Shostakovich D.D., (1906-1975), composer

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SHOSTAKOVICH Dmitry Dmitrievich (1906, St. Petersburg. - 1975), composer, pianist, pedagogue, People's Artist of the USSR (1954), Hero of Socialist Labor (1966). Honorary Doctor of Oxford (1958) and of many other foreign universities and academies. Graduated from Petrograd Conservatory as a pianist (studied under L.V. Nikolaev, 1923) and a composer (studied under M.O. Steinberg, 1925). In 1923-25 he worked as a ballroom pianist at the Svetlaya Lenta Cinema (today Barricade, 15 Nevsky Prospect), Crystal Palace (72 Nevsky Prospect), Splendid Palace (today Cinema House, 12 Karavannaya Street), and Piccadilly (today Avrora, 60 Nevsky Prospect). In 1929-31 he composed music for plays staged at the Theatre for Working Youth. In 1929 Shostakovich began collaborating with the Music-Hall, and directors from Lenfilm, such as G.M. Kozintsev, L.Z. Trauberg, L.O. Arnstam, and S. I. Yutkevich. He wrote music for the films Alone, Golden Mountains, Passenger, and the Maxim Trilogy. Later he returned to the fruitful association with Kozintsev, composing music for his films Hamlet (1964) and King Lear (1971). The 1930s became the age of Shostakovich's creative maturity, when several universally recognised masterpieces were created and premiered in Leningrad: his operas The Nose and Lady Macbeth (1930 and 1934, Maly Opera Theatre, conductor S.A. Samosud); and ballets The Golden Age and The Bolt (1930 and 1931, Mariinsky Theatre). After his ballet The Limpid Stream (1935, Maly Opera Theatre), certain attempts were made to suppress Shostakovich's success with the article-manifestos Chaos Instead of Music and Ballet Falsity were published. But the stain of being called a formalist didn't ruin Shostakovich's creative life. The first performance of his Symphony No. 5 (1936) was cancelled, but in 1938 Leningrad saw the triumphal opening night of his Symphony No. 5 under the baton of E.A. Mravinsky (from then until Symphony No. 12 (1961) Shostakovich conducted all premiers and established his own standards of performance). Symphony No. 7, also known as The Leningrad Symphony, was first conducted by K.I. Eliasberg in St. Petersburg during the Leningrad Siege on 9 August 1942, the day of the German Army's intended celebration at having captured the city. The radio broadcast of the concert attracted world-wide attention to the tragedy of Leningrad. In 1937-41 and in 1962-65 Shostakovich taught at the Conservatory, of which he had been a professor since 1939. Among his students were acclaimed Petersburg composers G.I. Ustvolskaya, V.A. Uspensky, and B. I. Tishchenko. Among Shostakovich's honours are the Stalin Prize (1941, 1942, 1946, 1950, 1952), the Lenin Prize (1958), the State Prize of the USSR (1968), and the State Prize of Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (1974). Shostakovich was born at 2 Podolskaya Street (memorial plaque installed). In 1914-34 he lived at 9 Marata Street, and in 1937-41 at 29/37 Bolshaya Pushkarskaya Street (memorial plaque installed; monument by sculptors A.N. Chernitsky and S.А. Chernitsky, 1997). On 1 October 1941, Shostakovich was evacuated from Leningrad, after which he lived in Moscow, but he frequently visited St. Petersburg and during the summer used to work in the House of Composers' Creativity (Repino). A street on Vyborgskaya Side was named after Shostakovich; his name was also given to the Petersburg Philharmonic, and to secondary school № 235 (1996).

References: Хентова С. М. Шостакович в Петрограде - Ленинграде. Л., 1981; Ее же. Шостакович: Жизнь и творчество: Моногр.: В 2 т. 2-е изд., доп. М., 1996.

A. L. Porfiryeva. Arnstam Leo Oskarovich
Chernitsky Alexander Nikolaevich
Chernitsky Sergey Alexandrovich
Eliasberg Karl Ilyich
Kozintsev Grigory Mikhailovich
Lenin (real name Ulyanov) Vladimir Ilyich
Mravinsky Evgeny Alexandrovich
Nikolaev Leonid Vasilievich
Samosud Samuil Abramovich
Shostakovich Dmitry Dmitrievich
Stalin (real name Dzhugashvili) Iosif Vissarionovich
Steinberg Maximilian Oseevich
Tishchenko Boris Ivanovich
Trauberg Leonid Zakharovich
Uspensky Vladislav Alexandrovich
Ustvolskaya Galina Ivanovna
Yutkevich Sergey Iosifovich
Bolshaya Pushkarskaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 37/29
Karavannaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 12
Marata St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 9
Nevsky prospect/Saint Petersburg, city, house 72
Nevsky prospect/Saint Petersburg, city, house 60
Nevsky prospect/Saint Petersburg, city, house 15
Podolskaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 2
Shostakovicha St./Saint Petersburg, city
Хентова С. М. Шостакович в Петрограде - Ленинграде. Л., 1981 Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory
Music Hall
Lenfilm, Film Studio
Philharmonic named after D.D. Shostakovich
1930
1934
1937
1942