D shostakovich biography
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Oleg Prokofiev commented that "he tried to help so many people that ...
Composer Profile: Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)
By Barry Lenson
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was born on September 25, 1906, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. He appeared very much the establishment figure, but his creative projects were becoming ever more personal.
The truth is more complex, however. A process of stylistic simplification began almost inevitably. The revisionist view was put forth by Solomon Volkov in the 1979 book Testimony, which was claimed to be Shostakovich's memoirs dictated to Volkov. ISBN 951-30-6599-5
Indiana University Press. For a time Shostakovich resisted. One of these pieces, the First Violin Concerto (1947–48), expresses solidarity with the plight of the Jewish people. Dmitri Shostakovich's family was politically liberal (one of his uncles was a Bolshevik, but the family also sheltered far-right activists).
He was a child prodigy as both a pianist and composer, his talent becoming apparent after he began piano lessons with his mother at the age of eight.
Communicating keenly, but in an increasingly enigmatic manner, these pieces draw on precedents set by Schoenberg and Britten as well as the work of his many composition pupils. For the piano he composed two solo sonatas, an early set of preludes, and a later set of 24 preludes and fugues. But his recuperation hit two obstacles.
His influence can also be seen in some Nordic composers, such as Kalevi Aho[23] and Lars-Erik Larsson.[24] Many of his Russian contemporaries, and his pupils at the Leningrad Conservatory, however, were strongly influenced by his style (including German Okunev, Boris Tishchenko, whose 5th Symphony of 1978 is dedicated to Shostakovich's memory, Sergei Slonimsky, and others).
On his deathbed, he was correcting the proofs of his last completed work, the Viola Sonata. "Shostakovich's Eighth: C minor Symphony against the Grain". "Volkov's Testimony Reconsidered". Conducted by Yevgeny Mravinsky. Music Under Soviet Rule. Time has not clarified matters. Zoshchenko himself noted the contradictions in the composer's character: "he is ...
Shostakovich joined the group of 25 distinguished intellectuals in signing the letter to Leonid Brezhnev asking not to rehabilitate Stalin.[citation needed]
Later life
In later life, Shostakovich suffered from chronic ill health, but he resisted giving up cigarettes and vodka.
But this period also saw the worst of the regime’s purges.