Yesterday we talked about the birth of statesman Potemkin.
Today we remember the birthday of Dmitri Shostakovich, a quite brilliant Soviet composer and one of the most celebrated ones of the 20th century.
Shostakovich 1906 - 1975
Dmitri was born in Saint Petersburg. One of his most well known symphonies came during the Leningrad siege (1941-1944) and was titled after the city. It raised the spirits of many people nearing starvation and death by frostbite. Shostakovich's orchestral works include 15 symphonies and six concerti. His music is complex and requires large scale orchestras to fully achieve the desired effect.
Life was not easy for Soviet artists. Art was, certainly during the period of Stalin (1922 - 1953), stricly regulated and could only serve the Socialist/ Communist cause. It is true that poets and other writers were under stricter scrutiny (a sentence should leave no room for interpretation contrary to socialist purpose). In music, composers managed to introduce certain elements of opposition which could not have been possible in written or printed art.
Shostakovich was denunciated twice but in the end won many prizes issued by the Soviet leadership, including the Order of Lenin and Hero of Socialist Labor.
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