Great returnees. How to become traitors
11 years ago, on April 27, 2007, the outstanding cellist, pianist and conductor passed away Mstislav Rostropovich. He spent his last days in Moscow, and until 1991 he was forced to live 17 years in exile. His career abroad was very successful: he was awarded honorary doctorates from more than 50 universities around the world, and received state awards from 29 countries. And in his homeland he was undeservedly forgotten for a long time: he was forcibly deprived of Soviet citizenship. Only after the collapse of the USSR was he able to return and talk about the reasons for his exile.
Mstislav Rostropovich was born into a family of musicians, his father was a famous cellist, and from an early age his path was predetermined. Mstislav studied music from the age of 4, and at 16 he became a student at the Moscow Conservatory. Two years later, he won the All-Union Competition for Young Musicians and first became famous as a cellist. During his creative life, Rostropovich performed almost the entire repertoire of cello music. Moreover, almost 60 composers created new works especially for him.
At the end of the 1960s. The musician began to have conflicts with the authorities - he openly supported dissidents and spoke out in defense of the disgraced writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn, giving him his dacha near Moscow. Solzhenitsyn admitted: “ I don’t remember who gave me a greater gift in my life than Rostropovich with this shelter" In 1970, the musician and his wife, the famous opera singer Galina Vishnevskaya, wrote an open letter to Brezhnev and the editors of central Soviet newspapers in defense of the writer. The consequences were predictable: many hours of searches at customs after the cellist returned from a foreign tour, cancellation of concerts, stopping of recordings, devastating publications in the press, dismissal from the Moscow Philharmonic. In 1974, Mstislav Rostropovich was forced to leave the USSR “for anti-patriotic activities.” His wife followed him. After 4 years they were deprived of Soviet citizenship. This decree was canceled only 15 years later.
The musician did not imagine that his exile would last so long and would develop into emigration. He later admitted: “ It is to Galina and her spiritual strength that I owe the fact that we left the USSR when I no longer had the strength to fight and I began to slowly fade away, approaching the tragic denouement. If you knew how much I cried before leaving. Galya slept peacefully, and every night I got up and went to the kitchen. And I cried like a child because I didn’t want to leave!».
The daughter of Mstislav Rostropovich and Galina Vishnevskaya said: “ We thought our parents were on tour for two years. That's what it was supposed to be then. And they said goodbye to their homeland for many years. Parents were deprived of citizenship when they were already abroad and were not allowed back for a long time" Then many acquaintances turned their backs on them - in their homeland Rostropovich was considered a traitor. One day, his assistant, whom the musician helped to become an assistant professor at the conservatory, announced that he did not want to talk to him. And later it turned out that many acquaintances from his inner circle systematically wrote denunciations against him, including this assistant.
In the West, musicians were in great demand: Galina Vishnevskaya became one of the first Soviet opera singers to achieve recognition abroad, and Mstislav Rostropovich from 1977 to 1994. was artistic director of the National Orchestra in Washington, performing on the stages of the best philharmonic societies and concert halls in the world.
For the first time after many years of emigration, Rostropovich was able to come to Russia in 1990 - then he was invited to perform in Moscow with the Washington Symphony Orchestra. At first, Galina Vishnevskaya did not want to go with him - her resentment against the state was still strong. At a press conference in France, the singer said: “ The USSR is governed not by laws, but by people governing these laws. I do not recognize the power of these people! No one has the right to deprive me of my homeland" But after his daughter Olga volunteered to accompany him, his wife also agreed. And after the collapse of the USSR, they returned to Russia, although they periodically lived in France.
In 2007, Mstislav Rostropovich died after a long illness - he was diagnosed with a malignant liver tumor. After her father’s death, his daughter Olga also moved to Russia to be near her mother and to fulfill the musician’s long-time dream of organizing a music festival. Since then, the International Festival named after Mstislav Rostropovich has been held annually in Moscow, which opened on his birthday - March 27. In 2012, Galina Vishnevskaya passed away, but her daughters continued the work of their parents: Olga is involved in the Foundation for Support of Young Musicians and the Opera Center, and Elena is involved in the Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Charitable Medical Center.
The Western press wrote about him: “ Ironic, passionate, refined, expansive... An outstanding musician is like a force of nature... Music in his hands becomes a moral force, be it Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony or Shostakovich's Tenth... Rostropovich - a brilliant cellist and a profound musician-conductor - creates the kind of art in which he himself believes like a religion..." In 2002, The Times called him "the greatest living musician." Music truly became a religion and the true meaning of life for him. " Music is healing. Music lights the torch of goodness and can reorganize and improve the world", said Rostropovich.
For more than 50 years, his wife remained by his side, whom he idolized. .
