Dmitri Shostakovich - Russian composer

Read the text and do the tasks.

1.Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (25 September 1906 – 9 August 1975) was a Soviet composer and pianist, and a prominent figure of 20th-century music.

2.Shostakovich achieved fame in the Soviet Union under the patronage of Soviet chief of staff Mikhail Tukhachevsky, but later had a complex and difficult relationship with the government. Shostakovich's music is characterized by sharp contrasts, elements of the grotesque, and  tonality. Shostakovich's orchestral works include 15 symphonies.

3.Born at Podolskaya street in Saint Petersburg, Russia, Shostakovich was the second of three children of Dmitri Boleslavovich Shostakovich and Sofiya Vasilievna Kokoulina. He began piano lessons with his mother at the age of nine. In 1918, he wrote a funeral march in memory of two leaders of the Kadet party, murdered by Bolshevik sailors.

4.His opera, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, which was first performed in 1934, was immediately successful, on both popular and official levels.

5.His greatest and most famous wartime contribution was the Seventh Symphony. The composer wrote the first three movements in Leningrad and completed the work in Kuibyshev (now Samara) where he and his family had been evacuated.

6.His last work was his Viola Sonata, which was first performed on 28 December 1975, four months after his death. He died because of cancer and buried in Moscow.

Tasks

1. Quiz

1. In what city was the composer born? Moscow, St. Peterburg, Samara

2. How many symphonies did he write? 15, 6, 7

3. What was the reason of Shostakovich’s death? Flu, bronchitis, cancer

4. At what age did he begin his piano lessons? 9, 10, 11

5. What is the name of his best-known symphony? The 4^th, the 7^th, the 5^th

1. Translate 4 and 5 extracts and write it in your copybooks

2. Match the equivalents

Home task: do the presentation about one of Russian composer.

Список источников

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitri_Shostakovich

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LZC9dOFDKA

https://www.google.ru/search?q=%D1%88%D0%B0%D0%B1%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%BD+%D0%B4%D0%BB%D1%8F+%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B7%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%B8+%D0%BC%D1%83%D0%B7%D1%8B%D0%BA%D0%B0&newwindow=1&rlz=1C1GKLB_enRU683RU683&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=623&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj8mcPfzvrOAhWEkiwKHdO9DGkQsAQIGw&dpr=1

Dmitri

Dmitriyevich

Shostakovich

• Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (25 September 1906 – 9 August 1975) was a  Soviet   composer  and  pianist , and a prominent figure of 20th-century music.

Birthplace of Shostakovich (now School No. 267)

Shostakovich’s grave in Moscow