He is called a classic during his lifetime, many orchestras consider it an honor to perform his works. With a minimal set of tools, his orchestrations instantly become hits. And he, the brilliant composer Rodion Shchedrin, invariably reiterates that all his life he strove to be himself.
Rodion was born in 1932, on the birthday of Beethoven, in Moscow. Music surrounded him from early childhood - many of his loved ones loved music and singing. Therefore, they wanted to send Rodion to school at the conservatory, but the war began.
A brave boy tried several times to escape to the front, but he was found and returned to his parents. Soon, the Shchedrin family was evacuated to Kuibyshev, where Rodion got to the final rehearsal of the Seventh Symphony of Shostakovich.
After the school, Shchedrin was waiting for the Nakhimov school, but again fate makes a sharp turn: his father became a teacher in the choral school of Alexander Sveshnikov, and Rodion entered this school. Here he received excellent training as a pianist.
Musical creativity
After college - admission to the conservatory and study at two faculties at once - composer and piano. He enthusiastically performed the works of other composers, and was going to quit writing, but the teachers dissuaded. And already in the 4th year, Rodion Shchedrin became a member of the Union of Composers.
His creative fate was quite happy: he began to create in the 60s of the twentieth century, and this was a time of relative freedom in art. At that time, individuality was valued, and Shchedrin possessed it to the full, because he did not want to imitate anyone. And he reacted little to the opinion of critics.
Rodion Shchedrin called his first concert for the orchestra of 1963 "Mischievous Chastooshka" - in it folk motifs are organically woven into the overall composition. The composer loved Russian classics, used her motives in his works.
Shchedrin's first opera is called "Not Only Love", its premiere took place at the Bolshoi Theater, conducted by Evgeny Svetlanov, and the main part was sung by Irina Arkhipova. Then there were other operas: "Christmas Tale", "Boyar Morozova", "Left-Handed" and others.
Of the vocal works, critics noted choirs from Eugene Onegin and a cappella choirs to poems by the poets of Twardowski and Ascension
Shchedrin is not only an academic composer, he has music for films: Anna Karenina, People on the Bridge and Height.
Rodion Shchedrin has many awards, the main ones are the Lenin Prize, the USSR State Prize and the RF State Prize, as well as the title of People's Artist of the USSR.
