Shostakovich, Dimitri. (1906-1975)
Original Photograph with Meyerhold and Mayakovsky at "Bed Bug" Rehearsal
Large vintage photograph showing Meyerhold, Mayakovsky, Shostakovich and others at a 1930 rehearsal of The Bed Bug, Op. 19. 15" x 11" (382 x 280 mm.). The lower right corner perished, small tear at left, else fine."Vesevolod Meyerhold (1874-1940) was one of the most important theater directors of the twentieth century. His influence spread in every direction, even beyond Russia. Modern theater the world over is hardly conceivable without him, but he also had a decisive impact on the evolution of the cinema (through his one-time pupil Eisenstein), on a whole variety of writers and painters, and on composers. Stravinsky and Prokofiev both knew him and were affected by him, especially in their theater works, but the composer most touched by his aesthetic and techniques was Dmitri Shostakovich.
In 1928, Meyerhold plucked the young Leningrad composer, still only in his early 20s, and took him to Moscow. There Shostakovich worked for a short but important time as pianist and temporary music-director in Meyerhold’s theater and actually lived in the apartment of Meyerhold and his actress wife Zinaida Raikh, before returning home a couple of months later to work on his opera The Nose.
Some time afterwards, and with Shostakovich no longer in Moscow, Meyerhold began a spectacular new production of a brand new satirical comedy by the USSR’s most famous young poet Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893-1930). He first invited Prokofiev to compose the score, but when Prokofiev rejected him, he offered the job to Shostakovich who, at this stage, still had no practical experience of writing for the theater. Meyerhold also assembled a star cast and a spectacular team of stage designers, including the celebrated photographer and painter Alexander Rodchenko (1891-1956)." (Gerard McBurney) (8001)
Unsigned Photograph Classical Music