Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) was a Russian composer of operas, ballets, concertos, string quartets, and 15 symphonies. Shostakovich was frequently denounced by the repressive Soviet state, but in some periods, he also gained official favour. He never permanently left Russia and, somehow, managed to pursue a long musical career, walking the tightrope between artistic freedom and imprisonment or worse.
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Definition
Timeline
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1906 - 1975Life of the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich.
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25 Sep 1906Dmitriyevich Shostakovich is born in St. Petersburg, Russia.
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1925Dmitri Shostakovich graduates from the Petrograd Conservatory.
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May 1926Dmitri Shostakovich's First Symphony premieres in Leningrad.
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1932Dmitri Shostakovich marries Nina Varzar.
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1934Premiere of Dmitri Shostakovich's opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District.
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1936Dmitri Shostakovich's music is denounced in the Soviet state newspaper Pravda.
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1940Dmitri Shostakovich's Piano Quintet wins the Stalin Prize.
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1948Dmitri Shostakovich falls out of favour with the Soviet regimewhen his music is criticised for its "formalism".
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1957Dmitri Shostakovich is appointed secretary of the all-powerful Union of Soviet Composers.
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1966Dmitri Shostakovich is made a Hero of Socialist Labour and he receives the Order of Lenin.
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9 Aug 1975Dmitri Shostakovich dies of a heart attack in Moscow.
