With the death of Mstislav Rostropovitch one of the best cellist of history is gone, and also a big militant for freedom in the 20th century. During all his life, the musician was devoted to the constitution of a consequent repertory for his instrument. On top of that, he never stopped defending the values of democracy and the Human Rights. His support to the dissident writer Alexander Soljenitsyne was condemned by Leonid Brejnev, who deprived him from his soviet nationality in 1974 for “acts doing systematically prejudice to the prestige of USSR”. Disgraced, he settles down in the United States the year after and keeps playing music and his fight around the world. He was welcome during his stays in France by Louis Aragon, who dedicated to him the poem “Chant pour Slava”. In 1977, he created in Paris the cello contest, which bears his name and that he has presided until his death. The 11th of November 1989, the artist plays in front of the Berlin wall being taken down. This picture screened all over the world remains the symbol of his life. He got back his Russian nationality in 1990 and receives a great number of distinctions, such as the dignity of Grand officier of the Légion d’honneur in France. Mstislav Rostropovitch died from a cancer the 27th of April 2007, one month after his 80th birthday and 4 days after the ex-president Boris Eltsine, from whom he was close. Ha has been buried in Moscow on the sides of his teachers and friends Sergueï Prokofiev and Dmitri Chostakovitch.
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