Dmitri Shostakovich

Russian born classical composer Dmitri Shostakovich was regarded as a bit of an oddball by most people. He was rather squeamish and his manic personality led him to an obsession with cleanliness and he was known to he synchronize the clocks in his apartment as well as regularly send cards to himself to test how well the postal service was working. These personality quirks only seemed to add to the general grandiose quality of his music though. The tonal shifts and rhythmic flourishes of his pieces are extremely engaging as well as innovative and he is regarded by many as one of the greatest composers of the 20th century.