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Rostropovich leaves a legacy that is unlikely to be equaled. Raised by a modest, hard-working musical family, his phenomenal gift blossomed in the 1930’s and 40’s during Russia’s harshest period of oppression under Joseph Stalin. 1948 marked the height of artistic repression with the removal of Shostakovich (with whom Rostropovich was studying composition) from the faculty of the Moscow Conservatory. A governmental decree had condemned the music of Shostakovich, Prokofiev and many others. The tremendous weight of official resistance to musical progress in the Soviet Union only served to strengthen Rostropovich’s determination to perform the music he loved and it was in this climate that he inspired works from the great composers around him and championed their music in the West on his first international concert tours in the 1950’s. His concerts in America in the 1960’s – the first time I heard him live – were unforgettable events in the history of classical music. The power of his musical communication was unlike anything heard in the concert hall up until that time, certainly from a cellist. There was a feeling of astonishment at every concert and six or seven encores were regularly demanded by a public which simply could not let him go. Rostropovich’s mission on stage went far beyond a desire for a successful concert; it seemed that he was speaking on behalf of the composers directly, whether he knew them personally or not. For the Russian composers, especially, Rostropovich was an engine of their very survival, bringing their genius into an international light. Rostropovich’s crusade for artistic freedom did not end with the death of Stalin in 1953. Cultural oppression continued to squeeze all artists under subsequent Soviet leaders and reached a crisis point for Rostropovich and his wife, the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, in 1970, when they wrote an open letter of protest which not published in Pravda but appeared in newspapers around the world, including the New York Times. The Rostropovichs’ performances were cancelled, their names were removed from official archives and they were ultimately granted an “extended leave of absence” to tour the West as a result of pressure applied to Leonid Brezhnev personally by Senator Edward Kennedy. The couple, with their two children, left the Soviet Union in 1974 and would not return for nearly two decades. In 1978, the Soviet government revoked their citizenship, provoking international condemnation. Having given the premieres of literally hundreds of new works for cello, as well as having performed and recorded virtually the entire standard literature, Rostropovich turned his talent to conducting more during the 1970’s and 80’s. He was named Music Director of Washington’s National Symphony and guest-conducted and recorded with orchestras around the world. At the same time, he continued to appear as a cello soloist and commissioned new works, many of them of seemingly impossible length and difficulty, such as Alfred Schnittke’s Second Cello Concerto, which an astounded audience, including myself, heard him play from memory in Carnegie Hall at the work’s premiere. My actual lessons with him, which lasted roughly nine years, were sporadic, but my focus on learning from him was constant ever since I first was captivated by his recordings at the age of 11. One did not have to have a lesson to learn from Rostropovich; one had only to be near him in almost any situation. His life and lifestyle were like great music itself: always just beyond the imaginable. Conversely, his way of thinking about music was like life: he taught mostly by metaphor, always creating real-life scenarios that corresponded exactly to a moment in music that needed improvement. In this way, he included all present as his students, as his methods were accessible even to the non-musician. While setting the bar very high for all of us, he also made those goals seem attainable. He never intimidated. Every lesson was, as he put it, a collaboration with the student to improve the performance of a work. I consider myself a very fortunate musician to have learned so
much from someone whose artistic legacy will continue to grow as
history recalls his unassailable contribution to the art. It was
clear to me from the beginning of my relationship with Rostropovich,
as I know it was clear to all his students, that he expected the
same dedication and hard work from us as he did of himself. We can
only hope to thank him for all he gave to us by pursuing our work
with the same energy, dedication and spirit he brought to all he
did. We will all try to fill his shoes, but they are enormous indeed.
I’ll end here as I answer the call, now suddenly more urgent
than before, to get back to that work. Related Links:
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