Dmitri Shostakovich belongs to the generation of composers basically trained after the Communist Revolution of 1917. He occupies a significant position in the 20th century as a symphonist and composer of chamber music. Shostakovich was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia in 1906. He, through his paternal grand father, was of Polish Roman Catholic inheritance, though his immediate ancestors came from Siberia. Shostakovich was a child prodigy both as pianist and composer, his talent becoming well-known when he started learning piano at the age of eight from his mother. He graduated from the Petrograd Conservatory as a pianist and composer. His most popular works are 15 symphonies and 15 string quartets considered as the finest illustrations of the classical music of the 20th century. His works for piano include 2 piano sonatas, an earlier set of preludes (a preliminary performance or action before another one of more importance), later set of 24 preludes and fugues (a form of composition in which subject is given out by one part and is immediately taken up by another (in answer), during which the first part supplies accompaniment and so on) Other works include two operas, six concertos and. film music. After the initial period swayed by the works of Prokofiev and Stravinsky, as for example, in... show more

Dmitri Shostakovich belongs to the generation of composers basically trained after the Communist Revolution of 1917. He occupies a significant position in the 20th century as a symphonist and composer of chamber music. Shostakovich was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia in 1906. He, through his paternal grand father, was of Polish Roman Catholic inheritance, though his immediate ancestors came from Siberia. Shostakovich was a child prodigy both as pianist and composer, his talent becoming well-known when he started learning piano at the age of eight from his mother. He graduated from the Petrograd Conservatory as a pianist and composer. His most popular works are 15 symphonies and 15 string quartets considered as the finest illustrations of the classical music of the 20th century. His works for piano include 2 piano sonatas, an earlier set of preludes (a preliminary performance or action before another one of more importance), later set of 24 preludes and fugues (a form of composition in which subject is given out by one part and is immediately taken up by another (in answer), during which the first part supplies accompaniment and so on) Other works include two operas, six concertos and. film music. After the initial period swayed by the works of Prokofiev and Stravinsky, as for example, in his extraordinary and hugely popular first symphony composed in 1927, Shostakovich developed a fusion of styles as exemplified in his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (1934). His style developed from brazen or insolent wit and experimental nature (for example in his two operas, The Nose and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk) into more contemplative, sorrowful and also patriotic type (as in the Symphonies 5 and 7 “Leningrad “ ) in the second segment of his career and lastly transformed into rebellious and serious last stage (as in the Symphony 14 and the Quartet 15). Shostakovich had an extraordinary talent to convey, in an impressive manner, his inner feelings of despondency and intense agony as demonstrated in his several works. Solomon Volkov, while talking about Shostakovich’s extravagant language of the Fifth Symphony, in his debatable biographical work, Testimony: The Memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich elaborates that it was a clever mockery of the grandiose rule of Soviet Government, drawing attention to the “forced rejoicing ‘ending of the Fifth Symphony. His unique style includes short repeated musical themes in one or two levels and sorrowful and frenzied string compositions. After the success of his First Symphony, Shostakovich’s subsequent career varied with political climate. The initial success of his opera, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk was followed by official condemnation, by Stalin and Shostakovich was also widely criticized in the Soviet press. Afraid of detention by the Soviet authorities, Shostakovich took back his Fourth Symphony which was ready for staging. His Fifth Symphony composed in 1937 brought partial rehabilitation. It was cleverly captioned, “A Soviet Artist’s Reply to Just Criticism”. It is a clever way, than what his critics imagined, to please the conservative flavour of Soviet party authorities as well as persons in the West who appreciate a beautiful work of art. The German siege of Russia in 1941 awakened patriotic spirit in Shostakovich to compose his Seventh Symphony, “Leningrad”. Influenced by its chivalrous nature, Toscanini, Koussevitsky, and Stokowski competed with one another for the premiere of the performance of the symphony in the Western part of the Globe. A microfilmed copy of the musical composition was sent by air to Tehran, from there by road to Cairo and eventually flown out to the other part of the world. The symphony was a huge success in the whole world. However, the work was ultimately forgotten. Nevertheless, Shostakovich became, at least for sometime, a world renowned figure, his photograph being published on the cover of Time magazine. Shostakovich suffered official condemnation again by the Soviet Government in 1948 along with Prokofiev and other reputed composers; the Central Committee of the Communist Party castigating them as “ formalist perversions “. His compositions, for a while, were aimed at praising Soviet life and its past. Though he enjoyed the relative freedom following the death of Stalin in 1953, strangely he continued to compose music sticking to his forward- looking ideas. However, his Thirteenth Symphony, “Babi Yar” composed in 1962 using “Yevgeny Yevtushenko” poems resulted in a major confrontation with the official regime as it dealt with the Russian subjugation of the Jews. Shostakovich’s Second Cello concerto composed in 1966 was on more superior plane than his popular First Composition. However, this received poor response from the fellow composers as well as the public. In the same year in which Shostakovich composed his Second Cello Concerto, he was diagnosed with critical heart ailment. He continued to write, though less frequently, the death becoming his premier theme of composition. His Fourteenth Symphony contains settings of various poems of Lorca, Apollinaire, Küchelbecker, and Rilke reflects considerable discord showing scant respect for the Socialist ideals, still expected from the Government. It was written more or less anticipating death. His Fifteenth and the last Symphony was written in 1971. Shostakovich died in August 1975.
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