Video: Forced emigration of Mstislav Rostropovich: Why the famous musician was deprived of Soviet citizenship
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
11 years ago, on April 27, 2007, an outstanding cellist, pianist and conductor passed away Mstislav Rostropovich … He spent his last days in Moscow, and until 1991 he was forced to live 17 years in exile. His career abroad was very successful: he was awarded an honorary doctorate from more than 50 universities around the world, received state awards from 29 countries. And at home he was undeservedly forgotten for a long time: he was forcibly deprived of Soviet citizenship. Only after the collapse of the USSR, he was able to go back and talk about the reasons for his exile.
Mstislav Rostropovich was born into a family of musicians, his father was a famous cellist, and from an early age his path was predetermined. Mstislav studied music from the age of 4, and at 16 he became a student at the Moscow Conservatory. Two years later, he won the All-Union Competition for Young Musicians and became famous for the first time as a cellist. During his creative life, Rostropovich performed almost the entire repertoire of cello music. Moreover, nearly 60 composers have created new compositions especially for him.
In the late 1960s. the musician began conflicts with the authorities - he openly supported dissidents and spoke in defense of the disgraced writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn, giving him his dacha near Moscow. Solzhenitsyn admitted: "". In 1970, the musician and his wife, the famous opera singer Galina Vishnevskaya, wrote an open letter to Brezhnev and the editors of central Soviet newspapers in defense of the writer. The consequences were predictable: many hours of searches at customs after the cellist's return from a foreign tour, cancellation of concerts, suspension of recordings, devastating publications in the press, dismissal from the Moscow Philharmonic. In 1974 Mstislav Rostropovich was forced to leave the USSR "for anti-patriotic activity." His wife followed him. After 4 years they were deprived of their Soviet citizenship. This decree was canceled only 15 years later.
The musician did not expect that his exile would last so long and develop into emigration. Later he confessed: "".
The daughter of Mstislav Rostropovich and Galina Vishnevskaya said: "". Then many acquaintances turned away from them - at home, Rostropovich was considered a traitor. Once his assistant, whom the musician helped to become an associate professor at the conservatory, announced that he did not want to talk to him. And later it turned out that many acquaintances from his closest circle systematically wrote denunciations against him, including this assistant.
In the West, musicians were in great demand: Galina Vishnevskaya became one of the first Soviet opera singers to achieve recognition abroad, and Mstislav Rostropovich from 1977 to 1994. was Artistic Director of the National Orchestra in Washington, DC, performing on the stages of the best philharmonic and concert halls in the world.
For the first time after many years of emigration, Rostropovich was able to come to Russia in 1990 - then he was invited to perform in Moscow with the Washington Symphony Orchestra. At first, Galina Vishnevskaya did not want to go with him - the resentment against the state was still strong. At a press conference in France, the singer said: "". But after Olga's daughter volunteered to accompany him, his wife also agreed. And after the collapse of the USSR, they returned to Russia, although they periodically lived in France.
In 2007, Mstislav Rostropovich died after a long illness - he was diagnosed with a malignant liver tumor. After the death of her father, his daughter Olga also moved to Russia in order to be close to her mother, and in order to fulfill the musician's old dream - to organize a music festival. Since then, the Mstislav Rostropovich International Festival has been held annually in Moscow, which opened on his birthday, March 27. In 2012, Galina Vishnevskaya passed away, but her daughters continued the work of their parents: Olga is involved in the Foundation for the Support of Young Musicians and the Opera Center, and Elena is in charge of the Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Charitable Medical Center.
In the Western press they wrote about him: "". In 2002, The Times named him "the greatest living musician." Music really became a religion for him and the true meaning of life. "" - said Rostropovich.
For more than 50 years, his wife, whom he idolized, remained with him. Mstislav Rostropovich and Galina Vishnevskaya: love at first sight and for life.
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