Memorial Items

Personal belongings, household items, clothing

Wooden writing lap box with inkwell, nib pen in a "modern" style. Russia, early twentieth century. Wood, fabric, brass, silver plated.

Table chest of drawers in the neoclassical style. Russia, early twentieth century. A set of different types of wood, bronze. In the drawers D. D. Shostakovich kept blank envelopes and postcards, various correspondence, writing paper.

Table clock in the Empire style of the Verdier Aparis brand. Metal, mahogany, glass. France, early twentieth century.

Briefcase. Leather, metal. USSR, 1930s. “Legendary” briefcase, with which D. D. Shostakovich did not part ever. The composer's contemporaries remember him with an invariable briefcase in his hands or armpit. In addition to personal, everyday things: a case for glasses, pencils, a notebook, a porte-monnaie, there were always manuscripts of his new works.

Сonductor's baton. Bamboo, cork. Used while studying by the son of the composer, Maxim Shostakovich.

Casual and work glasses. Dmitry Dmitrievich took them with him to the hospital in the summer of 1975.

These glasses with bifocal lenses from the German company CARL ZEISS, ordered and manufactured in Austria, were used on special occasions. It is in them the composer is depicted in ceremonial portraits and official photographs in the 1970s.

Eyeglasses from different years of his life are carefully kept in the memorial apartment of D. D. Shostakovich.

Playing cards in a case for two decks. The back of the decks of cards is made in the cage of the traditional colors of the clans of Scotland. Genuine leather, embossing. Italy, mid-1970s Dmitri Shostakovich, who was fond of playing in his youth, in his mature years loved to play card solitaire games during his leisure time.

Classical metronome, “MAËLZEL” (named after the inventor Johann Maëlzel), mechanical. Germany. End of the 19th century.

Paper knives. Metal, leather, plastic. Bone, carving. D. D. Shostakovich used them to open postal envelopes.

D. D. Shostakovich's porte-monnaie. Leather, embossing. The USSR. Mid 1960s.

The Casket. USSR, Kasli, 1959. Cast iron, casting, onlay with a dedication inscription: “To dear Dmitry Dmitrievich - the greatest composer of our era <...>.” A gift from residents of the city of Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod) in memory of the Contemporary Music festival held there with the participation of the composer from June 9 to 13, 1962. In the casket Shostakovich kept personal documents, membership cards, passes, certificates.

Composers and Lyricist Guild of America. A souvenir in memory of a gala dinner in honor of Soviet composers. Hollywood, California, October 31, 1959 Plastic, engraved. In 1959, D. D. Shostakovich visited the United States with a delegation of Soviet composers.

Bust of Richard Wagner in miniature. Alloy for bronze, casting, on a base made of natural stone. Mass souvenir products. Russia, late 19th - early 20th century.

Typewriter ERICA-8 in a case. Russian font. Germany, Dresden. 1940s The typewriter was used by D. D. Shostakovich's secretaries, Z. A. Gayamova and R. E. Kornblum.

Continental Wanderer portable typewriter in a case. Latin script. Wanderer-Werke. Germany, Chemnitz, 1930s – 1940s. Belonged to the first wife of the composer Sofya Vasilievna Varzar-Shostakovich.

Long mantle. In the form of a cape-robe with wide and long sleeves. Silk. On the inside of the mantle there is a tag from the workshop of the manufacturer "ADAMSONS LTD". Oxford, UK, 1958. In this mantle, Shostakovich received an honorary title at the Royal Academy in 1958. There is a series of photos from this event.

The mantle is short (shoulder). Collar shawl, mantle in the form of a collar (puts on over the head).

Academic headdress of an honorary member of the Royal English Academy of Music. Soft black velvet beret on a hard base. Oxford, UK, 1958. In this mantle and this headdress, Shostakovich received an honorary title at Oxford in 1958. The composer is also depicted in this mantle and headdress in a portrait by an unknown artist, USA. 1959 (The portrait is in the study of the memorial apartment, on the wall above the piano).