Dmitri Shostakovich

Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (25 September 1906 – 9 August 1975) was a Russian composer and pianist, and a prominent figure of 20th-century music.
Shostakovich achieved fame in the Soviet Union under the patronage of Soviet chief of staff Mikhail Tukhachevsky, but later had a complex and difficult relationship with the government. Nevertheless, he received accolades and state awards and served in the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR (1947–1962) and the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union (from 1962 until his death).
== Tossup Questions ==
# The first movement of this man's fifth symphony concludes with the celesta playing chromatic scales. That symphony, subtitled "An Artist's Creative Response to Just Criticism," was composed after an opera by this composer was criticized in a Pravda article. This composer of Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District set five Yevgeny Yevtushenko poems in a work commemorating the massacre of Ukrainian Jews. Another of this composer's symphonies mourns the deaths of Soviet citizens during a German offensive and includes the "Invasion" theme. For 10 points, name this Soviet composer of the Babi Yar and Leningrad symphonies.
# The scherzo of this composer's first violin concerto begins with the soloist giving octave downbeats to accompany a quick 3/8 melody in the flute and bass clarinet. One of this composerâs cello concertos begins with the soloist playing what sounds like âG-E-B-B-flatâ [read slowly], although it is in E-flat major. The development of the first movement of his fifth symphony begins with a low âshort-short-longâ piano figure and the French horns loudly playing the first theme at the bottom of their range. This composerâs first cello concerto has a brass section of just one French horn, and his C-minor first piano concerto uses an orchestra of just strings and one trumpet. His A-minor first violin concerto consists of a nocturne, scherzo, passacaglia, and burlesque. His fifth symphony begins with a leap up a minor sixth in the low strings, which play in canon with the violins. For 10 points, name this composer who wrote his fifth symphony after being denounced by Stalin.
# The dedicatee of this composer's first violin concerto wanted the orchestra, not the soloist, to start the finale, due to the sheer difficulty of the cadenza that ends the preceding third movement, a passacaglia. This composer told the Beethoven Quartet to play his last string quartet so that the audience leaves out of boredom; that piece has six movements all marked Adagio. A C-minor waltz is included in this composer's second (*) Jazz Suite. Many of his works use a recurring D, E-flat, C, B motif. This composer wrote his Fifth Symphony as a response to criticisms about his opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. For 10 points, name this composer whose fifteen symphonies include the Leningrad.