Select language:

Angela Merkel sees "twin soul" in Dmitri Shostakovich

 / Главная / Russkiy Mir Foundation / News / Angela Merkel sees "twin soul" in Dmitri Shostakovich

Angela Merkel sees "twin soul" in Dmitri Shostakovich


25.08.2017

ESMT//wikimedia.orgGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel found some similarities with her own life in biography of the Russiancomposer Dmitri Shostakovich, RIA Novosti informs.

According to Merkel, she read the novel by Julian Barnes Noise of Time about life and creative career of the grand musician after she had watched the opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District after music by Shostakovich in Salzburg.

Angela Merkel added that the book reminded her of the conflict she had to live through when she was young. She is sure that Shostakovich was totally deprived of self-expression in the Soviet Times. Angela Merkel had to study physics due to the same reasons when she was at his age as it’s not easy to prohibitstudying sciences.

Chancellor of Germany considers that the composer whose music is banned, cannot work and isconstantly afraid of losing his life, so he cannot ask himself if he is honest, how much strength he has, what compromises he can make.

Merkel has underlined that having read Shostakovich’s biography, she realizes how pleasant it is to live in a democratic country. According to her, the subject of art is often discussed in her family and she herself has great pleasure of talking about music.

Shostakovich and a range of other composers were convicted of formalism, bourgeois decadence andgroveling for the West by decree of the Soviet Political Bureau dated 1948. He was deprived of his title ofprofessor in Moscow and Leningrad Conservatory and he was fired. However, it did not influence his inspiration.

Already in 1949, Shostakovich fled to the US and made a presentation protecting peace in the world. Ayear later, the composer got Stalin’s award for his Song of Forests ode.

Russkiy Mir

News by subject

Publications

Italian entrepreneur Marco Maggi's book, "Russian to the Bone," is now accessible for purchase in Italy and is scheduled for release in Russia in the upcoming months. In the book, Marco recounts his personal odyssey, narrating each stage of his life as a foreigner in Russia—starting from the initial fascination to the process of cultural assimilation, venturing into business, fostering authentic friendships, and ultimately, reaching a deep sense of identifying as a Russian at his very core.