Conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky: biography, professional activity, personal life

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

In the history of culture of the 20th century, the name of the Russian composer and pianist Gennady Nikolaevich Rozhdestvensky is on the list of the world's greatest conductors. From the turns of his amazing life, you can learn about the main stages in the formation of musical culture.

Gennady Rozhdestvensky has dedicated his life to music for over 60 years. The photo and biography of the conductor are presented to your attention in this article. His past and present are a reflection of true artistic creativity with the manifestation of the highest taste and convictions, tempered by time.

Gennady Rozhdestvensky (conductor): biography

An outstanding musician of our time was born in the capital on May 4, 1931 in a family of professional musicians: Nikolai Anosov, a famous conductor of the Moscow Conservatory, and Natalia Rozhdestvenskaya, soloist, singer on the All-Union Radio. From the above, it is already possible to understand why Gennady Rozhdestvensky connected his life with music. The family of the capital's intellectuals introduced their son to the art of music from early childhood. Amongmemories of childhood: the beginning of the war, the evacuation and the piano, which was buried in the ground so that it would not get to the enemies. On it, after returning to Moscow, he continued his studies.

In the year the war ended, Gennady Rozhdestvensky began learning to play the piano under the direction of Elena Gnesina at the author's school, and then moved to the class of Professor Lev Oborin at the Central Music School at the Moscow Conservatory, from which in 1950 his musical maturation began. At the same time, the father gave lessons in conducting skills, passed on to his son the skills to manage the orchestra with one's eyes, without the help of hands. During these years, the conviction came that being a conductor is his true calling.

First frontiers

The years spent at the conservatory were very eventful:

• performing debut in Leningrad with a performance of Tchaikovsky's works,
• internship at the Bolshoi Theater and the position of ballet conductor (1951-1960),
• participation of the student orchestra led by Rozhdestvensky in Berlin as part of the Festival of Youth and Students,
• victory in Bucharest at the creative competition.

At the age of 20, the young conductor Rozhdestvensky led the orchestra for the first time at the Bolshoi Theater in Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty. Since that time, his path as a theatrical and later as a symphony conductor began, and the pages of his creative biography at the Bolshoi Theater began.

After graduating from the conservatory in 1954, studies continued in graduate school until 1957. The art of conducting has been honed inballet productions (War and Peace by Sergei Prokofiev, The Nutcracker by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Spartacus by Aram Khachaturian, The Little Humpbacked Horse by Rodion Shchedrin).

The talent to serve art

Rozhdestvensky broadcast his reading of music through various orchestras, but at the beginning of the journey, the milestones were the periods of work as the chief conductor at the Bolshoi Theater and, almost at the same time, in the orchestra on the All-Union Radio and Television.

Almost 40 ballets and operas were performed in the theater under the direction of the master in five years. At this time, the conductor's desire was manifested not only to perform the classics of the orchestral repertoire, but also to revive the best works of authors from the past, for which he was later called a musical archaeologist. Thanks to the selfless work of Rozhdestvensky, the listeners were also exposed to the beautiful music of compatriots or avant-garde composers who had returned from disgrace. His conducting technique is characterized by an individual artistic style, thanks to which he is able to convey to the listener the almost visibly imagery of musical masterpieces.

The scope of creative activity and the manifestation of powerful talent attracted Western teams to cooperate with Gennady Rozhdestvensky.

Breakthrough to Europe

In Soviet times, art was tightly controlled by party bodies. The conductor Rozhdestvensky was the first to be allowed to work in Europe and was released in 1972 to Stockholm on a tour. The success was of the highest level, as a result - an invitation to head the Royal Philharmonicorchestra. It took time and a decision at the level of the first persons of the states for the Minister of Culture Furtseva to open the way for the musician to work in Sweden with one of the world's best orchestras. It was a real breakthrough not only in the fate of Rozhdestvensky, but also in Soviet culture.

Political aspect

In 1974, an event occurred that became a test of the personal qualities of both the leader and the person of Gennady Nikolayevich Rozhdestvensky.

Chairman of the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company S. G. Lapin urged the conductor to purify the Symphony Orchestra of Central Television and All-Union Radio from persons of Jewish nationality under any formal pretext. The next step was an anonymous letter about the creation of a Zionist center in the orchestra. But the pressure exerted did not make the conductor follow the recommendations from above.

His resignation from the leadership position was quickly accepted, the time of uncertainty became an ordeal for a man who lived for creativity and work. But the meeting with director Boris Pokrovsky opened up new opportunities for the musician.

Inspirational creativity

Joint work with B. Pokrovsky at the Chamber Opera Theater on the production of D. Shostakovich's "The Nose" led to unprecedented success and numerous invitations to the maestro to work in various domestic and foreign groups. This was the period of the musician's creative rise, which was enthusiastically written about in Moscow, Leningrad, Amsterdam, London, Cleveland, Chicago, Stockholm, Tokyo and other cities of the world. More than 100 world orchestras performed music when the conductorthe remote control was Rozhdestvensky.

The list of ensembles with which the maestro worked reflects the scope of the conductor's creative activity and the enormous dedication of one of the most sought-after musicians of the era.

Performance of works conducted by G. Rozhdestvensky returned to admirers the music of Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich. The name of the composer A. G. Schnittke is inextricably linked with the conductor, who was the first to present his orchestral music to the public.

Extensive concert activity, recordings of outstanding composers reflected the talent of both a pioneer and a cultural historian who collected musical gems of past eras: symphonies by L. Beethoven, A. Bruckner, J. Brahms, J. Haydn, A. Glazunov, S Gubaidullina, J. Sibelius, V. Fleishman and others.

Tour activities

In the repertoire of Rozhdestvensky, according to approximate estimates, more than 2000 works of different eras and musical styles. Almost all the world's best bands - the Philharmonic Orchestras of London, Berlin, the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra and others - worked under the wave of Rozhdestvensky's baton. The ability to convey to the orchestra the author's intention, to convince the composer of the idea and follow its implementation - this was the great skill of the conductor.

37 countries and more than two hundred different cities hosted the maestro. No contemporary has such a geography of tours.

More than 150 works were presented to the world musical public for the first time. Rozhdestvensky's deep convictionthat the theater should shape the audience's tastes, cultivate musical culture, and not follow the demands of the public, was fully embodied in the selection of the repertoire and the production of unique concert programs.

Gennady Rozhdestvensky: personal life

The conductor's successful and unusually rich musical activity would not have been possible without the support of his family. Gennady Rozhdestvensky himself is sure of this. The conductor's wife is the famous pianist and stage partner Victoria Postnikova. Son Alexander is the successor of the musical dynasty, a violinist.

Today they can be seen at the same performance. Family creativity is reflected not only in traditional genres, but also in almost forgotten melody recitations, within which Rozhdestvensky's talent as a brilliant reader was revealed.

Gennady Rozhdestvensky is a conductor whose personal life, one might say, has developed in the best possible way, because everyone in the family is his like-minded people.

Criticism and time

Relations with music critics and members of the press have not always been objective and friendly. The feeling of creative and personal freedom never left the conductor; this prevented him from meeting the standards of the time and formalized requirements. Purposeful journalistic persecution followed. The fulfillment by the press of political orders and the flow of unfounded accusations led to the fact that Gennady Nikolayevich does not always speak flatteringly about the workers of the pen. He is convinced that those authors who, at leastleast familiar with the score.

Time changes the assessments of previous years: what was an object of condemnation yesterday is becoming a source of pride today. This is confirmed by the staging of the world premiere of S. Prokofiev's opera The Gambler. Rozhdestvensky, despite all the critics, is the winner of numerous Russian and international awards and prizes of the highest level.

Unique gift

The talent of Rozhdestvensky as an interpreter was revealed in various symphonic, opera and ballet genres. More than 300 works were presented to the domestic public for the first time. The masterful performance of foreign and Russian classical music, works by avant-garde composers, the ability to translate different styles with an understanding of the author's essence reflected the unique talent of the musician, whose name has become a bright page in world culture.

The undoubted merit of the conductor was the establishment of cultural ties between countries, including Sweden, England, Germany, Japan and others.

The mission of an educator in the field of musical culture accompanied the creative path of Gennady Rozhdestvensky. Thanks to his efforts, the legacy of I. Stravinsky was returned, the works of Bruckner, Bartok, Milhaud, Schoenberg, unknown to the public, were discovered. It has become a tradition to preface the performance with stories and explanations of the performance program, which undoubtedly enhances the perception of artistic images created by word and sound.

Rozhdestvensky is the author of television and radio series about outstanding directors of the 20th century, the world's best orchestras.

The musician's literary work is represented by several publications on the art of conducting, a book of memoirs.

Today, G. Rozhdestvensky teaches as a professor at the Moscow Conservatory and continues to be a unique medium between creators in music and a new generation of listeners.

Gennady Rozhdestvensky is a conductor with a capital letter. His talent knows no bounds. Let's wish him good luck and inspiration!