Dmitri Shostakovich Essay -- Musicians

Dmitri Shostakovich was born in St. Petersburg, Russian on September 25, 1906. He was the second child of Dmitry Boleslavovich and Sof†²ya Vasil†²yevna and he had two siblings. At the age of nine, Shostakovich took a piano lesson and discovered that he was musically gifted. When he was twelve years old, he composed a funeral march to honor Kadet Party leaders that Bolsheviks murdered, in 1918. Shostakovich stared to take classes at the Petrograd Conservatory in 1919. However, he did not do well in most of them, but he did extremely well in the artistic classes. Shostakovich composed â€Å"1st Symphony† and premiered it in 1926. Shostakovich worked as a concert pianist after he graduated to earn some money. He also composed at the same time. At the Warsaw International Piano Competition in 1927, Shostakovich met Bruno Walter, a conductor. He liked Shostakovich’s works and he said that he will conduct Shostakovich’s â€Å"1st Symphony† in Berlin. Shostakovich completed his â€Å"2nd Symphony† in 1927, and he started to work on the music for the opera â€Å"The Nose†. When the opera premiered in 1930, the opera did not do well and received many terrible reviews from the audience. Because of this opera, Shostakovich’s â€Å"3rd Symphony† was not perceived well Shostakovich married his first wife, Nina Varzar, in 1932. In 1935, they were separated when Shostakovich had an affair with Yelena Konstantinovskaya. They were later reunited and the born of their first child strengthen their relationship. Shostakovich worked on the opera â€Å"Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District† while he worked at Leningrad Theatre of Young Workers, known as TRAM in Russian acronym, in the early 1930s. When the opera premiered in 1934, the opera were successful. He was praised â€Å"it co... ... and emotions of the characters, and it created the atmosphere for the films, just like how his â€Å"5th Symphony† was able to captured people’s emotions when they lost many people that they know in mass execution. Works Cited "Classical Net Review - Shostakovich - King Lear." Classical Net. Web. 01 Apr. 2012. . David Fanning and Laurel Fay. "Shostakovich, Dmitry." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. 1 Apr. 2012. "Dmitry Shostakovich." AllMusic. Web. 01 Apr. 2012. . "Hamlet." IMDb. IMDb.com. Web. 01 Apr. 2012. . "King Lear." IMDb. IMDb.com. Web. 01 Apr. 2012. .