1. Dmitri Shostakovich 1906-1975 Family very liberal Age 13- entered St. Petersburg Conservatory –Academically successful –Suffered for lack of political enthusiasm Post Graduation - career as concert pianist and composer. Labeled a “Formalist” by the Russian Association of Proletarian Musicians - Formalism: “any art which used complex techniques and forms accessible only to the elite, rather than being simplified for ‘the people’“

2. Dmitri Shostakovich 1906-1975 1930’s- worked for a theatre company –Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District 1936-Series of attacks in Pravda –Muddle Instead of Music No commission= no $$$ –Responded with Symphony No. 5

3. Dmitri Shostakovich 1906-1975 1936- “The Great Terror” Symphonies=public Chamber=private (experimental, expressive) 1941-WW2 (St. Petersburg=Leningrad) –in Leningrad during siege –Began Symphony. No 7 “Leningrad” (heroic) 1943- Moved to Moscow –9 th Symphony- Neoclassic parody

4. Dmitri Shostakovich 1906-1975 Second Piano Trio –Dedicated to close friend Sollertinsky –Totentanz finale 1948- Denounced again –Privileges taken away –Most works banned –Public repentance 13 total symphonies Late works show preoccupation of death