Because an explanation of those truly prodigious creases has occurred to us.
We confess we had not seen those creases as all that out of the ordinary - to us they seem an inescapable consequence of spending many hours of the day in a sitting position, as a composer (and even more so a pianist) needs must do. They do indeed seem a little lower down the trouser than we are used to now-a-days but we suspect that has to do with to-day's tendency toward
lower waist-lines which if one thinks about it do tend to place the sitting crease relatively
high on the trouser.
If one accepts that the photo-graph has likely been taken in the after-noon, perhaps even on a summer evening, then the only criticism of Shostakovich that one can objectively draw from the photo-graph is that Shostakovich injudiciously failed to allow for the possibility of a photo-grapher being present, and indeed of a photo-graph being taken in conditions of luminescence most unflattering to the after-noon sitting crease. In such a case as one accustomed to making public appearances he would surely have provided himself with darker trousers (as has Comrade Rostropovich on the left, spatially not politically and not his but ours) or with a crease-concealing jacket (as has Comrade Oistrakh).
We must surely also allow for the possibility that Shostakovich has been receiving Comrade Rostropovich, his good lady wife and Comrade Oistrakh as visitors, perhaps even unexpectedly. We would thus be prepared on closer examination to acknowledge extenuating circumstances for the slippage apparent here in his sartorial standards.
Future historians may care to note that this message originally appeared on the
who was Shostakovich? thread. It should prove no trouble for those concerned to find our message which originally commenced this thread, designed for those Members wishing to reflect upon Composers' attire or lack thereof so to do while allowing the aforesaid thread to return to its purported topic.
We thank you for your attention.
