Dmitri Shostakovich vs Michael Jackson
Two music prodigies, compared on what is actually documented: field, era, country and record. No invented numbers.
The record, side by side
| Dmitri Shostakovich | Michael Jackson | |
| Field | Music | Music |
| Sub-field | Composer | Pop |
| Born | 1906 | 1958 |
| Died | 1975 | 2009 |
| Country of birth | Russia | United States |
| Star sign | Libra | Virgo |
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 →
Michael Jackson
On August 29, 1958, in Gary, Indiana, a steel-mill town on the southern shore of Lake Michigan, Katherine and Joseph Jackson welcomed their seventh child into the world. None of them could have imagined that Michael Joseph Jackson would grow up to become the most famous entertainer the world had ever known — a figure whose name, four decades later, remains synonymous with pop music itself.
Full biography of Michael Jackson →
What they share
- Both are held here under Music.
- Their lifetimes overlap.
Where they part
- Born in different countries: Russia and United States.
- 52 years separate their births (1906 and 1958).
Questions people ask
- Who came first, Dmitri Shostakovich or Michael Jackson?
- Dmitri Shostakovich. Dmitri Shostakovich was born in 1906, Michael Jackson in 1958.
- What field is each of them in?
- Dmitri Shostakovich is filed under Music (Composer). Michael Jackson is filed under Music (Pop).
- Were they contemporaries?
- Yes - their lifetimes overlap.