Mstislav Rostropovich
(1927-2007), CellistSitter in 7 portraits
The virtuoso cellist Rostropovich was taught by Shostakovich from 1943. He met Britten in 1960, who inspired him to write Sonata in C for cello and piano (1961), Cello Symphony (1963) and three Suites for Cello (1964-71). His own technique inspired Shostakovich, Britten and Prokoviev to compose new work, enlarging the classical cello repertoire. Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, Rostropovich's advocation of human rights brought him into conflict with the Soviet Union authorities. In 1974 he was exiled as a dissident and settled in America with his wife, Opera Soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, and daughters. He returned as communism collapsed, performing Bach cello suites throughout the night as the Berlin Wall came down.
Comments back to top
We are currently unable to accept new comments, but any past comments are available to read below.
If you need information from us, please use our Archive enquiry service . Please note that we cannot provide valuations. You can buy a print or greeting card of most illustrated portraits. Select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Buy a Print button. Prices start at around £6 for unframed prints, £16 for framed prints. If you wish to license an image, select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Use this image button, or contact our Rights and Images service. We digitise over 8,000 portraits a year and we cannot guarantee being able to digitise images that are not already scheduled.