Mstislav Rostropovich: Virtuoso cellist

Mstislav Rostropovich: Virtuoso cellist

From Witness History by BBC World Service

June 9, 2026 · 11 min

About this episode

The episode recounts the story of cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and his conflict with the Soviet government over his support for dissident writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

In 1978, Mstislav Rostropovich, one of the greatest cellists in history, was stripped of his Soviet citizenship for engaging in 'unpatriotic activity'. Rostropovich’s fallout with the Soviet leadership was precipitated by his decision to let the dissident writer, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, stay in his house. Joe Schultz tells his story using BBC archive. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines’ life and Omar Sharif’s legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia. You can learn all about fascinating…

People in this episode

Host: Joe Schultz

Topics covered

  • music
  • history
  • Soviet Union
  • dissidence
  • cultural impact

Keywords

  • Mstislav Rostropovich
  • Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
  • Soviet citizenship
  • BBC archive
  • classical music

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: BBC, BBC World Service

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