged city were able to hear the
powerful music. The symphony written in the conventional four movements
is Shostakovich's longest, and one of the longest in the repertoire,
with performances taking approximately one hour and fifteen minutes.
The scale and scope of the work is consistent with Shostakovich's other
symphonies as well as with those of composers considered to be his
strongest influences, including Bruckner,
Gustav Mahler and
Igor Stravinsky.
Before they tackled Shostakovich's work, Eliasberg had the players go
through pieces from the standard repertoire -
Ludwig van Beethoven,
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky,
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov - which
they also performed for broadcast. Because the city was still blockaded
at the time, the score was flown by night in early July for rehearsal.
The concert was given on 9 August 1942. Whether this date was chosen
intentionally, it was the day Hitler had chosen previously to celebrate
the fall of Leningrad with a lavish reception for the top Nazi
commanders. But instead of Hitler's plan, all loudspeakers delivered
the live broadcast of the symphony performance throughout the city as
well as to the German forces in a move of psychological warfare. The
Russian commander of the Leningrad front, General Govorov, ordered a
bombardment of German artillery positions in advance of the broadcast
to ensure their silence during the performance of the symphony; a
special operation, code-named "Squall," was executed for precisely this
purpose. Three thousand high-caliber shells were lobbed onto the enemy.
Then the music of Shostakovich came out of the speakers all over the
siege perimeter, so the Nazis had to face the music.
The music of Shostakovich brought the much needed support and catharsis
to survivors who loved the symphony and applauded to Eliasberg and his
orchestra. General Govorov with his staff came backstage to thank
Eliasberg and his musicians for their art and courage.
The news about Dmitry Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony premiere in
besieged Leningrad spread all over the world. It was an important
message to all nations that Hitler's attack on Leningrad failed.
Shostakovich who began to write his famous symphony before evacuation
from besieged Leningrad in 1941, could not go back to attend its
premier performance in 1942. The composer sent the conductor and the
musicians who performed his work in the besieged city a telegram with
words of gratitude.
After WWII Shostakovich was again accused of formalism in 1948. At that time, Shostakovich gained international recognition in
the free world, and received several invitations to participate in
music festivals and other cultural events. He was awarded the International Peace Prize (1954), State Prize five
times (in 1941-1952), State Prizes of Russia and the USSR, and was
designated People's Artist of the USSR. From 1957-1975 he was secretary
of the Union of Composers of Russia and the USSR. He taught and
promoted many talented musicians, such as
Andrey Petrov,
Georgi Sviridov,
Karen Khachaturyan, and
Boris Tishchenko among others.
Shostakovich and Yevgeniy Yevtushenko worked together on the
famous Symphony No. 13 titled "Babi Yar", a vocal setting of poems by
Yevtushenko. It was first performed in Moscow on December 18, 1962
under the baton of Kirill Kondrashin.
Yevtushenko and Shostakovich toured many countries with the
performances of "Babi Yar", and made several recordings of the Symphony
No. 13. Among Shostakovich's best known film
scores are 'Suite from The Gadfly' from
The Gadfly (1955), and the score for director
Grigoriy Kozintsev's acclaimed film
Hamlet (1964) starring
Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy.
In 1965 Shostakovich raised his voice in defense of poet
Joseph Brodsky, who was
sentenced to five years of exile and hard labor. Shostakovich co-signed
protests together with such prominent figures as
Korney Ivanovich Chukovskiy,
Anna Akhmatova,
Samuil Marshak,
Yevgeniy Yevtushenko, and the French
philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. After the
protests his sentence was commuted, and Brodsky returned to Leningrad. At that time, Shostakovich joined the group of 25
distinguished intellectuals in signing the letter to
Leonid Brezhnev asking not to
rehabilitate Joseph Stalin.
Dmitri Shostakovich was a towering figure in Russian music of the 20th
century along with
'Sergei Prokofiev (I)' and
Aram Khachaturyan. He wrote 15
symphonies, of which the Fifth (1937), the Sevenths "Leningrad" (1942),
and the Thurteenth "Baby Yar" (1968) are the best known. His other
compositions include cantatas and oratorios, seven operas and
operettas, four ballets, twelve musical comedies and other music for
stage plays, 36 original motion picture scores, fifteen quartets and
other chamber music for, piano, violin, and cello. Shostakovich, who
was an awarded pianist himself, had composed outstanding works for
piano, such as his Piano concertos No1 and No2. His 24 Preludes and
Fugues for piano received numerous awards and recognitions, and were
recorded in critically acclaimed performance by
Vladimir Ashkenazy.
Shostakovich died of a heart attack on august 9, 1975, in Moscow, and
was laid to rest in Novodevichi Convent Cemetery in Moscow, Russia. His
legacy is continued by his son, conductor Maxim Shostakovich, and his
grandson, pianist Dmitri Shostakovich Jr.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Steve Shelokhonov & X
- SpousesIrina Supinskaya(December 1962 - August 9, 1975) (his death)Margarita Kainova(July 1956 - November 1960) (divorced)Nina Varzar(May 13, 1932 - December 5, 1954) (her death, 2 children)
- His Eighth String Quartet, Op. 110, was written from start to finish
over the span of just three days. - Played piano in movie theaters during the
silent film era in St. Petersburg, Russia. - Had the ability to write music in the midst of a great deal of noise. He
would often write in crowded cafés, even when construction was going on
outside. - Was trapped in Leningrad for several months while the German army laid siege to it, but was evacuated before the city was liberated by Russian forces and the siege lifted.
- The father of Galina Shostakovich and conductor Maksim
Shostakovich. Grandfather of composer Dmitri Shostakovich Jr.
- The climax of joy is not when you're through a new symphony, but when you are hoarse from shouting, with your hands stinging from clapping, your lips parched, and you sip a second glass of beer after you've fought for it with 90,000 other spectators to celebrate the victory of your favorite team.
- I have thought that my life was replete with sorrow and that it would be hard to find a more miserable man. But when I started going over the life stories of my friends and acquaintances, I was horrified. Not one of them had an easy or a happy life. Some came to a terrible end, some died in terrible suffering, and the lives of many of them could easily be called more miserable than mine. And that made me even sadder. I was remembering my friends and all I saw was corpses, mountains of corpses.
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