In anticipation of the final “String Quartet at a Time of War: Britten and His Contemporaries” concert, Robert Greenberg has a new blog featuring the Shostakovich String Quartet No. 8. Read the intro here and finish the wonderful blog on www.robertgreenbergmusic.com!
Art, politics, and current events make problematic bedfellows, but they are a Ménage à trois that cannot be avoided when talking about Dmitri Shostakovich and his music.
Shostakovich was born on September 25, 1906 in St. Petersburg, and died in Moscow on August 9, 1975, a few weeks shy of his 69th birthday.
Shostakovich’s compositional career corresponded exactly with the history of the Soviet Union from 1917-1975. He began attending the St. Petersburg (Petrograd) Conservatory at the very end of the Tsarist era; he graduated and began his career during Lenin’s rule (the early 1920′s); he knew Stalin and was nearly purged twice, in 1936 and 1948; he survived the siege of Leningrad, kowtowed to Khrushchev, and died while Brezhnev was in power…
Continue reading on www.robertgreenbergmusic.com
The String Quartet at a Time of War: Britten and His Contemporaries
Saturday, March 16 – 10:00am
San Francisco Performances Inc.
Herbst Theatre
San Francisco, California
Tickets: www.sfperformances.org
Program:
ASQ with lecturer, Robert Greenberg
BRITTEN: Quartet No. 3 (1975)
SHOSTAKOVICH: Quartet No. 8 (1960)