Posted on 04/27/2007 3:57:03 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Legendary cellist Rostropovich dies
1 hour, 6 minutes ago
Legendary Russian cellist and emblem of resistance to the Soviet system Mstislav Rostropovich died Friday, his spokeswoman told AFP. He was 80.
"He died in hospital today," Natalya Dolezhal said.
Rostropovich had been ill for some time and had been receiving treatment at a Moscow cancer clinic.
He was born in Baku and studied in Moscow under the celebrated composers Dmitry Shostakovich and Sergei Prokofiev. He went on to a glittering international career, much of it spent abroad after he was persecuted, then expelled in 1974 by the Soviet authorities.
He was hospitalised in February for a reported operation on a liver tumor and appeared pale and tired during television footage of his 80th birthday celebrations in Moscow.
Rostropovich was considered one of the greatest cellists of all time. His exploration of the tonal range of the instrument was unrivalled and he entered productive collaborations with some of the 20th century's finest composers.
But Rostropovich will be equally remembered for his battle against the Soviet authorities, ending with his exile, and his dramatic return to the democratic new Russia.
Born on March 27, 1927, to a musical family in Baku, capital of then-Soviet Azerbaijan, Rostropovich gave his first concert at the age of 13.
By the 1960s he was already on his way to winning over the rest of the world.
Then on October 31, 1970, the cellist wrote an open letter to the newspaper Pravda defending author Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who had become the target of official abuse after receiving the Nobel Prize for literature.
Decades later, the cellist would declare: "The best thing I produced was not music, but that letter to Pravda. Since then I have had a clean conscience."
But the letter, which was never published in the state-controlled press, made Rostropovich a marked man.
He was banned from the prestigious Bolshoi Theatre, barred from touring abroad and forbidden to conduct full orchestras. In 1974 he fled the Soviet Union with his wife and two daughters to settle in the United States.
From there, the musician began a campaign to win freedom for another larger-than-life Soviet dissident, Andrei Sakharov, who was confined to internal exile.
In 1978, Rostropovich was stripped of his Soviet citizenship for "systematic acts bringing harm to the prestige of the Soviet Union."
In August 1991, just months from the collapse of Soviet power, he flew to Moscow to help oppose a coup by Communist hardliners.
A famous photograph showed him in front of parliament along with other pro-democracy supporters, a rifle instead of his beloved cello in hand.
What did he do to piss off Putin?
The world’s last truly great musician.
Rest in peace.
What a week for Russia. He, of course, was outside the White House, risking his life for democracy, when Yeltsin made his famous speech from the tank during the 1991 coup attempt...
ping
I actually had dinner with him a couple of times, long ago.
Sad that he died.
Misha? Misha?
Slava, please!
I wouldn’t say that, since Janos Starker is still alive. But my cello vote would probably still go to Shafran, who is not.
Former conductor of the National Symphony in DC. Took it from obsquerity to renown.
A loss to those who know the evils on communism.
Story....
He was in Berlin when the wall fell and was so inspired that he went there and began playing.
People walked by not knowing who he was and threw coins in his case.
What an uncultured bunch we freepers are that this story is transported from the newsboards to languish in the little read music/entertainment section...
The man was a giant not just in the music world but among Soviet dissidents too...
Isn’t that the truth? Anna Nicole languishes for eons on breaking news, and yet this story....banished to chat.
Dear gusopo13,
Thanks for the ping.
Rest in peace, Mstislav Rostropovich.
Classical Music Ping List ping.
If you want on or off this list, let me know via FR e-mail.
Thanks,
sitetest
Amen.
I know that St. Peter issued him a most excellent cello when he checked in.
Leni
Godspeed Slava. He was one of the great ones.
sad ping
I was fortunate enough to hear him perform, and also conduct for the National Symphony Orchestra. He will be missed. Rest in Peace, Slava...
Kennedy Center late seventies?
Yes. I was a college student then. Another fond memory was hearing Artur Rubenstein perform at DAR Consitution Hall in 1975 (or could have been '76).
I was in HS - girlfriend’s father was director of the NSO, so our idea of a cheap Friday date was his private box at the Kennedy Center, listening to Slava.
We were so niave, we wore jeans.
LOL.
Man, I was a dumb kid.
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