Dmitri Dmitrievich Shostakovich

Dmitri Shostakovich was a Russian musical composer. He is considered one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century. He was born in St. Petersburg in 1906 and died of lung cancer in 1975. He rose to great prominence during his lifetime, and his music was performed both within Russia and in many other countries across the world. He is renowned for his classical music, which included 15 symphonies, six concertos, 15 string quartets, and several other pieces for piano and strings, but he also composed, operas, song cycles, and music for ballet and film.

Shostakovich had a difficult relationship with the government of the Soviet Union, which existed from the early 1920s and continued past his death. The government disapproved of much of his work, believing it to be bourgeois and inaccessible to working-class people. Meanwhile, Shostakovich disapproved of the oppressiveness of the Soviet government, which was controlled by...