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Life Details
Famous Pieces
Friends and Family
Political History
Other Trivia
100
This is a freebie - the country where Shostakovich was born.
What is Russia?
100
The number of preludes and fugues in his Op. 87.
What is 24?
100
This contemporaneous Russian composer is best known for "Peter and the Wolf".
Who is Prokofiev?
100
Shostakovich's 7th symphony was written about this war.
What is World War Two?
100
The four famous letters that represented Shostakovich as a musical cryptogram; think BACH.
What is DSCH?
200
The instrument Shostakovich used to play for silent film soundtracks.
What is the piano?
200
The title of his seventh symphony (hint: it's a city).
What is Leningrad?
200
This Austrian composer and idol of Shostakovich's composed, among other works, the "Symphony for a Thousand".
Who is Mahler?
200
The most visible political leader for most of Shostakovich's career; died just after Prokofiev in 1953.
Who is Stalin?
200
The number of string quartets and symphonies that Shostakovich wrote.
What is 15?
300
The year Shostakovich was born; also the year of birth for Oscar Levant and Estée Lauder.
What is 1906?
300
The subtitle of his 13th symphony.
What is Babi Yar?
300
This Hungarian composer famously mocked Shostakovich's 7th Symphony in his own "Concerto for Orchestra".
Who is Bartok?
300
The Russian Revolution happened in this year.
What is 1917?
300
Shostakovich regularly participated as an umpire/referee/judge/official for this sport.
What is soccer?
400
The city Shostakovich was born in.
What is Saint Petersburg?
400
The part of the face referenced in his first opera's name.
What is The Nose?
400
Shostakovich became close to this British composer and hosted him his countryside house, or dacha, several times.
Who is Britten?
400
The American who famously won the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in 1958.
Who is Van Cliburn?
400
Shostakovich's wife, Galina Vishnevskaya, was this type of musician.
What is a soprano? (Are sopranos really musicians?)
500
The newspaper that published the famous "Muddle Instead of Music" critique that destroyed Shostakovich's confidence.
What is Pravda?
500
The name of the orchestral piece he arranged on a bet in 45 minutes.
What is the Tahiti Trot?
500
The name of Shostakovich's son, who went on to become a pianist and composer himself.
Who is Maxim?
500
The man who replaced Nikita Khrushchev as First Secretary in 1964.
Who is Leonid Brezhnev?
500
Shostakovich's famous 5th symphony is in this key.
What is D Minor?