Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin, whose work included famed ballets such as “Anna Karenina” and “Carmen Suite”, has died at the age of 92, Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre said Friday, calling his passing an “enormous tragedy”.
Shchedrin, husband of late ballet legend Maya Plisetskaya, was “one of the greatest contemporary geniuses”, whose “operas, ballets and symphonies are played on the world’s greatest stages”, the theatre said in a statement.
“Rodion Shchedrin was a unique phenomenon and marked an entire era in world musical culture.”
Shchedrin died in Munich, Germany, where he lived after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but travelled regularly to Russia, according to his publisher Schott Music.
Born December 16, 1932 in Moscow, Shchedrin gained international fame with the “Carmen Suite” (1967), in which Plisetskaya starred at the Bolshoi, cementing the pair’s status as a Soviet-era cultural power couple.
Plisetskaya, whose mesmerising performances won her the title of “prima ballerina assoluta” at the Bolshoi, died in 2015 aged 89. The couple were married for more than 50 years.
Drawing on Russian literature and fairy tales, Shchedrin also composed the ballets “The Little Humpbacked Horse”, “The Seagull” and the opera “Lolita” based on Vladimir Nabokov’s controversial novel.
The costumes for “Anna Karenina” and “The Seagull”, in which Plisetskaya danced, were created by French fashion designer Pierre Cardin, who described her as his “muse”.
Rodion Shchedrin was also famous for his symphonies and concertos for piano and orchestra, performed across Europe, Asia and the United States.
He composed more than 80 works overall, leaving behind “a priceless artistic heritage … that echoes in audience’s hearts”, the Bolshoi said.
“Happiness is not material. It’s about being with your loved one 24 hours a day, being immersed in the joy of doing a job that brings you not just pleasure, but real delight,” Shchedrin said of his work in an interview with newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda after celebrating his 80th birthday.
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© Agence France-Presse
