Aretha Franklin vs Dmitri Shostakovich
Two music prodigies, compared on what is actually documented: field, era, country and record. No invented numbers.
The record, side by side
| Aretha Franklin | Dmitri Shostakovich | |
| Field | Music | Music |
| Sub-field | Rock | Composer |
| Born | 1942 | 1906 |
| Died | 2018 | 1975 |
| Country of birth | United States | Russia |
| Star sign | Aries | Libra |
Who they are
Aretha Franklin
There are voices, and then there is Aretha Franklin. Born on March 25, 1942, in Memphis, Tennessee, and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Aretha Louise Franklin possessed something that cannot be taught, manufactured, or replicated — a raw, torrential instrument that transformed every room it entered. By the time she was twelve years old, singing in her father's New Bethel Baptist Church, gospel insiders already whispered that they were witnessing something singular. By the time she was twenty-five, the entire world had no choice but to agree.
Full biography of Aretha Franklin →
Dmitri Shostakovich
In January 1936, Josef Stalin attended a performance of Dmitri Shostakovich's opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District at the Bolshoi Theatre and left before the final act. Two days later, Pravda published an unsigned editorial — almost certainly authorized at the highest level — titled "Muddle Instead of Music." The article attacked the opera as "formalist" and "bourgeois," its dissonances described as deliberate assaults on Soviet socialist culture. Shostakovich was twenty-nine years old, the most celebrated composer in the Soviet Union, and now suddenly in danger. He had a new symphony nearly finished —…
Full biography of Dmitri Shostakovich →
What they share
- Both are held here under Music.
- Their lifetimes overlap.
Where they part
- Born in different countries: United States and Russia.
- 36 years separate their births (1942 and 1906).
Questions people ask
- Who came first, Aretha Franklin or Dmitri Shostakovich?
- Dmitri Shostakovich. Aretha Franklin was born in 1942, Dmitri Shostakovich in 1906.
- What field is each of them in?
- Aretha Franklin is filed under Music (Rock). Dmitri Shostakovich is filed under Music (Composer).
- Were they contemporaries?
- Yes - their lifetimes overlap.