Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Shostakovich was at once the most accomplished Russian composer of the Soviet era, and simultaneously the most reviled, being formally denounced and banned twice by the Soviet authorities. Born in St. Petersburg in 1906, Shostakovich was a child prodigy, performing as a pianist and composing at the age of eight. In 1919, he entered the Petrograd Conservatory, graduating at the age of twenty after composing his First Symphony. His meeting with conductor Bruno Walter in 1927 led to his work receiving international exposure. He was able to continue his musical work, creating his first four symphonies as well as the opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District undisturbed until 1936. That year, Lady Macbeth became the basis for a formal condemnation of his work in Pravda, which rapidly led to his complete works being ostracized. His work during World War II, including the heroic composition of the first three movements of his Seventh Symphony during the Siege of Leningrad, led to a partial rehabilitation with the authorities. This state of affairs did not last: in February 1948, he was named and denounced in Zhdanov's cultural doctrine decree, together with other composers such as Sergei Prokofiev and Aram Khachaturian. Shostakovich repented publicly for his "offending" works, and self-censored much of his production thereafter, keeping his most advanced and daring work out of the public eye. In 1958, Shostakovich was formally rehabilitated, but was still pressured to present a public persona that would be officially acceptable, including joining the Communist Party in 1960. Despite these issues, Shostakovich's output was both innovative and powerful. His late symphonies explore the musical reference points of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and attempt to create a new musical lexicon. Weakened by his tribulations with the authorities, as well as a series of health problems that included polio and heart attacks, Shostakovich died of lung cancer in 1975.
