A Chronology of Shostakovich's Life
- 1906-(September 25)- Dmitri Shostakovich is born in St. Petersburg
Russia to Dmitri Boleslavovich Shostakovich and Sofia Vasilyevna.
- 1916- Dmitri's mother realizes that her son possesses a gift for music
sends him to a private music school. Dmitri composes his first
composition, a piano piece called 'Soldier.'
- 1919- He enrolls in the Petrograd Conservatory.
- 1922- Dmitri's father dies of pnuemonia due to malnutrition. Dmitri
and his siblings are forced to get jobs to support the family. He works
at a movie theatre as the piano accompianist to silent movies.
- 1925- Shostakovich composes and conducts his First Symphony as
his senior honors project at the Conservatory.
- 1927- Shostakovich meets the man who will become his best friend
and stout supporter, Ivan Sollertinsky.
- 1932- He marries Nina Varzar.
- 1936- His daughter, Galya, is born. He finishes his Fourth Symphony.
- 1937- Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony is finished and performed.
- 1938- His son, Maxim, is born.
- 1941-He tries to enlist in the Soviet army, but turned down due to
poor eyesight. Stalin uses him as propaganda on the home front,
such as the 'Firefighter Shostakovich' article in TIME magazine.
Shostakovich starts his Seventh Symphony: Leningrad,
a tribute to the 900 Day Siege.
- 1949- Stalin asks that Shostakovich attend to Cultural and Scientific
Conference for World Peace in New York as the leading representative
from the Soviet Union.
- 1953- At Stalin's death, Shostakovich is given more creative and
physical freedom. He begins to help reinstate musicians and artists
exiled by Stalin. He also composes his Tenth Symphony, a musical
'tribute' to the life of Stalin.
- 1957- His wife, Nina, dies. He composes his Eleventh Symphony.
- 1960- He joins the Communist Party in order to be appointed first
secretary of the Russian Division of the National Composers' Union.
- 1966- He begins to suffer from heart problems and chooses to spend
his time quietly at home with his third wife, Irina Supinskaya.
- 1975-(August 9th)- Dmitri Shostakovich dies in Moscow at the age of
69.
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