Dmitry Shostakovich - Songwriters, Family and Facts

Dmitry Shostakovich’s Childhood And Early Life

Dmitry Shostakovich was the second of the three children born to Dmitry Boleslavovich Shostakovich and Sofiya Vasilievna Kokoulina. Shostakovich’s paternal grandfather belonged to the Polish Roman Catholic descent, although his immediate descents were from Siberia. Dmitry Boleslavovich, Dmitry Shostakovich’s father was an engineer and he went to the St. Petersburg University and graduated in the year 1899 from the department of physics and mathematics.

Dmitry Shostakovich proved his talents in piano and composing at an early age. He entered the Petrograd Conservatory at the age of 13 in 1919 and was mastered by Alexander Glazunov. Shostakovich had a good circle of friends, which included Leonid Nikolayev, Elena Rozanova, Maximilian Steinberg and Nikolay Sokolav. Shostakovich wrote ‘First Symphony’, which was written as a graduation piece when he was 19. Shostakovich did not have vigor towards politics and also failed in the exam of Marxist methodology in 1926, because of which he had to face certain problems.

Career

Shostakovich took up a job as a concert pianist and composer after graduating but failed to impress his audiences with his dry style of playing. He was awarded ‘honorable mention’ at the First International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition in 1927 at Warsaw. There were other appreciations that came in Shostakovich’s way like that of Leopold Stokowski who premiered his first recording in the US. Bruno Walter, the conductor, was also impressed by Shostakovich’s composition of ‘First Symphony’, which was conducted at Berlin in the same year. Shostakovich thus, focused more on composition and only performed his works. Later, in 1927, he worked on his ‘Second Symphony’ and side by side wrote his satirical opera ‘The Nose’ that was centered on the story by Gogol. However, the opera opened to poor reviews, received criticisms, and was referred to as ‘formalist’ by RAPM, which was the Stalinist musicians’ organization.

1920s – 1930s

During the early 1920s and 1930s he worked at TRAM, which was a proletarian youth theatre where he was shielded from ideological attack. Though he worked there for a short span, he engaged most of his time working on his opera, ‘Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District’, which was first performed in 1934. This work took him to a new stage of success officially and gained him popularity. This work was the upshot of general success of Socialist construction, of the correct policy of the Party and this opera stated a fact that, ’could have been written only by a Soviet composer brought up in the best tradition of Soviet culture’. On the other hand, the style of his work on ‘Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District’ displeased Stalin, because of which he was attacked in the Soviet press. With the fear of being imprisoned, he called off his ‘Fourth Symphony’, which was already rehearsed. His Fifth Symphony was subtitled as ‘A Soviet Artist’s Reply to Just Criticism’ in 1937. Later, in 1941, Shostakovich was inspired by the German invasion of Russia and composed ‘Seventh Symphony’, which was subtitled as ‘Leningrad’. This work was well received and appreciated worldwide and his picture appeared on the cover of Times Magazine. Hence, it was disheartening when this work finally fell into obscurity.

With the issue of an infamous decree in the year 1948 by the Central Committee of the Communist Party, Shostakovich career eclipsed. It accused Shostakovich, Prokofiev and many other renowned composers belonging to the ‘formalist perversions’. After that for a while, he indulged himself in works that glorified Soviet life or history. He was appointed the first secretary of the Soviet Composers Union in 1959.

Shostakovich published his ‘Second Cello Concerto’ in the year 1966, which was a work that was aimed to be at a level higher than that of his first, but it did not capture his audiences’ attention. In the same year, Shostakovich was diagnosed with a critical heart condition. In his later works, the focus was laid on the subject of death. Shostakovich’s Fourteenth Symphony was a composition that comprised of the collection of songs on texts by Appollinaire, Rilke, Lorca and Kuchelbecker.

Dmitry Shostakovich was considered as a strong supporter of communalism. This notion remained intact until the publication of ‘Solomon Volkov’s Testimony: The Memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich’ by Solomon Volkov, which was published after his death. Most of the views, which were expressed in Volkov’s book, were regarded as authentic and hence the subject of Shostakovich’s political beliefs continues to be questioned.

Major Works

Concerts

• Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor (1933)
• Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor (1947–1948) (originally published as Op. 99[1] )
• Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major (1957)
• Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major (1959)
• Cello Concerto No. 2 in G major (1966)
• Violin Concerto No. 2 in C-sharp minor (1967)

Symphonic Works

• Scherzo in F-sharp minor for orchestra (1919)
• Theme and Variations in B-flat major for orchestra (1921–1922)
• Scherzo in E-flat major for orchestra (1923–1924)
• Two Pieces for Erwin Dressel's Opera Armer Columbus for orchestra (1929)
• The Green Company, overture (1931)
• Five Fragments for small orchestra (1935)
• Solemn March for military band/wind orchestra (1942)
• Three Pieces for orchestra (1947–1948)
• Festive Overture in A major for orchestra (1954)
• Chamber Symphony in C minor (Arr. Rudolf Barshai)
• Novorossiisk Chimes, the Flame of Eternal Glory for orchestra (1960)
• Overture on Russian and Khirghiz Folk Themes for orchestra (1963)
• Funeral-Triumphal Prelude for orchestra (1967)
• October, symphonic poem in C minor for orchestra (1967)

Opera

• The Nose, opera in three acts after Gogol (1927–1928)
• Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, The Big Lightning, unfinished comic opera (1932)
• The Twelve Chairs, operetta (1937–1938)
• KatyushaMaslova, opera after Tolstoy's novel Resurrection (1940)
• Moscow, Cheryomushki, operetta in three acts (1958)
• KaterinaIsmailova, opera in four acts after Leskov (1956–1963); a revision of Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District 
• Orango (1932), a newly found opera

Awards And Recognition

• Hero of Socialist Labor (1966)
• Order of Lenin ribbon bar (1946, 1956, 1966)
• Order of the October Revolution (1971)
• Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1940)
• Order of Friendship of Peoples (1972)
• People's Artist of the USSR (1954)
• People's Artist of the RSFSR (1948)
• International Peace Prize (1954)
• State Stalin Prize in arts  ("Leningrad")
• USSR State Prize (1968 - for the poem "The Execution of Stepan Razin" for bass, chorus and orchestra)
• Glinka State Prize of the RSFSR (1974 - for the 14th string quartet and choral cycle "Fidelity")
• National Prize of Ukraine Taras

Personal Life

In the year 1927, Shostakovich entered into a relationship with Ivan Sollertinsky, who was his close friend. However, the friendship was cut short with her death in 1944. Sollertinsky introduced Shostakovich to the music of Gustav Mahler that strongly influenced his music right from Fourth Symphony onwards. In the year 1932, Shostakovich married Nina Varzar but this relation did not seem to get along well. Thus, in 1935, their relation ended leading to a divorce but soon they remarried and Nina gave birth to their first child. Shostakovich passed away on 9 August, 1975.    

Legacy

Dmitry Shostakovich was buried in Moscow’s Novodevichy Cemetery giving full state honors. He was referred to as a loyal communist and was acclaimed as ‘hero of the people’. His music not only revealed his sufferings but also of the pain of the people around him.