Editing Dmitri Shostakovich (section)

=== Later life ===
In 1964 Shostakovich composed the music for the Russian film ''[[Hamlet (1964 film)|Hamlet]]'', which was favorably reviewed by ''[[The New York Times]]'': "But the lack of this aural stimulation—of Shakespeare's eloquent words—is recompensed in some measure by a splendid and stirring musical score by Dmitri Shostakovich. This has great dignity and depth, and at times an appropriate wildness or becoming levity".<ref>[[Bosley Crowther|Crowther, Bosley]], in ''[[The New York Times]]'', 15 September 1964.{{full citation needed|date=June 2022|reason=Article title? Page?}}</ref>

In later life Shostakovich suffered from chronic ill health, but he resisted giving up cigarettes and vodka.<ref name="Hektoen"/> Beginning in 1958, he suffered from a debilitating condition that particularly affected his right hand, eventually forcing him to give up piano playing; in 1965, it was diagnosed as [[poliomyelitis]], but consensus on his diagnosis is unclear.<ref name="Hektoen">{{cite web |title=Shostakovich and his mysterious neurologic disease – Hektoen International |url=https://hekint.org/2019/08/23/shostakovich-and-his-mysterious-neurologic-disease/ |website=Hektoen Internsational: A Journal of Medical Humanities |date=23 August 2019 |publisher=Hektoen Institute of Medicine |access-date=5 May 2023}}</ref> He also suffered heart attacks in 1966,<ref>{{cite news |title=Shostakovich Has Heart Attack After Performing in Leningrad |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1966/05/31/archives/shostakovich-has-heart-attack-after-performing-in-leningrad.html |access-date=3 July 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=31 May 1966}}</ref>1970,<ref name="Hektoen"/> and 1971,<ref name="Hektoen"/> as well as several falls in which he broke both his legs;<ref name="Hektoen"/> in 1967 he wrote in a letter: "Target achieved so far: 75% (right leg broken, left leg broken, right hand defective). All I need to do now is wreck the left hand and then 100% of my extremities will be out of order."{{sfnp|Shostakovich|Glikman|2001|p=147}}

A preoccupation with his own mortality permeates Shostakovich's later works, such as the later quartets and the [[Symphony No. 14 (Shostakovich)|Fourteenth Symphony]] of 1969 (a song cycle based on a number of poems on the theme of death). He dedicated the Fourteenth to his close friend [[Benjamin Britten]], who conducted its Western premiere at the 1970 [[Aldeburgh Festival]]. The [[Symphony No. 15 (Shostakovich)|Fifteenth Symphony]] of 1971 is, by contrast, melodic and retrospective in nature, quoting [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]], [[Gioachino Rossini|Rossini]] and the composer's own Fourth Symphony.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Service|first=Tom|author-link=Tom Service|date=23 September 2013|title=Symphony guide: Shostakovich's 15th|work=[[The Guardian]]|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/tomserviceblog/2013/sep/23/symphony-guide-shostakovich-15-tom-service|access-date=8 May 2020}}</ref>