Leningrad Productions
of Documentary films LSDF
Dmitri Shostakovich
SONATA FOR VIOLA
Script:
Boris Dobrodeev
Directors: Semion Aranovich,
Alexander Sokurov
Camera: Yuri Alexandrov
Yuri Lebedev
Sound: Eugenia Belyaeva
Consultants: Kara Karaev,
Sofia Hentova, Mikhail Yakubov
Production supervisor:
Taissa Jansson
Production manager:
Jeanna Airapetiants
Materials from:
Central Archive of Cinema
and Photo Documents
Gosfilmofond of the USSR
The Leningrad Audiovisual
State Archive
Mikhail Glinka Museum
Leningrad State Museum
of Music and Theatre
Shostakovich Family Archive
Special thanks to
Irina and Galina Shostakovich,
Tamara Kholodilina,
Alisa Shebalina, Sofia Shirinskaya
and Dmitri Sollertinsky
The summer
of 1975...
...was
Dmitri Shostakovich's last.
He was living in his dacha,
finishing a sonata for viola.
His illness made
his suffering unbearable.
He could hardly
walk.
On July 3
the TV showed
a rehearsal of "The Nose".
40 years after its creation,
the opera was back on stage.
Perhaps it sounds false
because it's too slow?
- Perhaps.
- It may be the reason...
Oh, Lord!
It doesn't stick!
Ivan, Ivan!
At your service!
- Go there!
- Where?
To the doctor!
Go, tell him...
He never forgot
his parents' home
in Petrograd,
with grief for his father,
who died early;
warmth
for his mother,
and sisters,
who invented all their games,
and dressed him
like a girl.
But his frailty
hid a strong will.
He inherited not only
his father's delicacy,
but also his
love of hard work.
And his mother's,
forcefulness,
her character.
He was born in this city
in 1906,
and had lived
half of his life here,
35 years.
In the summer of 1919,
Sofia Shostakovich brought
her son to the Conservatory.
He was 13.
Alexander Glazunov,
the Director,
first discovered
the boy's exceptional talent,
of Mozart-like
strength.
Later,
when Dmitri caught
tuberculosis
of the lymph glands,
Glazunov mourned:
"His death would be
an irreparable loss
to music."
Shostakovich successfully
graduated from two faculties:
Piano
and composition.
It wasn't easy:
He was 16,
when his father died.
He played the piano
in cinemas.
Improvising for the screen
was where he created his music.
Soon its novelty was to take
everyone by surprise.
Give me vodka!
Cheers!
This vodka's bitter!
It's good!
It's bitter!
Who is brighter
than the sun...
in the sky?
Who shines brighter...
...than the sun...
...in the sky?
"I had to work a lot
in cinemas.
All that greatly damaged
my health and nerves.
Now I don't bow
to anyone.
Even in the worst
poverty,
I won't go
to the cinema.
The mechanical illustration
of human passion
is too tiresome.
If ever I succeed
in earning a living,
I will work relentlessly
in the field of music,
and will give it
my life.
Now I need a summer break
to recover my health."
Nina Varzar,
a student in physics.
They lived in the same town,
but weren't yet acquainted.
It's in the future.
"On May 12, 1926
in the Philharmonic Hall,
Nikolas Malko conducted...
...my First Symphony,
to much applause."
Among those
applauding the composer,
was
Alexander Glazunov.
The conductor, Nikolas Malko,
confessed:
"I feel I have opened
a new page
in the history
of music.
Here is a new
great composer."
"In 1921, I met
Ivan Ivanovich Sollertinsky.
I knew at once he was
quite out of the ordinary,
and not easy
to get along with.
But we became
friends.
He made me love music,
as they say,
- Bach
to Offenbach -
...since then,
I like all music,
provided it's genuine."
It was the first generation
of Soviet musicians.
One day, works
by Shebalin and Shostakovich
were performed together.
Though the public preferred Shebalin,
they became friends.
Their friendship was
to undergo severe ordeals.
In 1927
Shostakovich
got an invitation
for the first Chopin
Piano Competition in Warsaw.
It was timely:
Shostakovich began to
have doubts