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Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich (Russian: Мстисла́в Леопо́льдович Ростропо́вич, Mstislav Leopol'dovič Rostropovič, IPA pronunciation ), (March 27 1927 – April 27 2007), known to close friends as “Slava”, was a cellist and conductor. He is widely considered to have been one of the greatest cellists of the twentieth century.

Biography

Early years

Rostropovich was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, then part of the Soviet Union, of Jewish descent. His father, Leopold, was of Polish nobility descent (Rostropowicz family), Bogorya coat of arms, which had lived at the family palace in Skotniki, Masovian Voivodeship.

At age of four Mstislav learned the piano with his mother who was a talented pianist, and started the cello at the age of 10 with his father, who was also a cellist and a student of Pablo Casals.

From 1943 to 1948, Mstislav studied at the Moscow Conservatory, where he became professor of cello in 1956. He entered the Moscow Conservatory at the age of 16, and studied not only the piano and the cello, but also conducting and composition. Among his teachers were Dmitri Shostakovich and Sergei Prokofiev. In 1945 he came to prominence as cellist when he won the gold medal in the first ever Soviet Union competition for young musicians.

First concerts

Rostropovich gave his first cello concert in 1942. He won first prize at the international Music Awards of Prague and Budapest in 1947, 1949, and 1950. In 1950, at the age of 23 he was awarded what was then considered the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, the Stalin Prize. At that time, Rostropovich was already well known in his country and while actively pursuing his solo career, he taught at the Leningrad (Saint-Petersburg) Conservatory and the Moscow Conservatory. In 1955, he married Galina Vishnevskaya, soprano at the Bolshoi Theatre.

His international career started in 1964 in what was then West Germany. As of this date, he went on several tours in western Europe and met several composers, including Benjamin Britten. In 1967, he conducted Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin at the Bolshoi, thus letting forth his passion for both the role of conductor and the opera.

Among the composers who wrote especially for Rostropovich were Prokofiev, Britten, Bernstein, Schnitke, Khachaturian and Piazzolla. He was the first performer of 117 pieces. He is well known for his interpretations of Dvořák's B minor cello concerto and Haydn's cello concertos in C and D. His commissions of new works that have considerably enlarged the cello repertoire, notably by Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Britten, Lutoslawski, Penderecki, and Dutilleux.

Exile

Rostropovich fought for art without borders, freedom of speech, and democratic values, resulting in harassment from the Soviet regime. An early example was in 1948, when he was a student at the Moscow Conservatory. In response to the 10 February 1948 decree on so-called 'formalist' composers, his teacher Dmitri Shostakovich was dismissed from his professorships in Leningrad and Moscow; the then 21-year-old Rostropovich quit the Conservatory, dropping out in protest.

In 1970, Rostropovich sheltered Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who otherwise had nowhere else to go, in his own home. His friendship with Solzhenitsyn and his support for dissidents led to official disgrace in the early 1970s. As a result, Rostropovich was restricted from foreign touring, as was his wife, soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, and he was sent on a recital tour of small towns in Siberia.

Rostropovich left the Soviet Union in 1974 with his wife and children and settled in the United States. He was banned from several musical ensembles in his homeland, and his Soviet citizenship was revoked in 1978 because of his public opposition to the Soviet Union's restriction of cultural freedom.

Further career

Rostropovich was a huge influence on the younger generation of cellists. Many have openly acknowledged their debt to his example. Julian Lloyd Webber remarked in the The Independent, “no other single person has done as much for the cello as he has.”

His talent inspired compositions from numerous composers such as Shostakovich, Khachaturian, Prokofiev, Britten, Messiaen, Dutilleux, Bernstein, and Penderecki. He and fellow Soviet composer Dmitri Kabalevsky completed Prokofiev's Cello Concertino after the composer's death. Rostropovich gave the first performances of both of Shostakovich's cello concertos. Rostropovich introduced Shostakovich's First Concerto to London and began an association with Benjamin Britten. Britten dedicated his Cello Sonata, three Solo Suites, and his Cello Symphony to Rostropovich, who gave their first performances.

From 1977 until 1994, he was musical director and conductor of the U.S. National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC, while still performing with some of the most famous musicians such as Sviatoslav Richter and Vladimir Horowitz. He was also the director and founder of the Rostropovitch- and Aldeburgh-music festivals.

His impromptu performance during the fall of the Berlin Wall as events unfolded earned him international fame and was shown on television throughout the world. His Russian citizenship was restored in 1990, although he and his family had already become American citizens.

Rostropovich received many international awards, including the French Legion of Honor and honorary doctorates from many international universities. He was an activist, fighting for freedom of expression in art and politics. An ambassador for the UNESCO, he supported many educational and cultural projects. Rostropovich performed several times in Madrid and was a close friend of Queen Sofía of Spain.

Rostropovich and his wife, Galina Vishnevskaya, started a foundation to stimulate social projects and activities. The couple funded a vaccination program in Azerbaijan. The Rostropovich Home Museum opened on March 4 2002, in Baku. The Rostropoviches visited Azerbaijan occasionally. Rostropovich also presented cello master classes at the Azerbaijan State Conservatory.

Rostropovich's instrument was the 1711 Duport Stradivarius, considered to be one of the greatest instruments ever made.

Illness and death

Rostropovich's health declined in 2006, with the Chicago Tribune reporting rumors of unspecified surgery in Geneva and later treatment for what was reported as an aggravated ulcer. Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Rostropovich to discuss details of a celebration the Kremlin was planning for March 27 2007, Rostropovich's 80th birthday. Rostropovich attended the celebration but was reportedly in frail health.

Though Rostropovich's last home was in Paris, he maintained residences in Moscow, St. Petersburg, London, Lausanne, and Jordanville, New York. Rostropovich was admitted to a Paris hospital at the end of January 2007, but then decided to fly to Moscow, where he had been frequently receiving care. On February 6 2007 the 79-year-old Rostropovich was admitted to a hospital in Moscow. "He is just feeling unwell," Natalya Dolezhale, Rostropovich's secretary in Moscow, said. Asked if there was serious cause for concern about his health she said: "No, right now there is no cause whatsoever." She refused to specify the nature of his illness. The Kremlin said late on that Monday that President Vladimir Putin had visited the musician in hospital, prompting speculation that he was in a serious condition. Dolezhale said the visit was to discuss arrangements for marking Rostropovich's 80th birthday.

Obituaries cited sources stating that the cellist suffered from intestinal cancer, while other sources report, he re-entered the Blokhin Cancer Institute on April 7 2007, and died on April 27 2007.

On April 28, Rostropovich laid in an open coffin at the Moscow Conservatory, where he once studied as a teenager, and was then moved to the Church of Christ the Saviour. Thousands of mourners, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, bid farewell. Spain's Queen Sofia, French first lady Bernadette Chirac and President Ilham Aliev of Azerbaijan, where Rostropovich was born, as well as Naina Yeltsina, the widow of Boris Yeltsin, were among those in attendance at the funeral on April 29. Rostropovich was then buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery, the same cemetery where his friend Boris Yeltsin was buried four days earlier.

Awards and recognitions

Rostropovich received about 50 awards during his life, including:

• Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance
• Polar Music Prize, 1995
• Mstislav Rostropovich & Rudolf Serkin for Brahms: Sonata for Cello and Piano in E Minor, Op. 38 and Sonata in F, Op. 99 (1984)
• Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society (1970)
• Honor Award of the Republic of Azerbaijan
• Citizen of honor of Vilnius, Lithuania (2000)
• Order of Service to the Fatherland, First Degree, for his "outstanding contribution to the development of world music and many years of creative activity," presented by President Vladimir Putin, 02/26/2007.

References

1. http://www.nysun.com/article/53444
2. ^ "Mstislav Rostropovich biography". Sony Classical. Retrieved 2007-04-30.
3. ^ "Mirė maestro M.Rostropovičius" (in Lithuanian). Lietuvos rytas. 28 April 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-30. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
4. "Biography of Mstislav Rostropovitch". UNESCO. Retrieved 2007-04-30.
5. Olga Sobolevskaya (27 April 2007). "Mstislav Rostropovich: musician of genius, man of honor". RIA Novosti. Retrieved 2007-04-30. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
6. Encyclopædia Britannica (27 April 2007). "National Symphony Orchestra". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 2007-04-30. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
7. ^ "Russian maestro Rostropovich dies". BBC News. Retrieved 2007-04-30.
8. "UNESCO Celebrity Advocates: Mstislav Rostropovitch". UNESCO. Retrieved 2007-04-30.
9. Gulnar Aydamirova (Summer 2003). "Rostropovich The Home Museum". Azerbaijan International. Retrieved 2007-04-30.
10. Alan Kozinn (27 April 2007). "Mstislav Rostropovich, Cellist and Conductor, Dies". New York Times. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
11. "Russian cellist Rostropovish 'seriously ill'". Contactmusic. Retrieved 2007-04-30.
12. "Russian farewell to Rostropovich". BBC News. 29 Apr 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-30.

External links

• Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation homepage
• Home-museum of Leopold and Mstislav Rostropovich
• Why the cello is a hero, interview with the Daily Telegraph
• Famous People: Then and Now article and interview at Azerbaijan International (Winter 1999)
• Intellectual Responsibility. When Silence is Not Golden: Conversations with Mstislav Rostropovich, another Azerbaijan International interview (Summer 2005)
• Dip Your Ears: In Memoriam Mstislav Rostropovich survey of Rostropovich recordings, by Jens F. Laurson (Ionarts, April 30, 2007)

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