Shostakovich, Dimitri << SHOS tuh KOH vihch, dih MEE tree >> (1906-1975), was the most important Russian composer whose musical education and career took place entirely in the Soviet Union. His major works are 15 symphonies and 15 string quartets. He also wrote concertos, songs, motion-picture scores, ballets, and operas. His most popular compositions include the lively “Polka” from the ballet The Golden Age (1930).
Shostakovich based his musical style on the Russian nationalism of the 1800’s demonstrated by composer Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky and a group of Russian composers known as The Five. Shostakovich also added influences from Western music. His monumental symphonies owe much to the late romantic symphonic style of the Viennese composer Gustav Mahler. Shostakovich added his own wit and humor, rhythmic vitality, mastery of the orchestra, and intensity of expression.
Shostakovich was born on Sept. 25, 1906, in St. Petersburg (later named Petrograd and then Leningrad). He entered the Petrograd Conservatory in 1919. For his graduation, he wrote his Symphony No. 1 (1925), which won international acclaim. By the early 1930’s, Shostakovich was writing in a style that authorities eventually declared unacceptable for a Soviet composer. In 1936, they denounced his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (1932) as “chaos instead of music.” Between 1956 and 1963, Shostakovich revised this opera as Katerina Ismailova, one of his finest works. In 1937, he composed his Symphony No. 5, which restored him to favor with the government.
In 1941, Shostakovich wrote his Symphony No. 7. He dedicated it to the city of Leningrad, which was being blockaded by the Germans during World War II. In 1948, the government again censured Shostakovich’s music, along with works by other leading Soviet composers. After the death of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in 1953, Shostakovich felt more at liberty to compose as he pleased. Several of his late large-scale works reflect Russian history of the 1900’s. He died on Aug. 9, 1975.
