Shostakovich and Football looks at the personality of Dmitri Shostakovich, one of the greatest composers of the 20th century, from an unusual angle - Shostakovich was an avid football fan from an early age until the last days of his life. The author aimed to depict a panorama of the football and sports events and facts in the composer's biography against the broad sociocultural background of Soviet Union in the 1920s - 1970s. The manuscript is abundantly illustrated with rare photographs and many archive documents are being published for the first time. Intended for a broad range of readers, this book will be of interest to experts and lovers of musical arts and sports like.

View sample pages here*

View a feature on the book in the Moscow Times

"By switching his attention to football, father distracted himself from the nightmares of the second wave of ideological terror. Football helped him to calm down, cope with stress and regain equilibrium."
Maxim Shostakovich

A note from the Author
"Football has been an intrinsic part of Shostakovich's music since he began his creative journey. It was there at the start, to use the language of sports commentators. The twenty-two-year-old composer, whose First Symphony had already been a triumphant success, began working on what can be called his "football" ballet, The Golden Age."
Dmitri Braginsky

196 pages
114 illustrations
DSCH Publishers © 2018
ISBN: 9785900539133

*Sample pages from "Shostakovich and Football: Escape to Freedom” by Dmitri Braginsky, translated from the Russian by Alison Yermolova, © DSCH Publishers, Moscow, 2018. © Dmitri Braginsky, concept, text, photograph selection, 2018. Used by permission.