Rodion Shchedrin: biography, photo, creativity

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The works of Rodion Shchedrin, a famous composer of the second half of the 20th century, are musical works on Russian themes. The plots of domestic classics of the literary genre formed the basis of his operas and ballets. On the works of N. V. Gogol, A. P. Chekhov, L. N. Tolstoy, V. V. Nabokov, N. S. Leskov and other great writers, choral liturgies and concertos for orchestras were created.

Rodion Shchedrin: a short biography of the future composer

In Moscow, in the family of Konstantin and Konkordia Shchedrin, on December 16, 1932, their first child was born, who after some time was destined to become the pride of the Russian musical elite, a great contemporary composer, pianist, People's Artist of the USSR, laureate of international awards and the author of hundreds of musical works.

From childhood, Rodion Shchedrin grew up in a musical environment. Father Konstantin Mikhailovich Shchedrin was a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, composer and music critic. All your ownthe future composer spent his pre-war childhood in the city of Aleksin, Tula region, where his grandfather, an Orthodox priest, left a house on the banks of the beautiful Russian river Oka.

Composer's military childhood

In October 1941, the Shchedrin family was forced to evacuate to Samara, where other cultural workers moved with them. It is possible that personal communication with Dmitry Shostakovich played an important role in Rodion's future.

Already in the evacuation, together with his father, he was lucky enough to attend the dress rehearsal of D. Shostakovich's famous Seventh Symphony. Konstantin Mikhailovich and Dmitry Dmitrievich worked together in the Union of Composers, and it was often D. Shostakovich who helped the Shchedrin family in difficult domestic circumstances during evacuation.

Talented tomboy

In childhood, Rodion Shchedrin, despite the musical environment, did not show much zeal for music. Like the local children, his range of interests was limited to tree climbing, yard games, stealing apples from a neighbor's garden. However, the boy had exceptional musical abilities. By the age of ten, Rodion Shchedrin had a phenomenal musical memory and absolute pitch, his ability to memorize music amazed the guests of the Shchedrin family, who often visited Konstantin Mikhailovich. One incident from the composer's childhood is noteworthy.

In 1943 together with Comrade Rodion went to the front. By hook or by crook, the friends reach Kronstadt safely. After longsearches, Rodion's father manages to find the boys and bring them back to Samara. The question arose about the future of the teenager. Chance intervened in Rodion's desire to enter the Nakhimov School or become a musician. At that time, the actress Vera Nikolaevna Pashennaya was a frequent guest of the Shchedrin family. It was she who, knowing the boy's unique musical abilities, offered to send him to study at the Moscow Conservatory at her own expense. However, life dictated its own rules.

Return from evacuation

At the end of 1944, the family returned to Moscow, where Konstantin Mikhailovich was offered a job, he became a teacher of history and music theory at the newly created Moscow Choir School. The organizer and ideological inspirer of the musical institution is Alexander Vasilyevich Sveshnikov, a teacher, choirmaster, public figure and future People's Artist of the Soviet Union. After listening to a talented guy, A. V. Sveshnikov offers him training in choral art at the school. So, Rodion Shchedrin begins his musical career. In the future, the first composer works of the young author were associated precisely with choral singing.

Music days

Studying at the Moscow Choral School for Rodion Shchedrin was an introduction to great art. His musical abilities were evaluated by the best composers and performers of that time. The guests of the educational institution were great people - Svyatoslav Richter, Veniamin Khaet, Emil Gilels, Aram Khachaturian and Ivan Kozlovsky. The creative life of Rodion Shchedrin changed dramatically aftercomposition competition.

In 1947, under the guidance of an authoritative jury headed by Aram Ilyich Khachaturian, a competition for young composers was held within the walls of the choir school. The participants of the competition were young talents from all over the country, with a total of 35 people. Each composer submitted to the jury and the audience for one author's work. After heated creative disputes, the first place in the competition was given to a student of the choral department - Rodion Shchedrin.

Rodion Shchedrin: biography of the composer

In 1950, a young man entered the Moscow Conservatory to study. Rodion Shchedrin (photo can be seen below) becomes a student of two departments at once, composing and piano, where the talented musician was welcomed. R. Shchedrin considered his main success in life to be the piano lessons taught by the teacher Yakov Vladimirovich Flier, a Soviet pianist, laureate of many international competitions. Composition lessons were taught to Rodion Konstantinovich by Yuri Alexandrovich Shaporin, a Russian composer and conductor, winner of three Stalin Prizes. He also invited Rodion Shchedrin after graduating with honors to continue his studies at the conservatory graduate school.

After graduating, the composer remains to teach at his alma mater. Due to a conflict with the leadership of the university over the refusal to sign a letter in support of the entry of Soviet troops into Czechoslovakia, Rodion Shchedrin was forced to leave his job at the conservatory.

Stage works by composer R. Shchedrin

The first large-scale work of the musician was the ballet "The Little Humpbacked Horse" based on the work of the same name by Pyotr Ershov, which he created by order of the Bolshoi Theater. The author was in his early twenties. In the 60s, R. K. Shchedrin created several more pieces of music.

In 1961, Moscow saw the opera Not Only Love. This is a lyrical opera in three acts based on the stories of the writer Sergei Antonov.

The third great work of the author was the concert for the symphony orchestra "Naughty ditties", written by R. Shchedrin in 1963. The further list of author's works can be listed for a very long time. During his creative career, the composer wrote:

• 5 ballets and 6 operas;
• 14 solo concertos and 3 symphonies;
• 5 concertos for choir and 15 piano compositions;
• 25 chamber-instrumental compositions;
• 7 theater and 10 film scores.

In addition, Shchedrin wrote more than a hundred vocal compositions for soloists, choir and orchestra.

Love story

As you know, Maya Plisetskaya is the prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater, People's Artist of the USSR, laureate of international awards - the wife of Rodion Shchedrin. The most romantic and fateful event in the life of the composer took place in 1958. And the story of their acquaintance begins with the house of Lily Brik, the muse of V. V. Mayakovsky, where the future spouses met.

A group of friends gathered on the occasion of the arrival of their mutual friend, a French actorGerard Philip. After a noisy feast, Rodion Konstantinovich, as the owner of his own Volga car, was instructed to take the overstayed friends home. Coincidentally or not, but the last on the route was the house of Maya Plisetskaya. Gallantly saying goodbye to the ballerina, Rodion asked for the next date.

The second meeting took place at the rehearsal of the ballet "The Little Humpbacked Horse", where the prima ballerina was invited to one of the main roles. Finally, Cupid's arrows hit loving hearts after a summer vacation in the House of Composers' Creativity in Sortavala, on Lake Ladoga. After that, the couple in love went by Shchedrin's car to Sochi. Due to the unregistered relationship, the couple was not accommodated in a hotel, and they, without any regret, spent their honeymoon in a car on the Black Sea coast.

Officially, relations between Rodion and Maya were registered on October 2, 1958. The unique marriage of the composer and the ballerina lasted a lifetime. Only death could interrupt this love story.

On May 2, 2015, Maya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya passed away in Munich. The cause of death was massive myocardial infarction. Unfortunately, there were no children in this beautiful marriage - such is the great sacrifice of the Russian ballerina.

Wife's Will

Today the composer lives permanently in Munich (Germany). The he alth of Rodion Shchedrin after the death of his wife deteriorated sharply. Increasingly, local doctors visit his home. However, the composer does not despair and says that the best work has not yet been written.

According to the will of Maya Mikhailovna, the ashes of Plisetskaya should be combined with the ashes of Rodion Konstantinovich after his death and scattered over the territory of great Russia.