Dmitri Shostakovich verbal portrait. Dmitry Shostakovich: biography, interesting facts, creativity

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Dmitri Shostakovich was born in September 1906. The boy had two sisters. The eldest daughter Dmitry Boleslavovich and Sofya Vasilievna Shostakovichi were named Maria, she was born in October 1903. Dmitry's younger sister received the name Zoya at birth. Shostakovich inherited his love for music from his parents. He and his sisters were very musical. Children together with their parents from a young age took part in impromptu home concerts.

Dmitri Shostakovich studied at a commercial gymnasium from 1915, at the same time he began attending lessons at the famous private music school of Ignatiy Albertovich Glyasser. Studying with the famous musician, Shostakovich acquired good pianist skills, but the mentor did not teach composition, and the young man had to do it on his own.

Dmitry recalled that Glasser was a boring, narcissistic and uninteresting person. Three years later, the young man decided to leave the course of study, although his mother in every possible way prevented this. Shostakovich, even at a young age, did not change his mind and left the music school.

In his memoirs, the composer mentioned one event in 1917, which strongly stuck in his memory. At the age of 11, Shostakovich saw how a Cossack, dispersing a crowd of people, cut a boy with a saber. At a young age, Dmitry, remembering this child, wrote a play called "Funeral March in Memory of the Victims of the Revolution."

Education

In 1919 Shostakovich became a student at the Petrograd Conservatory. The knowledge acquired by him in the first year of the educational institution helped the young composer to complete his first major orchestral work - the fis-moll Scherzo.

In 1920, Dmitry Dmitrievich wrote "Two Fables of Krylov" and "Three Fantastic Dances" for piano. This period of the young composer's life is associated with the appearance in his entourage of Boris Vladimirovich Asafiev and Vladimir Vladimirovich Shcherbachev. The musicians were part of the Anna Vogt Circle.

Shostakovich studied diligently, although he experienced difficulties. The time was hungry and difficult. The food ration for the students of the conservatory was very small, the young composer was starving, but did not leave music lessons. He attended the Philharmonic and classes despite hunger and cold. There was no heating in the conservatory in winter, many students fell ill, and there were cases of death.

Best of the day

In his memoirs, Shostakovich wrote that during that period, physical weakness forced him to walk to classes. To get to the conservatory by tram, it was necessary to squeeze through the crowd of people who wanted to, since transport rarely ran. Dmitry was too weak for this, he left the house in advance and walked for a long time.

The Shostakoviches were in dire need of money. The situation was aggravated by the death of the breadwinner of the family, Dmitry Boleslavovich. To earn some money, the son got a job as a pianist at the Light Tape cinema. Shostakovich recalled this time with disgust. The work was low-paid and exhausting, but Dmitry endured, as the family was in great need.

After a month of this musical penal servitude, Shostakovich went to the owner of the cinema, Akim Lvovich Volynsky, to receive a salary. The situation turned out to be very unpleasant. The owner of the "Light Ribbon" shamed Dmitry for his desire to get the pennies he earned, convinced that people of art should not take care of the material side of life.

Seventeen-year-old Shostakovich negotiated part of the amount, the rest could only be obtained by court. Some time later, when Dmitry already had some fame in musical circles, he was invited to an evening in memory of Akim Lvovich. The composer came and shared his memories of the experience of working with Volynsky. The organizers of the evening were outraged.

In 1923, Dmitry Dmitrievich graduated from the Petrograd Conservatory in piano, and two years later - in composition. The musician's graduation work was Symphony No. 1. The work was first performed in 1926 in Leningrad. The foreign premiere of the symphony took place a year later in Berlin.

Creation

In the thirties of the last century, Shostakovich presented the opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District to fans of his work. During this period, he also completed work on five of his symphonies. In 1938, the musician composed the Jazz Suite. The most famous fragment of this work was "Waltz No. 2".

The appearance in the Soviet press of criticism of Shostakovich's music forced him to reconsider his view of some of the works. For this reason, the Fourth Symphony was not presented to the public. Shostakovich stopped rehearsals shortly before the premiere. The public heard the Fourth Symphony only in the sixties of the twentieth century.

After the siege of Leningrad, Dmitry Dmitrievich considered the score of the work lost and began to process the sketches for the piano ensemble that he had preserved. In 1946, copies of the parts of the Fourth Symphony for all instruments were found in the archives of documents. After 15 years, the work was presented to the public.

The Great Patriotic War found Shostakovich in Leningrad. At this time, the composer began work on the Seventh Symphony. Leaving besieged Leningrad, Dmitry Dmitrievich took with him sketches of the future masterpiece. The Seventh Symphony glorified Shostakovich. It is most widely known as "Leningrad". The symphony was first performed in Kuibyshev in March 1942.

Shostakovich marked the end of the war with the composition of the Ninth Symphony. Its premiere took place in Leningrad on November 3, 1945. Three years later, the composer was among the musicians who fell into disgrace. His music was recognized as "alien to the Soviet people." Shostakovich was deprived of the title of professor, received in 1939.

Taking into account the trends of the time, Dmitry Dmitrievich in 1949 presented to the public the cantata "Song of the Forests". The main objective of the work was to praise the Soviet Union and its triumphant restoration in the post-war years. The cantata brought the composer the Stalin Prize and goodwill among critics and authorities.

In 1950, the musician, inspired by the works of Bach and the landscapes of Leipzig, began composing 24 Preludes and Fugues for piano. The tenth symphony was written by Dmitry Dmitrievich in 1953, after an eight-year break in work on symphonic works.

A year later, the composer created the Eleventh Symphony, called "1905". In the second half of the fifties, the composer delved into the genre of the instrumental concerto. His music became more varied in form and mood.

In the last years of his life, Shostakovich wrote four more symphonies. He also became the author of several vocal works and string quartets. Shostakovich's last work was the Sonata for Viola and Piano.

Personal life

People close to the composer recalled that his personal life began unsuccessfully. In 1923 Dmitry met a girl named Tatyana Glivenko. The young people had mutual feelings, but Shostakovich, burdened with need, did not dare to propose to his beloved. The girl, who was 18 years old, found herself another party. Three years later, when Shostakovich's affairs improved a little, he invited Tatyana to leave her husband for him, but her lover refused.

After some time, Shostakovich got married. His chosen one was Nina Vazar. The wife gave Dmitry Dmitrievich twenty years of her life and gave birth to two children. In 1938 Shostakovich became a father for the first time. He had a son Maxim. The youngest child in the family was daughter Galina. Shostakovich's first wife died in 1954.

The composer was married three times. His second marriage turned out to be fleeting, Margarita Kainova and Dmitry Shostakovich did not get along and quickly filed for divorce.

The composer married for the third time in 1962. The wife of the musician was Irina Supinskaya. The third wife devotedly looked after Shostakovich during his illness.

Disease

In the second half of the sixties, Dmitry Dmitrievich fell ill. His illness was not amenable to diagnosis, and Soviet doctors only shrugged. The composer's wife recalled that her husband was prescribed courses of vitamins to slow down the development of the disease, but the disease progressed.

Shostakovich suffered from Charcot's disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). Attempts to cure the composer were made by American specialists and Soviet doctors. On the advice of Rostropovich, Shostakovich went to Kurgan to see Dr. Ilizarov. The treatment suggested by the doctor helped for a while. The disease continued to progress. Shostakovich struggled with illness, did special exercises, took medicine by the hour. A consolation for him was regular attendance at concerts. In the photo of those years, the composer is most often depicted with his wife.

In 1975, Dmitry Dmitrievich and his wife went to Leningrad. There was to be a concert at which they performed Shostakovich's romance. The performer forgot the beginning, which made the author very excited. Upon returning home, the wife called an ambulance for her husband. Shostakovich was diagnosed with a heart attack and the composer was taken to the hospital.

The life of Dmitry Dmitrievich ended on August 9, 1975. That day he was going to watch football with his wife in the hospital room. Dmitry sent Irina for mail, and when she returned, her husband was already dead.

The composer was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.

Origin

great-grandfather Dmitry Dmitrievich Shostakovich paternal line - veterinarian Pyotr Mikhailovich Shostakovich(1808-1871) - in the documents he considered himself a peasant; as a volunteer he graduated from the Vilna Medical and Surgical Academy. In 1830-1831, he participated in the Polish uprising and after its suppression, together with his wife, Maria Yuzefa Yasinskaya, was exiled to the Urals, to the Perm province. In the 40s, the couple lived in Yekaterinburg, where on January 27, 1845 their son, Boleslav-Arthur, was born.

In Yekaterinburg, Peter Shostakovich rose to the rank of collegiate assessor; in 1858 the family moved to Kazan. Here, even in his gymnasium years, Boleslav Petrovich became close to the leaders of the "Earth and Freedom". At the end of the gymnasium, at the end of 1862, he went to Moscow, following the Kazan "landlords" Yu. M. Mosolov and N. M. Shatilov; worked in the management of the Nizhny Novgorod railway, took an active part in organizing the escape from prison of the revolutionary Yaroslav Dombrovsky. In 1865 Boleslav Shostakovich returned to Kazan, but already in 1866 he was arrested, escorted to Moscow and brought to trial in the case of N. A. Ishutin - D. V. Karakozov. After four months in the Peter and Paul Fortress, he was sentenced to exile in Siberia; lived in Tomsk, in 1872-1877 - in Narym, where on October 11, 1875 his son, named Dmitry, was born, then in Irkutsk, he was the manager of the local branch of the Siberian Trade Bank. In 1892, at that time already an honorary citizen of Irkutsk, Boleslav Shostakovich received the right to live everywhere, but chose to remain in Siberia.

Dmitry Boleslavovich Shostakovich(1875-1922) in the mid-90s went to St. Petersburg and entered the natural department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of St. Petersburg University, after which, in 1900, he was hired by the Chamber of Weights and Measures, shortly before created by D. I. Mendeleev. In 1902, he was appointed senior trustee of the Chamber, and in 1906, head of the City test tent. Participation in the revolutionary movement in the Shostakovich family by the beginning of the 20th century had already become a tradition, and Dmitry was no exception: according to family records, on January 9, 1905, he participated in a procession to the Winter Palace, and later proclamations were printed in his apartment.

Dmitry's grandfather Dmitrievich Shostakovich on the maternal side, Vasily Kokoulin (1850-1911), was born, like Dmitry Boleslavovich, in Siberia; after graduating from the city school in Kirensk, at the end of the 60s he moved to Bodaibo, where the “gold rush” attracted many in those years, and in 1889 became the manager of a mine office. The official press noted that he "found time to delve into the needs of employees and workers and satisfy their needs": he introduced insurance and medical care for workers, established trade in cheap goods for them, and built warm barracks. His wife, Alexandra Petrovna Kokoulina, opened a school for the children of workers; there is no information about her education, but it is known that in Bodaibo she organized an amateur orchestra, widely known in Siberia.

The love of music was inherited from her mother by the youngest daughter of the Kokoulins, Sofya Vasilievna (1878-1955): she studied piano under the guidance of her mother and at the Irkutsk Institute for Noble Maidens, and after graduating from it, following her older brother Yakov, she went to the capital and was accepted into the St. Conservatory, where she studied first with S. A. Malozemova, and then with A. A. Rozanova. Yakov Kokoulin studied at the natural department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of St. Petersburg University, where he met his countryman Dmitri Shostakovich; brought together by their love of music. As an excellent singer, Yakov introduced Dmitry Boleslavovich to his sister Sofya, and in February 1903 their wedding took place. In October of the same year, a daughter, Maria, was born to the young spouses, in September 1906, a son named Dmitry, and three years later - the youngest daughter, Zoya.

Childhood and youth

Dmitry Dmitrievich Shostakovich was born in house number 2 on Podolskaya street, where D. I. Mendeleev in 1906 rented the first floor for the City verification tent [K 1].

In 1915 Shostakovich entered the Commercial Gymnasium of Maria Shidlovskaya, and his first serious musical impressions date back to the same time: after attending a performance of N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan, the young Shostakovich expressed his desire to take music seriously. His first piano lessons were given by his mother, and after several months of lessons Shostakovich I was able to start studying at a private music school of the then-famous piano teacher I. A. Glyasser.

Learning from Glasser Shostakovich achieved some success in piano performance, but he did not share his student's interest in composition, and in 1918 Shostakovich left his school. In the summer of the following year, A. K. Glazunov listened to the young musician, who spoke approvingly of his composing talent. In the autumn of the same year, Shostakovich entered the Petrograd Conservatory, where he studied harmony and orchestration under M. O. Steinberg, counterpoint and fugue under N. A. Sokolov, while also conducting. At the end of 1919 Shostakovich wrote his first major orchestral work, the fis-moll Scherzo.

Next year Shostakovich entered the piano class of L. V. Nikolaev, where among his classmates were Maria Yudina and Vladimir Sofronitsky. During this period, the "Anna Vogt Circle" was formed, focusing on the latest trends in Western music of that time. An active participant in this circle is and Shostakovich, he meets composers B. V. Asafiev and V. V. Shcherbachev, conductor N. A. Malko. Shostakovich writes "Two Fables of Krylov" for mezzo-soprano and piano and "Three Fantastic Dances" for piano.

At the conservatory he studied diligently and with special zeal, despite the difficulties of that time: World War I, revolution, civil war, devastation, famine. There was no heating in the conservatory in winter, transport was poor, and many people gave up music and skipped classes. Shostakovich, on the other hand, "nibbled on the granite of science." Almost every evening he could be seen at the concerts of the Petrograd Philharmonic, which reopened in 1921.

A hard life with a half-starved existence (the conservative ration was very small) led to severe exhaustion. In 1922, Shostakovich's father died, the family was left without a livelihood. And after a few months Shostakovich underwent a major operation that nearly cost him his life. Despite his failing health, he is looking for work and gets a job as a pianist-tapper in a cinema. Great help and support during these years is provided by Glazunov, who managed to procure Shostakovich extra rations and a personal stipend..

1920s

In 1923 Shostakovich graduated from the conservatory in piano (with L. V. Nikolaev), and in 1925 - in composition (with M. O. Steinberg). His graduation work was the First Symphony. While studying at the graduate school of the conservatory, he taught the reading of scores at the M. P. Mussorgsky Music College. According to a tradition dating back to Rubinstein, Rachmaninov and Prokofiev, Shostakovich planned to pursue a career both as a concert pianist and as a composer. In 1927, at the First International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, where Shostakovich also performed a sonata of his own composition, he received an honorary diploma. Fortunately, the famous German conductor Bruno Walter noticed the unusual talent of the musician even earlier, during his tour in the USSR; having heard the First Symphony, Walter immediately asked Shostakovich to send the score to him in Berlin; The foreign premiere of the symphony took place on November 22, 1927 in Berlin. Following Bruno Walter, the Symphony was performed in Germany by Otto Klemperer, in the USA by Leopold Stokowski (American premiere November 2, 1928 in Philadelphia) and Arturo Toscanini, thus making the Russian composer famous.

In 1927, two more significant events took place in the life of Shostakovich. In January the Austrian composer of the Novovensk school Alban Berg visited Leningrad. Berg's arrival was due to the Russian premiere of his opera Wozzeck, which became a huge event in the cultural life of the country, and also inspired Shostakovich to start writing the opera "The Nose", based on the novel by N.V. Gogol. Another important event was the acquaintance of Shostakovich with I. I. Sollertinsky, who, during his many years of friendship with the composer, enriched Shostakovich acquaintance with the work of great composers of the past and present.

At the same time, in the late 1920s and early 1930s, the following two symphonies by Shostakovich were written - both with the participation of the choir: the Second ("Symphonic dedication to October", to the words of A. I. Bezymensky) and the Third ("May Day" , to the words of S. I. Kirsanov).

In 1928 Shostakovich met V. E. Meyerhold in Leningrad and, at his invitation, worked for some time as a pianist and head of the musical department of the V. E. Meyerhold Theater in Moscow. In 1930-1933 he worked as the head of the musical department of the Leningrad TRAM (now the Baltic House Theatre).

1930s

His opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District based on the story by N. S. Leskov (written in 1930-1932, staged in Leningrad in 1934), initially received with enthusiasm and having already existed on the stage for a season and a half, was devastated in the Soviet press (the article “Muddle instead of music" in the newspaper "Pravda" dated January 28, 1936).

In the same year, 1936, the premiere of the 4th Symphony was to take place - a work of much more monumental scope than all previous symphonies. Shostakovich, which combines tragic pathos with the grotesque, lyrical and intimate episodes, and, perhaps, should have begun a new, mature period in the composer's work. Shostakovich suspended rehearsals of the Symphony before the December premiere. The 4th Symphony was first performed only in 1961.

In May 1937 Shostakovich released the 5th Symphony - a work whose through and through dramatic character, unlike the previous three "avant-garde" symphonies, is outwardly "hidden" in the generally accepted symphonic form (4 parts: with sonata form of the first movement, scherzo, adagio and finale with outwardly triumphant end) and other "classic" elements. Stalin commented on the release of the 5th Symphony on the pages of Pravda with the phrase: "The businesslike creative response of a Soviet artist to fair criticism." After the premiere of the work, a laudatory article was published in Pravda.

Since 1937 Shostakovich taught a composition class at the Leningrad State Conservatory named after N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov. In 1939 he became a professor.

1940s

Being in the first months of the Great Patriotic War in Leningrad (up to the evacuation to Kuibyshev in October), Shostakovich begins to work on the 7th symphony - "Leningrad". The symphony was first performed on the stage of the Kuibyshev Opera and Ballet Theater on March 5, 1942, and on March 29, 1942 - in the Column Hall of the Moscow House of Unions. On August 9, 1942, the work was performed in besieged Leningrad. Carl Eliasberg, the conductor of the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra of the Leningrad Radio Committee, was the organizer and conductor. The performance of the symphony became an important event in the life of the fighting city and its inhabitants.

In a year Shostakovich writes the 8th Symphony (dedicated to Evgeny Alexandrovich Mravinsky) in which, as if following Mahler’s precept that “the whole world should be displayed in a symphony”, he draws a monumental fresco of what is happening around.

In 1943, the composer moved to Moscow and until 1948 taught composition and instrumentation at the Moscow Conservatory (professor since 1943). V. D. Bibergan, R. S. Bunin, A. D. Gadzhiev, G. G. Galynin, O. A. Evlakhov, K. A. Karaev, G. V. Sviridov (at the Leningrad Conservatory), B. I. Tishchenko, A. Mnatsakanyan (post-graduate student at the Leningrad Conservatory), K. S. Khachaturian, B. A. Tchaikovsky, A. G. Chugaev.

To express your innermost ideas, thoughts and feelings Shostakovich uses genres of chamber music. In this area he created such masterpieces as Piano Quintet (1940), Piano Trio (1944), String Quartets No. 2 (1944), No. 3 (1946) and No. 4 (1949).

In 1945, after the end of the war, Shostakovich writes the 9th Symphony.

In 1948, he was accused of "formalism", "bourgeois decadence" and "groveling before the West." Shostakovich was accused of incompetence, deprived of the title of professor at the Moscow and Leningrad conservatories and expelled from them. The main accuser was the secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, A. A. Zhdanov. In 1948, he created the vocal cycle "From Jewish Folk Poetry", but left it on the table (at that time a campaign was launched in the country to "fight against cosmopolitanism"). Written in 1948, the First Violin Concerto was also not published then, and its first performance took place only in 1955. Only 13 years later, Shostakovich returned to teaching at the Leningrad Conservatory, where he supervised several graduate students, including V. Bibergan, G. Belov, V. Nagovitsyn, B. Tishchenko, V. Uspensky (1961-1968).

In 1949, Shostakovich wrote the cantata "The Song of the Forests" - an example of the pathetic "grand style" of the official art of those times (to the verses of E. A. Dolmatovsky, which tells about the triumphant post-war restoration of the Soviet Union). The premiere of the cantata is an unprecedented success and brings Shostakovich Stalin Prize.

1950s

The fifties began for Shostakovich very important work. Participating as a member of the jury at the Bach Competition in Leipzig in the autumn of 1950, the composer was so inspired by the atmosphere of the city and the music of its great inhabitant - J.S. Bach - that upon arrival in Moscow he began to compose 24 Preludes and Fugues for piano.

In 1954 he wrote the "Festive Overture" for the opening of the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition and received the title of People's Artist of the USSR.

Many works of the second half of the decade are imbued with optimism and Shostakovich previously joyful playfulness. Such are the 6th String Quartet (1956), the Second Piano Concerto (1957), the operetta Moscow, Cheryomushki. In the same year, the composer creates the 11th Symphony, calling it "1905", continues to work in the instrumental concerto genre: the First Concerto for Cello and Orchestra (1959).

During these years, the rapprochement begins Shostakovich with official authorities. In 1957, he became secretary of the USSR IC, in 1960 - RSFSR IC (in 1960-1968 - first secretary). In the same 1960, Shostakovich joined the CPSU.

1960s

In 1961 Shostakovich performs the second part of his "revolutionary" symphonic dilogy: in conjunction with the Eleventh Symphony "1905" he writes Symphony No. canvas, the composer draws musical pictures of Petrograd, V. I. Lenin's refuge on Lake Razliv and the October events themselves. He sets himself a completely different task a year later, when he turns to the poetry of E. A. Yevtushenko - first writing the poem "Babi Yar" (for bass soloist, bass choir and orchestra), and then adding four more parts to it from modern life Russia and its recent history, thus creating a "cantata" symphony, the Thirteenth - which was performed in November 1962.

After the removal of N. S. Khrushchev from power, with the beginning of the era of political stagnation in the USSR, the tone of Shostakovich's works again acquires a gloomy character. His quartets No. 11 (1966) and No. 12 (1968), Second Cello (1966) and Second Violin (1967) Concertos, Violin Sonata (1968), a vocal cycle to the words of A. A. Blok, are imbued with anxiety, pain and inescapable longing . In the Fourteenth Symphony (1969) - again "vocal", but this time chamber, for two soloists and an orchestra consisting of only strings and percussion - Shostakovich uses poems by G. Apollinaire, R. M. Rilke, V. K. Kuchelbecker and F. Garcia Lorca, who are connected by one theme - death (they tell about unjust, early or violent death).

1970s

During these years, the composer created vocal cycles on the verses of M. I. Tsvetaeva and Michelangelo, the 13th (1969-1970), 14th (1973) and 15th (1974) string quartets and Symphony No. 15, a composition that differs in mood thoughtfulness, nostalgia, memories. In the music of the symphony, Shostakovich uses quotations from G. Rossini's overture to the opera "Wilhelm Tell" and the theme of fate from R. Wagner's opera tetralogy "The Ring of the Nibelung", as well as musical allusions to the music of M. I. Glinka, G. Mahler and his own. The symphony was created in the summer of 1971 and premiered on January 8, 1972. The last essay Shostakovich was the Sonata for Viola and Piano.

In the last few years of his life, the composer was very ill, suffering from lung cancer. Dmitry Shostakovich died in Moscow on August 9, 1975 and was buried, contrary to his will, at the Novodevichy cemetery in the capital (plot No. 2).

Wife - Shostakovich Nina Vasilievna (nee Varzar) (1909-1954)

Son - Maxim Dmitrievich Shostakovich(b. 1938) - conductor, pianist. A student of A. V. Gauk and G. N. Rozhdestvensky.

The meaning of creativity

Shostakovich one of the most performed composers in the world. The high level of composing technique, the ability to create bright and expressive melodies and themes, mastery of polyphony and the finest mastery of the art of orchestration, combined with personal emotionality and colossal efficiency, made his musical works bright, original and of great artistic value. Contribution Shostakovich in the development of music of the XX century is generally recognized as outstanding, he had a significant impact on many contemporaries and followers. Open about the influence of musical language and personality on them Shostakovich such composers as Penderetsky, Tishchenko, Slonimsky, Schnittke, Kancheli, Bernstein, Salonen, as well as many other musicians [source not specified 790 days] declared.

Genre and aesthetic diversity of music Shostakovich huge, it combines elements of tonal, atonal and modal music, modernism, traditionalism, expressionism and "great style" are intertwined in the composer's work.

Music

In the early years Shostakovich was influenced by the music of G. Mahler, A. Berg, I. F. Stravinsky, S. S. Prokofiev, P. Hindemith, M. P. Mussorgsky. Constantly studying classical and avant-garde traditions, Shostakovich developed his own musical language, emotionally filled and touching the hearts of musicians and music lovers around the world.

The most notable genres in Shostakovich's work are symphonies and string quartets - in each of them he wrote 15 works. While the symphonies were written throughout the composer's career, most of the quartets were written by Shostakovich towards the end of his life. Among the most popular symphonies are the Fifth and Tenth, among the quartets - the Eighth and Fifteenth.

In creativity D. D. Shostakovich the influence of his favorite and revered composers is noticeable: J. S. Bach (in his fugues and passacals), L. Beethoven (in his late quartets), P. I. Tchaikovsky, G. Mahler and partly S. V. Rachmaninov (in his symphonies), A. Berg (partly - along with M. P. Mussorgsky in his operas, as well as in using the technique of musical quotation). Of the Russian composers, Shostakovich had the greatest love for M. P. Mussorgsky, for his operas "Boris Godunov" and "Khovanshchina" Shostakovich made new orchestrations. Mussorgsky's influence is especially noticeable in certain scenes of the opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, in the Eleventh Symphony, as well as in satirical works.

Major works

15 symphonies
Operas: The Nose, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (Katerina Izmailova), The Players (finished by K. Meyer)
Ballets: The Golden Age (1930), The Bolt (1931) and The Bright Stream (1935)
15 string quartets
Cycle "Twenty-Four Preludes and Fugues", Op. 87 (1950-1951)
Festive overture to the opening of the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition for the night light and music program of the fountains (1954)
Quintet
Oratorio "Song of the Forests"
Cantatas "The Sun Shines Over Our Motherland" and "The Execution of Stepan Razin"
Anti-formalist district
Concertos and sonatas for various instruments
Romances and songs for voice, piano and symphony orchestra
Operetta "Moscow, Cheryomushki"
Music for films: "Ordinary People" (1945), "Young Guard" (1948), "The Capture of Berlin" (1949), "The Gadfly" (1955), "Hamlet" (1964), "Cheryomushki", "King Lear" (1971).

Awards and prizes

Hero of Socialist Labor (1966)
Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1942)
People's Artist of the RSFSR (1947)
People's Artist of the USSR (1954)
Stalin Prize of the first degree (1941) - for the piano quintet
Stalin Prize of the first degree (1942) - for the 7th (“Leningrad”) symphony
Stalin Prize of the second degree (1946) - for the trio
Stalin Prize of the first degree (1950) - for the oratorio "Song of the Forests" and music for the film "The Fall of Berlin" (1949)
Stalin Prize of the second degree (1952) - for ten unaccompanied poems for choir on poems by revolutionary poets (1951)
Lenin Prize (1958) - for the 11th symphony "1905"
USSR State Prize (1968) - for the poem "The Execution of Stepan Razin" for bass, choir and orchestra
State Prize of the RSFSR named after M. I. Glinka (1974) - for the 14th string quartet and the choral cycle "Fidelity"
State Prize of the Ukrainian SSR named after T. G. Shevchenko (1976 - posthumously) - for the opera "Katerina Izmailova", staged at the KUGATOB named after T. G. Shevchenko
International Peace Prize (1954)
Prize to them. J. Sibelius (1958)
Leonie Sonning Award (1973)
Three Orders of Lenin (1946, 1956, 1966)
Order of the October Revolution (1971)
Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1940)
Order of Friendship of Peoples (1972)
Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters (France, 1958)
Silver Commander's Cross of the Order of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria (1967)
Medals
Honorary Diploma at the I International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw (1927).
Prize of the 1st All-Union Film Festival for the best music for the film "Hamlet" (Leningrad, 1964).
Membership in organizations[edit | edit wiki text]
Member of the CPSU since 1960
Doctor of Arts (1965)
Member of the Soviet Peace Committee (since 1949), Slavic Committee of the USSR (since 1942), World Peace Committee (since 1968)
Honorary Member of the American Institute of Arts and Letters (1943), Royal Swedish Academy of Music (1954), Italian Academy of Arts "Santa Cecilia" (1956), Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (1965)
Honorary Doctor of Music from the University of Oxford (1958)
Honorary Doctorate from Northwestern University in Evanston (USA, 1973)
Member of the French Academy of Fine Arts (1975)
Corresponding member of the Academy of Arts of the GDR (1956), the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts (1968), member of the Royal Academy of Music of England (1958).
Honorary Professor of the Mexican Conservatory.
President of the "USSR-Austria" society (1958)
Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 6th-9th convocations.
Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR of the 2nd-5th convocations.

Shostakovich Dmitry Dmitrievich - an outstanding Russian composer, musical and public figure; talented teacher, professor and people's artist. In 1954 he was awarded the International Peace Prize. Born September 25, 1906 in St. Petersburg in the family of a chemical engineer, who was also a passionate connoisseur of music. Dmitry's mother was a talented pianist and music teacher, and one of his sisters later also became a pianist. The first piece of music by little Mitya was connected with the military theme and was called "Soldier".

In 1915, the boy was sent to a commercial gymnasium. In parallel, he studied music, first under the supervision of his mother, then at the Petrograd Conservatory. There, such eminent musicians as Steinberg, Rozanova, Sokolov, Nikolaev became his teachers. The first truly worthwhile work was his graduation work - Symphony No. 1. In 1926, a period of bold stylistic experiments was outlined in his work. Somehow he anticipated musical discoveries and innovations in the field of micropolyphony, sonorics, pointillism.

The pinnacle of his early work was the opera The Nose, based on Gogol's story of the same name, which he wrote in 1928 and presented on stage two years later. By that time in Berlin, the musical beau monde was already familiar with his 1st symphony. Encouraged by the success, he wrote both the 2nd and 3rd, and then the 4th symphonies, as well as the opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. At first, criticism fell on the composer, which, however, subsided with the advent of the 5th symphony. During the Second World War, he was in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) and worked on a new symphony, which was performed first in Kuibyshev (now Samara), and then in Moscow.

Since 1937, he taught at the Leningrad Conservatory, but was forced to move to Kuibyshev, where he was evacuated. During the 1940s. he received several Stalin Prizes and honorary titles. The personal life of the composer was difficult. His muse was the same age as Tanya Glivenko, with whom he was passionately in love. However, without waiting for decisive action on his part, the girl married another. Over the years, Shostakovich also married another. Nina Varzar lived with him for 20 years and gave birth to two children: a son and a daughter. But he dedicated his main lyrical musical compositions to Tanya Glivenko.

Shostakovich died at the age of 68 on August 9, 1975 after a long lung disease. He was buried in Moscow, not the Novodevichy cemetery. In the hearts of fans, he remained an Honored Art Worker and a talented artist.

Dmitri Dmitrievich Shostakovich is one of the most famous Russian composers of the 20th century. Shostakovich's work is known all over the world, moreover, it is very popular.

The composer was born in early September 1906 in the capital of the Russian Empire - St. Petersburg. His mother was a pianist and his father a chemist. From an early age, my mother was able to instill in her son a love of music, and he enjoyed playing the piano with pleasure.

In the future, Dmitry studied at a private music school. As a 13-year-old boy, he fell in love with a girl for whom the young composer wrote a short piece of music. Over time, feelings for first love disappeared, but the desire to compose music remained.

In 1919, Dmitry Dmitrievich became a student of the Petrograd Conservatory. Four years later he completed his studies as a pianist. There were still two years left before graduating from the conservatory in the composer's class. Time flew by quickly. In 1925 he became a certified composer. His graduation work was the First Symphony. In his First Symphony, Shostakovich continued the glorious traditions of the Russian school of composers.

School is over, new life ahead. He travels around the country and Europe, giving piano concerts. Between concerts, Dmitry Dmitrievich writes music. There is a "fermentation" in the soul of the Russian composer, the author is suffering, and does not know what to do next. Write music or perform as a concert pianist?

As a result, he writes several famous musical works in the future. "Second Symphony", "First Piano Sonata", "Pervomaiskaya" symphony, operas "The Nose" and "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District" - all these famous works are authored by Shostakovich.

In early 1936, his work came under a wave of criticism. Stalin does not like the composer's operas, he gives them a scolding and writes an angry article. Later, criticism also fell on Shostakovich's ballet. In the USSR, his early work is now banned. Despite all the difficulties and criticism unjustified by anything but an indistinct ideology, Dmitry Dmitrievich continues to create. He writes several symphonies and various other pieces of music.

In 1948, a new wave of criticism falls upon him. The composer's work is called alien to the Soviet people. Criticism befell not only his works, but also Prokofiev. The position of Dmitri Shostakovich was very difficult. In the future, the author writes music for several Soviet films with a patriotic content. New works slightly cooled the ardent attacks of critics.

The great Russian composer died in 1975, in early August. His work is very popular in the West. Many music lovers call him the Greatest Composer of the 20th century. In Russia, the name of Dmitry Shostakovich is not so popular. Dmitry Dmitrievich, with his creative activity, made a huge contribution to the development of Russian music.

The creative path of Dmitry Dmitrievich Shostakovich (1906-1975) is inextricably linked with the history of the entire Soviet artistic culture and was actively reflected in the press (many articles, books, essays, etc. were published about the composer during his lifetime). On the pages of the press, he was called a genius (the composer was then only 17 years old):

“In the game of Shostakovich ... the joyfully calm confidence of a genius. My words refer not only to the exceptional playing of Shostakovich, but also to his compositions” (V. Walter, critic).

Shostakovich is one of the most original, original and bright artists. His entire creative biography is the path of a true innovator who made a number of discoveries in the field of both figurative and genres and forms, modal-intonation. At the same time, his work organically absorbed the best traditions of musical art. A huge role for him was played by creativity, the principles of which (opera and chamber-vocal) the composer brought to the sphere of symphony.

In addition, Dmitry Dmitrievich continued the line of Beethoven's heroic symphonism, lyric-dramatic symphonism. The life-affirming idea of his work goes back to Shakespeare, Goethe, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky. By artistic nature

“Shostakovich is a “man of the theater”, he knew and loved him” (L. Danilevich).

At the same time, his life as a composer and as a person is connected with the tragic pages of Soviet history.

Ballets and operas by D. D. Shostakovich

The first ballets - "Golden Age", "Bolt", "Bright Stream"

The collective hero of the work is a football team (which is no coincidence, since the composer was fond of sports, professionally versed in the intricacies of the game, which gave him the opportunity to write reports on football matches, was an active fan, graduated from the school of football referees). Next comes the ballet "Bolt" on the theme of industrialization. The libretto was written by a former cavalryman and in itself, from a modern point of view, was almost parodic. The ballet was created by the composer in the spirit of constructivism. Contemporaries recalled the premiere in different ways: some say that the proletarian audience did not understand anything and booed the author, others recall that the ballet was greeted with applause. The music of the ballet The Bright Stream (premiere - 01/04/35), which takes place on a collective farm, is saturated not only with lyrical, but also with comic intonations, which also could not but affect the fate of the composer.

Shostakovich composed a lot in his early years, but some of the works turned out to be destroyed by him personally, such as, for example, the first opera "Gypsies" after Pushkin.

Opera "The Nose" (1927-1928)

It caused fierce controversy, as a result of which it was removed from the repertoire of theaters for a long time, and later it was resurrected again. In Shostakovich's own words, he:

“... Least of all guided by the fact that the opera is primarily a piece of music. In "The Nose" the elements of action and music are equalized. Neither one nor the other occupies a predominant place.

In an effort to synthesize music and theatrical performance, the composer organically combined his own creative individuality and various artistic trends in the work (Love for Three Oranges, Berg's Wozzeck, Krenek's Jump Over the Shadow). The theatrical aesthetics of realism had a huge influence on the composer. On the whole, The Nose lays the foundations, on the one hand, of the realistic method, on the other, of the “Gogolian” direction in Soviet operatic dramaturgy.

Opera Katerina Izmailova (Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District)

It was marked by a sharp transition from humor (in the ballet Bolt) to tragedy, although the tragic elements were already visible in The Nose, making up its subtext.

This - “... the embodiment of the tragic feeling of the terrible nonsense of the world depicted by the composer, in which everything human is trampled, and people are pitiful puppets; His Excellency the Nose rises above them” (L. Danilevich).

In such contrasts, the researcher L. Danilevich sees their exceptional role in the creative activity of Shostakovich, and more broadly - in the art of the century.

The opera "Katerina Izmailova" is dedicated to the composer's wife N. Varzar. The original idea was large-scale - a trilogy depicting the fate of a woman in different eras. "Katerina Izmailova" would be the first part of it, depicting the spontaneous protest of the heroine against the "dark kingdom", pushing her onto the path of crime. The heroine of the next part should have been a revolutionary, and in the third part the composer wanted to show the fate of a Soviet woman. This plan was not destined to come true.

From the assessments of the opera by contemporaries, the words of I. Sollertinsky are indicative:

“It can be said with full responsibility that in the history of Russian musical theater after The Queen of Spades there has not appeared a work of such magnitude and depth as Lady Macbeth.

The composer himself called the opera a "tragedy-satire", thus uniting the two most important aspects of his work.

However, on January 28, 1936, the Pravda newspaper published an article entitled “Muddle Instead of Music” about the opera (which had already received high praise and recognition from the public), in which Shostakovich was accused of formalism. The article turned out to be the result of a misunderstanding of the complex aesthetic issues raised by the opera, but as a result, the name of the composer was sharply indicated in a negative way.

During this difficult period, the support of many colleagues turned out to be invaluable for him, and who publicly stated that he welcomed Shostakovich with Pushkin's words about Baratynsky:

"He is original with us - because he thinks."

(Although Meyerhold's support could hardly have been support in those years. Rather, it created a danger to the life and work of the composer.)

To top it all off, on February 6, the same newspaper publishes an article called "Ballet Falsity", which actually crosses out the ballet "Bright Stream".

Because of these articles, which dealt a severe blow to the composer, his activities as an opera and ballet composer came to an end, despite the fact that they constantly tried to interest him in various projects for many years.

Symphonies by Shostakovich

In symphonic works (the composer wrote 15 symphonies), Shostakovich often uses the method of figurative transformation based on a deep rethinking of musical thematics, which, as a result, acquires a plurality of meanings.

ABOUT First Symphony An American music magazine wrote in 1939:

This symphony (thesis work) completed the period of apprenticeship in the composer's creative biography.

Second symphony- this is a reflection of the contemporary life of the composer: it has the name "October", ordered for the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution by the propaganda department of the Musical Sector of the State Publishing House. It marked the beginning of the search for new ways.

Third Symphony marked by democratic, songlike musical language in comparison with the Second.

The principle of montage dramaturgy, theatricality, and the visibility of images begin to be clearly traced.

Fourth symphony- a symphony-tragedy, marking a new stage in the development of Shostakovich's symphony.

Like "Katerina Izmailova", she was temporarily forgotten. The composer canceled the premiere (it was supposed to take place in 1936), believing that it would be "out of time". Only in 1962 the work was performed and enthusiastically received, despite the complexity, sharpness of the content and musical language. G. Khubov (critic) said:

"In the music of the Fourth Symphony, life itself seethes and bubbles."

Fifth Symphony often compared with the Shakespearean type of dramaturgy, in particular, with "Hamlet".

"should be permeated with a positive idea, like, for example, the life-affirming pathos of Shakespeare's tragedies."

So, about his Fifth Symphony, he said:

“The theme of my symphony is the formation of personality. It was the man with all his experiences that I saw at the center of the concept of this work.

Truly iconic Seventh Symphony ("Leningrad"), written in besieged Leningrad under the direct impression of the terrible events of World War II.

According to Koussevitzky, his music

“Immense and humane and can be compared with the universality of the humanity of the genius of Beethoven, born, like Shostakovich, in an era of world upheavals…”.

The premiere of the Seventh Symphony took place in besieged Leningrad on 08/09/42 with the broadcast of the concert on the radio. Maxim Shostakovich, the composer's son, believed that this work reflected not only the anti-humanism of the fascist invasion, but also the anti-humanism of the Stalinist terror in the USSR.

Eighth Symphony(premiered on 04.11.1943) is the first culmination of the tragic line of the composer's work (the second climax is the Fourteenth Symphony), the music of which caused controversy with attempts to belittle its significance, but it is recognized as one of the outstanding works of the 20th century.

In the Ninth Symphony(completed in 1945) the composer (there is such an opinion) responded to the end of the war.

In an effort to get rid of the experience, he attempted to appeal to serene and joyful emotions. However, in the light of the past, this was no longer possible - the main ideological line is inevitably set off by dramatic elements.

Tenth Symphony continued the line laid down in Symphony No. 4.

After it, Shostakovich turns to a different type of symphonism, embodying the people's revolutionary epic. So, a dilogy appears - symphonies Nos. 11 and 12, bearing the names "1905" (symphony No. 11, dedicated to the 40th anniversary of October) and "1917" (symphony No. 12).

Symphonies Thirteenth and Fourteenth also marked by special genre features (features of the oratorio, the influence of the opera house).

These are multi-part vocal-symphonic cycles, where the inclination towards the synthesis of vocal and symphonic genres was fully manifested.

The symphonic work of the composer Shostakovich is multifaceted. On the one hand, these are works written under the influence of fear of what is happening in the country, some of them were written by order, some to protect themselves. On the other hand, these are truthful and deep reflections on life and death, personal statements of the composer, who could only speak fluently in the language of music. Takova Fourteenth Symphony. This is a vocal-instrumental work, in which the verses of F. Lorca, G. Apollinaire, V. Kuchelbecker, R. Rilke are used. The main theme of the symphony is a reflection on death and man. And although Dmitry Dmitrievich himself said at the premiere that this is music and lives, the musical material itself speaks of the tragic path of a person, of death. Truly, the composer rose here to the height of philosophical reflections.

Piano works by Shostakovich

The new stylistic trend in piano music of the 20th century, denying in many respects the traditions of romanticism and impressionism, cultivated graphic (sometimes deliberate dryness) presentation, sometimes emphasized sharpness and sonority; rhythm was of particular importance. An important role in its formation belongs to Prokofiev, and much is characteristic of Shostakovich. For example, he widely uses different registers, compares contrasting sonorities.

Already in children's work, he tried to respond to historical events (the piano piece "Soldier", "Hymn to Freedom", "Funeral March in Memory of the Victims of the Revolution").

N. Fedin notes, recalling the conservatory years of the young composer:

"His music talked, chatted, sometimes quite mischievously."

The composer destroyed part of his early works and, with the exception of Fantastic Dances, did not publish any of the works written before the First Symphony. "Fantastic Dances" (1926) quickly gained popularity and firmly entered the musical and pedagogical repertoire.

The cycle of "Preludes" is marked by the search for new techniques and ways. The musical language here is devoid of pretentiousness, deliberate complexity. Separate features of the individual composer's style are closely intertwined with typical Russian melos.

Piano Sonata No. 1 (1926) was originally called "October", is a daring challenge to conventions and academicism. The work clearly shows the influence of Prokofiev's piano style.

The nature of the cycle of piano pieces "Aphorisms" (1927), consisting of 10 pieces, on the contrary, is marked by intimacy, graphic presentation.

In the First Sonata and in the Aphorisms, Kabalevsky sees "an escape from outward prettiness."

In the 1930s (after the opera Katerina Izmailova) 24 piano preludes (1932-1933) and the First Piano Concerto (1933) appeared; in these works those features of Shostakovich's individual piano style are formed, which are later clearly indicated in the Second Sonata and the piano parts of the Quintet and Trio.

In 1950-51, the cycle "24 Preludes and Fugues" op. 87, referring in its structure to Bach's CTC. In addition, none of the Russian composers created such cycles before Shostakovich.

The second piano sonata (op. 61, 1942) was written under the influence of the death of L. Nikolaev (pianist, composer, teacher) and is dedicated to his memory; at the same time it reflected the events of the war. Intimacy marked not only the genre, but also the dramaturgy of the work.

“Perhaps nowhere else was Shostakovich so ascetic in the field of piano texture as here” (L. Danilevich).

Chamber art

The composer created 15 quartets. To work on the First Quartet (op. 40, 1938), by his own admission, he began "without any special thoughts and feelings."

However, Shostakovich's work not only captivated, but grew into the idea of creating a cycle of 24 quartets, one for each key. However, life decreed that this plan was not destined to materialize.

The milestone composition that completed his pre-war line of creativity was the Quintet for two violins, viola, cello and piano (1940).

This is “a realm of calm reflections fanned by lyrical poetry. Here is a world of lofty thoughts, restrained, chastely clear feelings, combined with festive fun and pastoral images” (L. Danilevich).

Later, the composer could not find such peace in his work.

Thus, the Trio in memory of Sollertinsky embodies both the memories of a departed friend and the thoughts of all those who died in a terrible wartime.

Cantata-oratorio works

Shostakovich created a new type of oratorio, the features of which are the widespread use of song and other genres and forms, as well as publicism and posterity.

These features were embodied in the sunny-light oratorio “Song of the Forests”, created “hot on the heels of the events associated with the activation of “green construction” - the creation of forest protection belts. Its content is revealed in 7 parts

(“When the war ended”, “We will dress the Motherland in forests”, “Remembrance of the past”, “Pioneers plant forests”, “Stalingraders come forward”, “Future walk”, “Glory”).

Close to the style of the oratorio cantata “The Sun Shines Over Our Homeland” (1952) on the op. Dolmatovsky.

Both in the oratorio and in the cantata, there is a tendency towards the synthesis of the song-choral and symphonic lines of the composer's work.

Around the same period, a cycle of 10 poems for mixed choir without accompaniment to the words of revolutionary poets of the turn of the century (1951) appears, which is an outstanding example of a revolutionary epic. The cycle is the first work in the composer's work where there is no instrumental music. Some critics believe that the works created to the words of Dolmatovsky, mediocre, but who occupied a large place in the Soviet nomenclature, helped the composer to engage in creativity. So, one of the cycles on the words of Dolmatovsky was created immediately after the 14th symphony, as if in opposition to it.

Film music

Film music plays a huge role in the work of Shostakovich. He is one of the pioneers of this kind of musical art, which realized his eternal desire for everything new, unknown. At that time, cinema was still silent, and film music was seen as an experiment.

Creating music for films, Dmitry Dmitrievich strove not for the illustration of the visual range itself, but for the emotional and psychological impact, when the music reveals the deep psychological subtext of what is happening on the screen. In addition, work in the cinema prompted the composer to turn to layers of national folk art previously unknown to him. Music for films helped the composer when his main works did not sound. Just as translations helped Pasternak, Akhmatova, Mandelstam.

Some of the films with music by Shostakovich (these were different films):

"Youth of Maxim", "Young Guard", "Gadfly", "Hamlet", "King Lear", etc.

The composer's musical language often did not correspond to the established norms, and in many respects reflected his personal qualities: he appreciated humor, a sharp word, he himself was witty.

“Seriousness in him was combined with liveliness of character” (Tyulin).

However, it should be noted that the musical language of Dmitry Dmitrievich became more and more gloomy over time. And if we talk about humor, then with full confidence we can call it sarcasm (vocal cycles on texts from the magazine "Crocodile", on the verses of Captain Lebyadkin, the hero of Dostoevsky's novel "Demons")

Composer, pianist, Shostakovich was also a teacher (professor of the Leningrad Conservatory), who brought up a number of outstanding composers, including G. Sviridov, K. Karaev, M. Weinberg, B. Tishchenko, G. Ustvolskaya and others.

For him, the breadth of outlook was of great importance, and he always felt and noted the difference between the externally spectacular and the deeply internal emotional side of music. The merits of the composer were highly appreciated: Shostakovich is among the first laureates of the State Prize of the USSR, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor (which at that time was achievable only for very few composers).

However, the very human and musical fate of the composer is an illustration of the tragedy of genius in.

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