Translated material
Mstislav Rostropovich died
The world recently celebrated his eightieth birthday. In Moscow, during a break between the hospital and the sanatorium, he accepted congratulations from the authorities (Order of Merit for the Fatherland, first degree), the public and colleagues - the city confessed its absolute love, devotion and respect to him.
He was not in Moscow from the early 70s until 1990, when he and Galina Pavlovna Vishnevskaya were solemnly returned to Soviet citizenship, taken away in 1974.
He came then with the National Orchestra of Washington, which he led until recently, and it was an unforgettable, incredible event. Around him, the streets were literally in full swing within a radius of several kilometers. And in 1991, he flew with his cello straight to the White House - to defend freedom and freedom-loving citizens with music. Just as shortly before, also with a cello, he used music to send the stones of the Berlin Wall to the dump.
Then he played with an orchestra on Red Square, laid stones in the foundation of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, opened charitable foundations and programs, festivals, schools and hospitals throughout the country, built an Opera Singing Center on Ostozhenka with Vishnevskaya, continued to discover and remember unknown, forgotten, abandoned from the repertoire of works (from the disgraced first edition of Shostakovich’s opera “Lady Macbeth” to Slonimsky’s opera “Ivan the Terrible”).
Rostropovich was a fantastically bright, literally flaring, emotional person who knew how to be indignant and glow with delight, whose charm was absolutely limitless. He was a great (this can be said absolutely easily) musician with perfect pitch, a nose for even great music, including when it was composed before his eyes, and a heightened, restless, civic sense of rare intensity.
When in the 60s, Rostropovich not only sheltered the disgraced Solzhenitsyn at his dacha and wrote an open letter to Brezhnev in his defense, but also gathered thousands of people at the conservatory in classes and at concerts with the music of Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Britten (he loved them, knew them, was friends with them, inspired them and was inspired himself), Soviet officials were not just furious. They suffered. His charm extended to them, and it was not easy for the authorities to anathematize Rostropovich. She certainly succeeded and the stage went dark. When Rostropovich returned, we remembered this incredibly lively, tremulous, nervous, enthusiastic brilliance that again illuminated the local scene, although not for long.
Here everything did not work out very harmoniously - in the late 90s (it is believed that after being offended by journalists) Rostropovich, as a matter of principle, did not give concerts in Moscow. Two years ago I was preparing the premiere of Prokofiev’s opera “War and Peace” at the Bolshoi Theater, but I left this project just before the premiere. Unfortunately, in recent years the public has been almost deprived of Rostropovich the musician.
But recently it was as if this wall had fallen - Rostropovich wonderfully conducted Shostakovich’s Eighth Symphony. It was on the centenary day of the composer, teacher and friend of Rostropovich. He played like that - as if he was saying goodbye. And it was as if he was talking about some kind of meeting. He did not communicate with the audience, did not smile at the audience, and was reserved. And the music sounded just as restrained as a ceremonial fresco. Perhaps we should thank fate for the fact that Rostropovich still said goodbye to us with music, and in exactly this way - deeply and strictly. As if suddenly, unexpectedly standing higher, much higher than all the insults and misunderstandings, delights and worship.
For the whole world he was Slava, with him everyone seemed to feel close. Now he is far away, and it is unlikely that anyone else, like him, will now be able to convey to us this acute, aching and burning feeling of closeness with everyone and with the world, with the era and its events, with music and musicians. This closeness was his profession, his talent. We will now have to do without it.
Farewell to Mstislav Rostropovich will take place today from 11.00 to 20.00 in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. The funeral service will take place tomorrow at 11.00 in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Then Mstislav Rostropovich will be buried at the Novodevichy cemetery. According to ITAR-TASS , Rostropovich's grave will be located on the Central Alley, 10-15 meters from the burial place of the first Russian President Boris Yeltsin.