Mstislav Rostropovich

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Lore & Background

Rostropovich was born in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, to parents who had moved from Orenburg in Russia: Leopold Vitoldovich Rostropovich, a renowned cellist and former student of Pablo Casals, and Sofiya Nikolaevna Fedotova-Rostropovich, a talented pianist. At age four, he began studying piano with his mother, and at age eight, began learning the cello from his father. In 1943, at age 16, he entered the Moscow Conservatory, where he studied cello with his uncle Semyon Kozolupov, piano with Nikolai Kuvshinnikov, and composition with Vissarion Shebalin. His teachers also included Dmitri Shostakovich. In 1945, he came to prominence as a cellist when he won the gold medal in the Soviet Union's first ever competition for young musicians. He graduated from the Conservatory in 1948 and became professor of cello there in 1956. He married soprano Galina Vishnevskaya in 1955. Rostropovich had working relationships with Soviet composers: Nikolai Myaskovsky dedicated his Cello Sonata no. 2, Op. 81, to him; Sergei Prokofiev wrote his Cello Sonata, Op. 119, and Symphony-Concerto for him; Dmitri Shostakovich wrote both his first and second cello concertos for him. Benjamin Britten dedicated his Cello Sonata, three Solo Suites, and his Cello Symphony to Rostropovich. At The Proms on 21 August 1968, he played Dvořák's Cello Concerto in B minor with the USSR State Symphony Orchestra on the same day the Warsaw Pact invaded Czechoslovakia. After the performance, Rostropovich stood and held aloft the conductor's score of the Dvořák as a gesture of solidarity for the composer's homeland and the city of Prague. In 1970, Rostropovich sheltered Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in his own home. His friendship with Solzhenitsyn and support for dissidents led to official disgrace in the early 1970s. He left the Soviet Union in 1974 with his wife and children and settled in the United States. In 1978, Rostropovich was deprived of his Soviet citizenship because of his public opposition to the Soviet Union's restriction of cultural freedom. He did not return to the Soviet Union until 1990.

Reader's Guide

Rostropovich's significance lies in his dual legacy as a performer and a catalyst for new music. He inspired and premiered over 100 pieces, working with major 20th-century composers to create enduring works for cello. His advocacy for human rights, including his support for dissidents and his protest against the invasion of Czechoslovakia, made him a symbol of artistic freedom. Despite harassment and exile from the Soviet Union, he continued his career as a conductor and performer, notably leading the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. from 1977 to 1994. His efforts to aid Armenian earthquake victims in 1988—including a special concert at Barbican Hall on 17 December 1988, part of an effort called Musicians for Armenia expected to raise more than $450,000—further demonstrated his humanitarian commitment. Rostropovich's impact on the cello repertoire and his moral stance remain central to his legacy.

Did You Know?

• Rostropovich won the gold medal in the Soviet Union's first ever competition for young musicians in 1945.
• He was awarded the 1974 Award of the International League of Human Rights.
• At The Proms on 21 August 1968, he held aloft the conductor's score of Dvořák's Cello Concerto as a gesture of solidarity with Prague after the Warsaw Pact invasion.
• He sheltered Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in his own home in 1970.
• Rostropovich was deprived of his Soviet citizenship in 1978 and did not return until 1990.

A Catalyst for New Music

Rostropovich's most enduring contribution to the cello world was not merely his virtuoso interpretations but his extraordinary ability to draw new music into existence. Over his career, he inspired and premiered more than one hundred works, a number that no other cellist has matched before or since. His relationships with composers were deeply personal and long-lasting. Shostakovich turned to Rostropovich as the dedicatee and first interpreter of both his cello concertos. Prokofiev, moved by a 1949 sonata performance, composed his Op. 119 Cello Sonata and the Symphony-Concerto, both premiered by Rostropovich; after Prokofiev's death, Rostropovich and Dmitry Kabalevsky completed the composer's Cello Concertino. In the West, Benjamin Britten dedicated his Cello Sonata, three Solo Suites, and Cello Symphony to him. He also formed creative bonds with Dutilleux, Lutosławski, Penderecki, Berio, Messiaen, and Myaskovsky, the latter of whom dedicated his Cello Sonata No. 2 to Rostropovich, and they premiered it together in 1949. These partnerships transformed the cello from a largely historical instrument into a living voice of modern composition.

Roots in Baku and a Musical Dynasty

Born in March 1927 in Baku, Azerbaijan, Mstislav Rostropovich entered a world saturated with music from the very start. His father, Leopold, was a celebrated cellist and former pupil of Pablo Casals, while his mother, Sofiya, was a conservatory-trained pianist of Russian descent. The family's heritage stretched back through Polish nobility bearing the Bogoria coat of arms, German and Huguenot ancestry, and distant Belarusian roots. Rostropovich began piano lessons with his mother at age four and picked up the cello at eight under his father's guidance. During the war, the family relocated to Orenburg and then Moscow in 1943, where the sixteen-year-old entered the Moscow Conservatory. There he studied cello with his uncle Semyon Kozolupov, piano with Kuvshinnikov, composition with Shebalin, and also received instruction from Shostakovich. In 1945 he captured the gold medal at the Soviet Union's inaugural competition for young musicians, and by 1950, at twenty-three, he had been awarded the Stalin Prize, the country's highest honor at the time.

The Proms, Prague, and a Stand for Freedom

The night of 21 August 1968 at the BBC Proms remains one of the most charged moments in Rostropovich's public life. He performed Dvořák's Cello Concerto in B minor with the USSR State Symphony Orchestra, marking the ensemble's debut at the festival. The concert took place on the very day the Warsaw Pact armies rolled into Czechoslovakia to crush Alexander Dubček's Prague Spring reforms. The hall had been disrupted by heckling and demonstrations before the music began, yet once the performance concluded, the audience rose to cheer both soloist and orchestra. In a gesture that transcended the concert stage, Rostropovich stood and lifted the conductor's score of the Dvořák high above his head, a silent act of solidarity with the composer's homeland and the besieged city of Prague. This moment crystallized his broader identity as a human rights advocate. He had long championed artistic freedom and democratic values, drawing the ire of Soviet authorities. In 1974 he received the Award of the International League of Human Rights, a recognition of his sustained commitment to principles the regime sought to suppress.

Beyond the Cello: Conducting, Family, and Legacy

While the cello defined his public image, Rostropovich also cultivated a serious conducting career. He took private lessons with Leo Ginzburg and made his public conducting debut in Gorky in November 1962, presenting Shostakovich's orchestration of Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death alongside Vishnevskaya's singing. In 1967, at the invitation of Bolshoi director Mikhail Chulaki, he conducted Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin at the Bolshoi. His personal life was inseparable from his art: he married the Bolshoi soprano Galina Vishnevskaya in 1955, and together they raised two daughters, Olga and Elena. His family spoke of a special tenderness in his bond with Britten, describing him as always smiling when discussing Ben, and on his deathbed in April 2007 he reportedly expressed no fear, believing he and Britten would be reunited in Heaven. His daughter recalled that a recording of Schubert's Arpeggione Sonata made with Britten moved her father to tears of joy even in his final hours. Among his many honors was the Polar Music Prize, a testament to a life bridging performance, composition, advocacy, and deep human connection.

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