Dissident cello

Last night I went down to the Detroit Film Theater for the documentary Mstislave Rostropovich, the Indomitable Bow. Yes, this is about the famous Russian cellist. A rather nice way to spend the evening listening to all this wonderful cello music performed by the master of the instrument. His career took hold in the 1950s and he was known as the best cellist in the Soviet Union. He was given a few extra perks and even allowed to travel abroad. Rostropovich was somewhat protected when his friends, composers Serge Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich were censured by the government, though he protested the action.

He met singer Galina Vishnevskaya and four days later they were married. Several years later he was asked, what do you think now about getting married so quickly? He replied, “I wasted four days.” He was also very good on the piano and soon was her only accompanist. He was so busy that they usually didn’t have much time to rehearse and spent much of that time arguing. So when they went on stage they were usually feeling grumpy towards each other. Then they started to perform and magic happened, the anger forgotten.

One of those trips abroad was to play in London with the Soviet orchestra in 1968. The day of the concert was the day that the Soviets invaded Czechoslovakia. On the program was the Cello Concerto by Antonin Dvorak, a Czech. The concert was difficult for Rostropovich because he felt betrayal. It didn’t help that the audience was a bit hostile. Afterward he held up the conductor’s score as a gesture of solidarity. The incident made him realize the Soviet system had more problems than he thought and he spoke out.

Dissident author Alexander Solzhenitsyn attracted too much attention of the government in 1970. The writer and cellist were friends and Rostropovich invited Solzhenitsyn and his wife to live with them, to provide shelter. Rostropovich started losing his perks. No more travel abroad. His and her concerts were canceled except in the small cities. He finally asked the government, let me go. In 1974, they did.

Though it was hard to leave his homeland, it didn’t take long for his international career to blossom. Playing the cello, teaching, and directing, including the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington for 17 years. But his continued outspokenness annoyed the Soviets and they revoked his citizenship. He thought that was especially cruel.

In 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell, Rostropovich dashed to the scene and played beside the wall. That image was shown around the world. His citizenship was restored in 1990. He made a triumphant return.

Rostropovich was quite annoyed with Mozart and Brahms for not writing cello concertos. He’s also annoyed with the cellists in those days for not asking the great composers to write for them. To make sure he wasn’t accused of such a thing he asked every composer he knew (and he knew a lot) to write for him. Only Stravinsky didn’t respond. Rostropovich premiered over 100 works for the cello.

He was unfailingly kind and generous. One person said being with him was like being with a geyser.