Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich is an exceptional person, known to us not only as a great musician, composer, conductor, but also as a teacher, professor and public figure.
Mstislav Rostropovich - Biography
Mstislav Leopoldovich was born on March 27, 1927 in Baku into a family of musicians. His father, a cellist, graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory with a gold medal. Mstislav's mother played the piano. The boy grew up from the cradle in an atmosphere permeated with art, music, and at the age of four he began to take the first steps of his creative path. Under the guidance of his father, a professor at the Azerbaijan Conservatory, the child quickly mastered playing the cello and piano.
Already at the age of 8, he performed in public, and at the age of 13, Mstislav Rostropovich, together with the symphony orchestra, performed K. Saint-Saens's Cello Concerto in the city of Slavyansk.
At the age of 16, he entered the Moscow Conservatory, where he was educated in two departments at once - in composition and in cello.
Here the young man met the outstanding composer Dmitry Shostakovich. One day Rostropovich decided to show him the score of his first piano concerto. After its virtuoso performance, Shostakovich invited Mstislav to study with him in instrumentation class.
But, despite his good ability to composition, Rostropovich stopped composing music. During the first rehearsal of Shostakovich's Eighth Symphony, he was so impressed that he completely ceased to see himself as a composer. - he said.
In 1946, Mstislav graduated from the Moscow Conservatory. His name can be seen on the marble plaque of distinguished graduates. After he studied in graduate school.
Creation
The whole world knows Mstislav Leopoldovich. Some of his first significant successes were performances in Prague and Budapest. Participation in the Wigan International Cello Competition also occupies a special place.
His talent was especially wonderful in that it not only delighted ordinary listeners, but gave impetus to the development of art in general, inspiring others.
Rostropovich had a great influence on the work of various musicians, he performed a lot with Richter, Gilels, Kogan.
About 60 composers dedicated their works to Mstislav Leopoldovich.
B. Brithenn, who had never written for cello before, thanks to his friendship with Rostropovich, created for her 3 suites, a sonata and a symphony-concert.
Mstislav Leopoldovich is also known as a conductor.
For the first time in this role, he tried himself at the festival, which was dedicated to the music of Shostakovich. It was 1962. In 1968 the maestro directed a new production of the opera at the Bolshoi Theater - "Eugene Onegin" by PI Tchaikovsky. And later another production - "War and Peace" by Prokofiev. Even later, he will become the leader of the siphonic orchestra.
Mstislav Rostropovich and Galina Vishnevskaya
The personal life of Mstislav Leonidovich was also full of creativity, because he chose a talented opera singer - Galina Vishnevskaya as his life companion.
With his wife, Rostropovich performed as a pianist, accompanying her amazing vocals. Their performances caused a great cultural resonance. The couple interpreted the vocal masterpieces in their own way. This new vision inspired Shostakovich and Brithenna to create vocal cycles. The unique work of the talented couple inspired many other artists as well.
Mstislav and Galina had two daughters - Olga and Elena.
Social activity
Rostropovich proved himself to be a humanist and a fighter for human rights. Mstislav Leopoldovich always said that he acts guided not by political views, but by love for people.
Together with Galich, Kaverin, Sakharov and other figures of science and culture in 1972, he signed two appeals to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR: an amnesty for those convicted of convictions and the abolition of the death penalty.
This led to a negative attitude on the part of the authorities towards Rostropovich. Another reason for this was the friendship of the married couple with Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
Vishnevskaya and Rostropovich were disrupted concerts and radio recordings. The couple decided to leave the USSR. When the spouses were asked about the reason for leaving, Mstislav said that he was not allowed to play. To this he received a very snide answer - they say, it's easy to speak with him. Vishnevskaya parried - that's great, but in London and Paris they dream about it.
So the family emigrated to the United States.
Emigration from the Union was very difficult. Valuables were not allowed to be taken out with them, and even musical instruments were often taken away. New US citizens had to work at a frantic pace. Concert after concert, performance after performance.
But such hard work paid off. The married couple was a resounding success all over the world. In 1977 Rostropovich became the head of the US National Symphony Orchestra in Washington.
A year later, Mstislav and Galina were deprived of their Soviet citizenship. The success of the couple did not please the Soviet authorities at all. So, because of his convictions and the policy of the Soviet regime, the musician, by the will of fate, turned from a national treasure into an international one.
In 1990, 12 years later, the decision to revoke Soviet citizenship was canceled. And Rostropovich went on a tour of Russia with the symphony orchestra entrusted to him. He directed it until 1994.
Borders of countries and frames invented by people are just a convention for art. The maestro was known and loved all over the world. He was admired by Europe, North and South America, Asia.
Thanks to his work, the world was imbued with love for the cello, and boundless talent gave inspiration to many and many creators of that time - musicians, composers, poets.
Rostropovich and Vishnevskaya have been married for over fifty years. Mstislav Leopoldovich died on April 27, 2007 in Moscow.
