Shostakovich, Sonata Op.40 For Cello (Sikorski)

Shostakovich, Sonata Op.40 for Cello (Sikorski) Composed in 1934, this sonata was one of Dmitri Shostakovish's earlier works. It was written just prior to his censure by the Soviet authorities who thought his work was to bourgeois for Soviet citizens. At the time he wrote the sonata, he was experiencing emotional turmoil in his life. He had fallen in love with a young student at a Leningrad festival. The subsequent affair caused a brief divorce from his wife Nina. While he an Nina were apart he wrote this cello sonata within the space of a few weeks. The work was dedicated to his close friend Viktor Kubatsky who also gave the work its premier. Dmitri and Nina remarried by the following autumn, with Nina being pregnant with their daughter who was born in 1936.