Yuri Shaporin
Encyclopedia
Yuri Alexandrovich Shaporin was a Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

. His first name is also rendered or Iurii or Yury.

Biography

Shaporin was born in Hlukhiv
Hlukhiv
Hlukhiv or Glukhov is a historic town in Sumy region of Ukraine, just south from the Russian border . As of 2001, the city's population is 35,800...

 in Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

, Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

. His father was a painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

 and his mother a pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

. He received his secondary education in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

. He first studied philology
Philology
Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...

 at the Kiev University
Kiev University
Taras Shevchenko University or officially the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv , colloquially known in Ukrainian as KNU is located in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. It is the third oldest university in Ukraine after the University of Lviv and Kharkiv University. Currently, its structure...

. He went on to study law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...

 at the Saint Petersburg University
Saint Petersburg State University
Saint Petersburg State University is a Russian federal state-owned higher education institution based in Saint Petersburg and one of the oldest and largest universities in Russia....

.

He then turned to music, starting his studies at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory
Saint Petersburg Conservatory
The N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory is a music school in Saint Petersburg. In 2004, the conservatory had around 275 faculty members and 1,400 students.-History:...

 in 1913. His teachers there included Nikolay Sokolov (composition), Maximilian Steinberg
Maximilian Steinberg
Maximilian Osseyevich Steinberg was a Russian composer of classical music born in what is now Lithuania.-Life:...

 (orchestration
Orchestration
Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra or of adapting for orchestra music composed for another medium...

), and Nikolai Tcherepnin
Nikolai Tcherepnin
Nikolai Nikolayevich Tcherepnin was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. He was born in Saint Petersburg and studied under Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory...

 (conducting
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

). He graduated as a composer and conductor in 1918.

After the Bolshoi Drama Theater
Tovstonogov Theater
Tovstonogov Bolshoi Drama Theater , formerly known as Gorky Bolshoi Drama Theater , often referred to as the Bolshoi Drama Theater and by the acronym BDT , is a theater in Saint Petersburg, that is considered one of the best Russian theaters...

 was established in 1919, he participated, serving as its musical director until 1928. He then worked with the Russian State Pushkin Academy Drama Theater —also known as the Alexandrinsky Theater
Alexandrinsky Theater
The Alexandrinsky Theatre or Russian State Pushkin Academy Drama Theater is a theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia....

— until 1934. During this period he composed a significant amount of theater music.

He was a founding member of the Association for Contemporary Music in 1923.

During the 1930s he turned his attention to large scale works. His opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 Dekabristi (The Decembrists), with the libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...

 written by Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy
Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy
Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy , nicknamed the Comrade Count, was a Russian and Soviet writer who wrote in many genres but specialized in science fiction and historical novels...

 about the Decembrist revolt
Decembrist revolt
The Decembrist revolt or the Decembrist uprising took place in Imperial Russia on 14 December , 1825. Russian army officers led about 3,000 soldiers in a protest against Nicholas I's assumption of the throne after his elder brother Constantine removed himself from the line of succession...

, had been on Shaporin's mind already by 1920 —a 1925 interim version, Polina Gyobe, had two scenes staged in Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...

. He completed a version in 1938, but dissatisfied with it, he decided to revise it. It was only completed in 1953, after collaboration with librettist Vsevolod Rozhdestvensky
Vsevolod Rozhdestvensky
Vsevolod Alexandrovich Rozhdestvensky was a Russian poet....

. The opera was premiered at the Bolshoi Theatre
Bolshoi Theatre
The Bolshoi Theatre is a historic theatre in Moscow, Russia, designed by architect Joseph Bové, which holds performances of ballet and opera. The Bolshoi Ballet and Bolshoi Opera are amongst the oldest and most renowned ballet and opera companies in the world...

 on June 23, 1953.

The Bolshoi Theatre had already by 1938 commissioned
Commission (art)
In art, a commission is the hiring and payment for the creation of a piece, often on behalf of another.In classical music, ensembles often commission pieces from composers, where the ensemble secures the composer's payment from private or public organizations or donors.- Commissions for public art...

 a version of the opera. Shaporin also received an offer of a teaching position at the Moscow Conservatory
Moscow Conservatory
The Moscow Conservatory is a higher musical education institution in Moscow, and the second oldest conservatory in Russia after St. Petersburg Conservatory. Along with the St...

 and he moved to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

 in 1938. In 1952, Shaporin was awarded the Stalin Prize.

Among his students at the Moscow Conservatory were Edward Artemiev and Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin.

Further reading

  • Grosheva, Elena Andreevna, ed. Iurii Aleksandrovich Shaporin : literaturnoe nasledie—statʹi, pisʹma : statʹi o tvorchestve I.U.A. Shaporina : vospominaniia sovremennikov. Moscow: "Sov. kompozitor", 1989. ISBN 585285123X.
  • Martynov, I. (Ivan Ivanovich.) Iurii Shaporin. Moskva : Izd-vo Muzyka, 1966. OCLC 10286667. Work list: pp. 161–164.

Brief list of works

  • Piano sonatas (at least two. First sonata, opus 5 published around 1924. Sonata no. 2 is op. 7, published around 1929)
  • Symphony for chorus and orchestra, op. 11, completed 1932 and premiered in London by Albert Coates
    Albert Coates (musician)
    Albert Coates was an English conductor and composer. Born in Saint Petersburg where his English father was a successful businessman, he studied in Russia, England and Germany, before beginning his career as a conductor in a series of German opera houses...

     and the BBC Symphony Orchestra
    BBC Symphony Orchestra
    The BBC Symphony Orchestra is the principal broadcast orchestra of the British Broadcasting Corporation and one of the leading orchestras in Britain.-History:...

  • Na pole Kukikovom (On the Field of Kulikova): cantata, op. 14
  • The Story of the Struggle for the Russian Soil op. 17 (recorded on HMV in about 1970)
  • How long shall the kite fly? : oratorio for baritone, mezzo-soprano, chorus and orchestra, op. 20
  • Pieces for cello and piano, op. 25
  • Ballade for piano, op. 28
  • Dekabristy (The Decembrists), opera, completed 1953

Film music

  • The Deserter
    The Deserter (1933 film)
    The Deserter is a 1933 Soviet film directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin.-Cast:* Boris Livanov - Karl Renn* Vasili Kovrigin - Ludwig Zelle* Aleksandr Chistyakov - Fritz Muller* Tamara Makarova - Greta Zelle* Semyon Svashenko - Bruno...

    (1933)
  • Tri pesni o Lenine (Three Songs about Lenin) (1934)
  • Zaklyuchennye (Prisoners) (1936)
  • Victory
    Victory (1938 film)
    Victory is a 1938 Soviet film directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin and Mikhail Doller.-Cast:* Yekaterina Korchagina-Aleksandrovskaya - Mother Samoylova* Vladimir Solovyov - Klim Samoylov, stratoplane pilot* S. Ostroumov - Lomov* N. Sanov - Gudiashvili...

    (1938)
  • Minin and Pozharsky
    Minin and Pozharsky
    Minin and Pozharsky is a 1939 Soviet film directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin and Mikhail Doller, based on Viktor Shklovsky's novel "Russians at the Beginning of the XVII Century"....

    (1939)
  • Suvorov
    Suvorov (film)
    Suvorov is a 1941 Soviet film directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin and Mikhail Doller, based on the life of Russian general Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov , one of the few great generals in history who never lost a battle. It was released as General Suvorov in the USA...

    (1941)
  • Kutuzov (1944)

External links

Biography
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