Vissarion Yakovlevich Shebalin (1902 – 1963) was one of the most cultured and erudite composers of his generation; his serious intellectual style and a certain academic approach to composition make him close to Myaskovsky. His diploma work was the 1st Symphony, which the author dedicated to his professor Nikolai Myaskovsky. Many years later his fifth and last symphony was dedicated to Myaskovsky's memory. Shebalin was a close friend of Dmitri Shostakovich, who dedicated his string quartet No. 2 to him.