September 25, 1906 - August 9, 1975 born in St. Petersburg,
Russia, composed during the Modern period Dmitry Shostakovich
was a Russian composer whose symphonies and quartets, numbering
15 each, are among the greatest examples of these classic forms
from the twentieth century. His style evolved from the brash
humor and experimental character of his first period,
exemplified by the operas The Nose and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk,
into both the more introverted melancholy and nationalistic
fervor of his second phase (the Symphonies No. 5 and No. 7,
"Leningrad"), and finally into the defiant and bleak mood of his
last period (exemplified by the Symphony No. 14 and Quartet No.
15). Early in his career his music showed the influence of
Prokofiev and Stravinsky, especially in his prodigious and
highly successful First Symphony. He could effectively
communicate a melancholic depth and profound sense of anguish,
as one hears in many of his symphonies, concertos, and quartets.
Solomon Volkov, in his controversial Testimon