Dmitri shostakovich irina antonova shostakovich biography

Shostakovich died from lung cancer on 25 September 1975

The widow of Dmitri Shostakovich has said it is time to forget about the controversy surrounding the composer's life and focus on his music, on the centenary of his birth.

Shostakovich, one of Russia's most celebrated composers, had a personal life that was frequently turbulent and his work was periodically banned by the governing Communist Party.

In 1962, aged 56, he married Irina Supinskaya, who was just 27. She was his third wife.

"It isn't the life of Shostakovich that was controversial - it was his music," Ms Supinskaya told BBC World Service's The Ticket programme.

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"There were both supporters and opponents of his music, and that situation hasn't changed since then."

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Shostakovich is regarded as a giant among 20th-Century symphonists.

He wrote his First Symphony in 1926 and did not join the Communist Party until 1960.

He was twice officially denounced, and debate still rages over hi