2006 is a special year for the famous Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich, because it marks the 100th anniversary of his birth. To celebrate his life, there are many events happening all over the world, such as performances of his music, screenings of films with his scores, and new documentaries about him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the events is the premiere of a documentary called A Journey of Dmitry Shostakovich. The film talks about a trip Shostakovich took to the United States, where he had to act as a cultural ambassador for the Soviet Union and talk about how great their political system was. However, many people don't really know what Shostakovich really thought about the Communist Party or his relationship with the Russian government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shostakovich was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and was a very talented pianist and composer from a young age. He became famous after his first symphony was performed, but things changed for him after the success of his second opera, Lady Macbeth of the Mtensk District. In 1936, an article was published in a newspaper that criticized the opera and threatened Shostakovich's life if he kept writing music like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After this, he had to change the way he wrote music to survive. He focused on concert works and wrote 15 symphonies, several concertos, 15 string quartets, and many other things. He also wrote music for films and songs. During this time, he had to make his music suitable for the Communist Party, but he also secretly expressed the fear, terror, and despair of the Russian people in his music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One example of this is his 5th symphony which he described as “joyous and optimistic” to the Party members, but it was actually about the Great Terror. Similarly, the first movement of his 7th Symphony, known as the “Invasion Theme,” was thought to be patriotic about Hitler's invasion of Russia, but it actually represented the spread of communism in Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 1960, the Russian leader, Nikita Khrushchev, made Shostakovich the chairman of the Russian Union of Composers. To do this, Shostakovich had to join the Communist Party, which he didn't want to do. This made him so unhappy that he almost committed suicide. His String Quartet No. 8 was supposed to be his last work and was dedicated to the victims of fascism and war, including himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Luckily, he didn't kill himself and lived until 1975. Dmitri Shostakovich died on August 9th, 1975, from lung cancer; it is believed that his heavy smoking habit was the likely cause of his death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In recent years, there have been many events and performances celebrating the life and works of Dmitri Shostakovich, who is considered one of the greatest Russian composers of the 20th century. In 2020 and 2021, events were held worldwide, including premieres of documentaries, film scores, and performances of his works. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One such event was the premiere of the documentary “A Journey of Dmitry Shostakovich” in November 2020, which chronicles his experiences during a Soviet propaganda trip to the United States. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the publication of his memoirs “Testimony” in 1979, there is still ongoing debate and discussion about Shostakovich's true feelings towards the Communist Party and his relationship with the Russian authorities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
His compositional output, particularly during the Stalin years, is seen as a form of political dissent and resistance. Shostakovich's 5th Symphony, for example, was described as “joyous and optimistic” to Party members but is widely understood to be a commentary on the Great Terror. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite his struggles with the Soviet government, Shostakovich continued to compose and was appointed chairman of the Russian Union of Composers in 1960 by Nikita Khrushchev. This decision, however, led to feelings of self-loathing and suicidal thoughts, and his String Quartet No. 8 is considered to be his musical epitaph. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite these struggles, Shostakovich lived until 1975. Dmitri Shostakovich died on August 9th, 1975, from lung cancer; it is believed that his heavy smoking habit was the likely cause of his death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In recent years, there have been many events and performances celebrating the life and works of Dmitri Shostakovich, who is considered one of the greatest Russian composers of the 20th century. In 2020 and 2021, events were held worldwide, including premieres of documentaries, film scores, and performances of his works. One such event was the premiere of the documentary “A Journey of Dmitry Shostakovich” in November 2020, which chronicles his experiences during a Soviet propaganda trip to the United States. Despite the publication of his memoirs “Testimony” in 1979, there is still ongoing debate and discussion about Shostakovich's true feelings towards the Communist Party and his relationship with the Russian authorities. His compositional output, particularly during the Stalin years, is seen as a form of political dissent and resistance. Shostakovich's 5th Symphony, for example, was described as “joyous and optimistic” to Party members but is widely understood to be a commentary on the Great Terror. Despite his struggles with the Soviet government, Shostakovich continued to compose and was appointed chairman of the Russian Union of Composers in 1960 by Nikita Khrushchev. This decision, however, led to feelings of self-loathing and suicidal thoughts, and his String Quartet No. 8 is considered to be his musical epitaph. Despite these struggles, Shostakovich lived until 1975 and died of cancer likely caused by smoking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
2006 is a special year for the famous Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich, because it marks the 100th anniversary of his birth. To celebrate his life, there are many events happening all over the world, such as performances of his music, screenings of films with his scores, and new documentaries about him. One of the events is the premiere of a documentary called A Journey of Dmitry Shostakovich. The film talks about a trip Shostakovich took to the United States, where he had to act as a cultural ambassador for the Soviet Union and talk about how great their political system <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scribemedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2057"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scribemedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scribemedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scribemedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scribemedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2057"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.scribemedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2080,"href":"https:\/\/www.scribemedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2057\/revisions\/2080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scribemedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scribemedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scribemedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}