![]() It was first performed in 1934 and was immediately successful, both on a popular and official level. Much of this period was spent writing his opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. Although he did little work in this post, it shielded him from ideological attack. In the late 1920s and early 1930s he worked at the Workers' Youth Theatre or TRAM, a proletarian youth theatre. Initial difficulties led to divorce proceedings in 1935, but the couple soon reunited. The year 1932 saw his open marriage to his first wife, Nina Varzar. Sollertinsky introduced Shostakovich to the music of Gustav Mahler, which had a strong influence on his music from the Symphony No. The year 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. In 1929, the opera was criticized as "Russian formalism" by RAPM, the Stalinist musicians' organisation, and it opened to generally poor reviews in 1930. While writing the symphony, he also began his satirical opera The Nose, based on the story by Nikolai Gogol. Thereafter Shostakovich concentrated on composition and soon limited performances primarily to those of his own works. 1 that he conducted the Berlin premiere later that year. After the competition Shostakovich met the conductor Bruno Walter, who was so impressed by the composer's Symphony No. He nevertheless won an "honorable mention" at the 1927 Warsaw International Piano Competition. ![]() 1, (premiered in 1926), written as his graduation piece.Īfter 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. His first major musical achievement was the Symphony No. ![]() However, he suffered for his perceived lack of political zeal, and initially failed his exam in Marxist methodology in 1926. In 1919, he was allowed to enter the Saint Petersburg or Petrograd Conservatory, then headed by Alexander Glazunov. In 1918, he wrote a funeral march in memory of two leaders of the Constitutional Democratic party or Kadet party, murdered by Bolshevik sailors. 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. His family was politically liberal (one of his uncles was a Bolshevik, but the family also sheltered far-right extremists). Commemorative plaque at left.īorn at 2 Podolskaya Ulitsa in Saint Petersburg, Russia, Dmitri Shostakovich was the second of three children born to Dmitri Boleslavovich Shostakovich and Sofiya Vasilievna Shostakovich. "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." īirthplace of Shostakovich (now School no. David Fanning concludes in " Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians" that: ![]() 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. His music frequently includes sharp contrasts and elements of the grotesque. However, he combined this with atonality and occasional tone rows. 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.Īfter an initial avant-garde period, Shostakovich wrote primarily in the romantic music idiom, drawing heavily on the influence of Mahler. He had a complex relationship with the Soviet government, suffering two official denunciations of his music in 19 and the periodic banning of his work. Dmitri Dmitrievich Shostakovich (Russian language: Дмитрий Дмитриевич Шостакович, Dmitrij Dmitrievič Šostakovič) (Septem– August 9, 1975) was a Russian composer of the Soviet Union period.
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