Mstislav Leopol'dovich Rostropovich - Mstislav Leopol'dovich Rostropovich

A cellist and conductor from Azerbaijan. Born in the capital Baku. Raised in a musical family with a cellist father and a piano player mother, he studied cello, composition and conducting at the Moscow Conservatory. After winning several competitions in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, he toured the United States in 1955, where he was praised as the greatest cellist since Casals for his amazing technique of playing the cello as easily as the violin, as well as his rich sound and magnificent expression. In the same year, he married soprano singer Galina Vishnevskaya. He first came to Japan in 1958 (Showa 33), and has since visited the country many times, and is also involved in the music education of Japanese children. He made his debut as a conductor in Moscow in 1968, and while serving as the conductor of the Bolshoi Theater, he often performed abroad as a guest.

He received many honors, including the Lenin Prize in 1964, but in 1970, he came into conflict with the authorities after defending Solzhenitsyn, a Soviet dissident writer, and was banned from traveling abroad for long periods of time. However, in May 1974, he was allowed to travel abroad for two years, and later his wife and daughter were allowed to leave the country, and he settled in Washington, D.C., in 1975. In 1977, he became music director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington (until 1994; since 1991 he has been conductor laureate). In 1978, his family was stripped of their Soviet citizenship, and since then he has been active around the world, based in the United States. In 1989, he was rehabilitated. In February 1990, he visited his homeland for the first time in 16 years, and gave concerts in Moscow and other cities.

[Hiroyuki Iwai]

"Russia, Music, and Freedom" by Rostropovich and Vishnevskaya, translated by Junichi Tanaka (1987, Misuzu Shobo)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

アゼルバイジャン出身のチェロ奏者、指揮者。首都バクーの生まれ。父はチェロ奏者、母はピアノ奏者の音楽一家に育ち、モスクワ音楽院でチェロ、作曲、指揮を学ぶ。ソ連、東欧のコンクールをいくつか制覇したあと、1955年アメリカ楽旅、チェロをバイオリンのように楽々とこなす驚異的な技巧に加え、豊かな響きと豪壮な表現によって、カザルス以来の名手と評価された。同年、ソプラノ歌手ガリーナ・ビシネフスカヤと結婚。58年（昭和33）初来日、以来たびたび来日し、日本の子供たちの音楽教育にも携わっている。68年にモスクワで指揮者としてデビュー、ボリショイ劇場の指揮者を務めるかたわら、外国にしばしば客演した。

　彼は1964年にレーニン賞を受けるなど多くの栄誉を授けられたが、70年、ソ連の反体制作家とされるソルジェニツィンを擁護して当局と対立、長期の国外旅行を禁止された。しかし74年5月、2年間の海外旅行が許可され、のち夫人、娘も出国を認められて75年からアメリカのワシントンに定住。77年ワシントンのナショナル交響楽団音楽監督に就任（94年まで。91年以後は桂冠(けいかん)指揮者）。78年一家はソビエト市民権を剥奪(はくだつ)され、以後アメリカを本拠に世界各地で活躍。89年に名誉回復された。90年2月、16年ぶりに故国を訪れ、モスクワなどでコンサートを開いた。

［岩井宏之］

『ロストロポーヴィチ、ヴィシネフスカヤ著、田中淳一訳『ロシア・音楽・自由』（1987・みすず書房）』

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