Dmitri Shostakovich vs Ella Fitzgerald
Two music prodigies, compared on what is actually documented: field, era, country and record. No invented numbers.
The record, side by side
| Dmitri Shostakovich | Ella Fitzgerald | |
| Field | Music | Music |
| Sub-field | Composer | Composer |
| Born | 1906 | 1917 |
| Died | 1975 | 1996 |
| Country of birth | Russia | United States |
| Star sign | Libra | Taurus |
Who they are
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 →
Ella Fitzgerald
On the night of November 21, 1934, a seventeen-year-old girl walked onto the stage of the Apollo Theater in Harlem for Amateur Night and froze. She had entered intending to dance — she was a known dancer among her friends in Yonkers — but when she looked out at the audience, something failed. She stood there, in a dress borrowed from a friend, in shoes that didn't fit, before an audience that was already restless. Then she opened her mouth and sang. The audience went quiet. She won first place. The bandleader Chick Webb heard…
Full biography of Ella Fitzgerald →
What they share
- Both are held here under Music.
- Same sub-field: Composer.
- Their lifetimes overlap.
Where they part
- Born in different countries: Russia and United States.
- 11 years separate their births (1906 and 1917).
Questions people ask
- Who came first, Dmitri Shostakovich or Ella Fitzgerald?
- Dmitri Shostakovich. Dmitri Shostakovich was born in 1906, Ella Fitzgerald in 1917.
- What field is each of them in?
- Dmitri Shostakovich is filed under Music (Composer). Ella Fitzgerald is filed under Music (Composer).
- Were they contemporaries?
- Yes - their lifetimes overlap.