Two: A Story by Shostakovich's Wife

The romantic relationship between Irina Shostakovich and the outstanding composer unfolded against the backdrop of a complicated twentieth century. Their life together lasted thirteen years, during which they remained faithful to their ideals.

The story is full of such coincidences. The film by Elena Yakovich, “Two. The Story of Shostakovich’s Wife,” was shown on Russian television on March 5, 2022—coinciding with the day of Stalin’s, Prokofiev’s, and Akhmatova’s death, as well as the anniversary of Dmitry Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony, known as the Leningrad Symphony. The film’s author visited Irina Antonovna Shostakovich at her dacha in Zhukovka and recorded her emotional memories of life with the composer. They were bound together by events of dramatic Russian twentieth-century history: arrests, repression, war, and the siege.

They met in Moscow, in the Great Hall of the Conservatory, and married in 1962, after which they never separated.

Although not all of Irina Antonovna’s memories made it into the film, they found their place in this book. This is a story of love between two people who always remained faithful to their principles.