Dmitri Dmitrievich Shostakovich listen (help·info) (Russian:
Дмитрий Дмитриевич Шостакович, Dmitrij Dmitrievič
ostakovič
(September 25 [O.S. September 12] 1906August 9, 1975) was a
Russian composer of the Soviet period. He had a complex
relationship with the Soviet government, suffering two official
denunciations of his music in 1936 and 1948 and the periodic
banning of his work. At the same time, he remained the most popular
Soviet composer of his generation and received a number of
accolades and state awards, and served in the Supreme Soviet.
After an initial avant-garde period, Shostakovich wrote primarily
in the romantic idiom, drawing heavily on the influence of Mahler.
However, he combined this with atonality and on occasion tone rows.
His music frequently includes sharp contrasts and elements of the
grotesque. His greatest works are generally considered to be his
symphonies and string quartets, fifteen of each; other works
include operas, six concertos and a substantial quantity of film
music. Laurel Fay concludes in Grove that:
"Amid the conflicting pressures of official requirements, the mass
suffering of his fellow countrymen, and his personal ideals of
humanitarian and public service, he succeeded in forging a musical
language of colossal emotional power."[1]
Contents [hide]
1 Life
1.1 Early life
1.2 First denunciation
1.3 War
1.4 Second denunciation
1.5 Joining the Party
1.6 Later life
2 Works
3 Personality
4 Orthodoxy and revisionism
5 Notes
6 References
7 External links
[edit]
Life
[edit]
Early life
Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Shostakovich was the second of
three children born to Dmitri Boleslavovich Shostakovich and Sofiya
Kokaoulina Shostakovich. His family was politically liberal and
tolerant (one of his uncles was a Bolshevik, but the family also
sheltered far-right extremists). He was a child prodigy as both a
pianist and composer, his talent becoming apparent after he began
piano lessons at the age of nine. In 1918, he wrote a funeral march
in memory of two leaders of the Kadet party, murdered by Bolshevik
sailors. In 1919, he was allowed to enter the Petrograd
Conservatory, then headed by Alexander Glazunov. However, he
suffered for his perceived lack of political zeal, and initially
failed his exam in Marxist methodology in 1926. His first major
musical achievement was the First Symphony (premiered 1926),
written as his graduation piece.
After graduation, he initially embarked on a dual career as a
concert pianist and composer, but his dry style of playing (Fay
comments on his "emotional restraint" and "riveting rhythmic
drive") was often unappreciated. He nevertheless won an "honorable
mention" at the 1927 Warsaw International Piano Competition. After
the competition Shostakovich met the conductor Bruno Walter, who
was so impressed by the composer's First Symphony that he conducted
the Berlin premiere later that year. Thereafter Shostakovich
concentrated on composition and soon limited performances primarily
to those of his own works. In 1927 he wrote his Second Symphony
(subtitled To October). While writing the symphony, he also began
his satirical opera The Nose, based on the story by Gogol. In 1929,
the opera was criticised as "formalist" by RAPM, the Stalinist
musicians' organisation, and it opened to generally poor reviews in
1930.
1927 also marked the beginning of the composer's relationship with
Ivan Sollertinsky, who remained his closest friend until the
latter's death in 1944. Sollertinsky introduced Shostakovich to the
music of Gustav Mahler, which had a strong influence on his music
from the Fourth Symphony onwards. 1932 saw his open marriage to his
first wife, Nina Varzar. Initial difficulties led to divorce
proceedings in 1935, but the couple soon reunited.
1929. Shostakovich, Meyerhold, Mayakovsky and Rodchenko rehearsing
Mayakovsky's play The BedbugIn the late 1920s and early 1930s he
worked at TRAM, a proletarian youth theatre. Although he did little
work in this post, it shielded him from ideological attack. Much of
this period was spent writing his opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk
District; it was first performed in 1934 and was immediately
successful, both on a popular and official level. It was said to be
the result of the general success of Socialist construction, of
the correct policy of the Party" and that such an opera could have
been written only by a Soviet composer brought up in the best
tradition of Soviet culture.[2