Leningrad Heroic Symphony by Dmitry Shostakovich. Leningrad Symphony by Dmitry Shostakovich

See also in the Presidential Library:

Day of military glory of Russia - Day of lifting the blockade of Leningrad // Day in history. January 27, 1944 ;

Defense and blockade of Leningrad // Memory of the Great Victory: collection;

Breakthrough of the Siege of Leningrad // On this day. January 18, 1943 ;

The water route "Roads of Life" began its work // On this day. September 12, 1941 .

D.D. Shostakovich "Leningrad Symphony"

Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony (Leningrad) is a great work that reflects not only the will to win, but also the irresistible strength of the spirit of the Russian people. The music is a chronicle of the war years, a trace of history is heard in every sound. The composition, grandiose in scale, gave hope and faith not only to people in besieged Leningrad, but to the entire Soviet people.

You can find out how the work was composed and under what circumstances it was first performed, as well as the content and many interesting facts on our page.

The history of the creation of the "Leningrad Symphony"

Dmitri Shostakovich has always been a very sensitive person, as if he anticipated the beginning of a complex historical event. So back in 1935, the composer began to compose variations in the genre of passacaglia. It should be noted that this genre is a funeral procession, common in Spain. As intended, the composition was to repeat the principle of variation used Maurice Ravel V " Bolero". The sketches were even shown to the students of the conservatory, where the brilliant musician taught. The theme of the passacaglia was quite simple, but its development was created thanks to the dry drumming. Gradually, the dynamics grew to tremendous power, which demonstrated a symbol of fear and horror. The composer was tired of working on the work and put it aside.

The war has awakened Shostakovich the desire to complete the work and bring it to a triumphant and victorious finale. The composer decided to use the previously begun passacaglia in the symphony, it became a big episode, which was built on variations and replaced the development. In the summer of 1941, the first part was completely ready. Then the composer began work on the middle parts, which were completed by the composer before the evacuation from Leningrad.

The author recalled his own work on the work: “I wrote it faster than previous works. I could not do otherwise, and not compose it. There was a terrible war around. I just wanted to capture the image of our country, which is fighting so hard in its own music. On the first day of the war, I already set to work. Then I lived in the conservatory, like many of my acquaintances musicians. I was an air defense fighter. I didn’t sleep, didn’t eat, and broke away from writing only when I was on duty or when airborne alarms occurred.

The fourth part was given the most difficult, as it was supposed to be the triumph of good over evil. The composer felt anxiety, the war had a very serious impact on his morale. His mother and sister were not evacuated from the city, and Shostakovich was very worried about them. The pain tormented his soul, he could not think of anything. There was no one nearby who could inspire him to the heroic finale of the work, but, nevertheless, the composer gathered his courage and completed the work in the most optimistic spirit. A few days before the onset of 1942, the work was completely composed.

Symphony No. 7 performance

The work was first performed in Kuibyshev in the spring of 1942. The premiere was conducted by Samuil Samosud. It is noteworthy that correspondents from different countries came to the performance in a small city. The audience's rating was more than high, several countries at once wanted to perform the symphony in the most famous philharmonics of the world, requests began to be sent to send the score. The right to be the first to perform the composition outside the country was entrusted to the famous conductor Toscanini. In the summer of 1942, the work was performed in New York and was a huge success. The music has spread all over the world.

But not a single performance on Western stages could compare with the scale of the premiere in besieged Leningrad. On August 9, 1942, the day when, according to Hitler's plan, the city was to fall from the blockade, the music of Shostakovich sounded. All four parts were played by conductor Carl Eliasberg. The work sounded in every house, on the streets, as it was broadcast on the radio and through street loudspeakers. The Germans were in amazement - it was a real feat, showing the strength of the Soviet people.

Interesting facts about Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7

• The name "Leningradskaya" was given to the work by the famous poetess Anna Akhmatova.
• Since its inception, Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7 has become one of the most politicized works in the history of classical music. Thus, the date of the premiere of the symphonic work in Leningrad was not chosen by chance. The complete massacre of the city built by Peter the Great was, according to the plan of the Germans, scheduled precisely for the ninth of August. The commanders-in-chief were given special invitation cards to the Astoria restaurant, which was popular at that time. They wanted to celebrate the victory over the besieged in the city. Tickets for the premiere of the symphony were distributed free of charge to the blockade survivors. The Germans knew about everything and became involuntary listeners of the work. On the day of the premiere, it became clear who would win the battle for the city.
• On the day of the premiere, the whole city was filled with Shostakovich's music. The symphony was broadcast over the radio as well as from city street loudspeakers. People listened and could not hide their own emotions. Many cried from overflowing with a sense of pride for the country.
• The music of the first part of the symphony became the basis of the ballet called "Leningrad Symphony".

• The famous writer Alexei Tolstoy wrote an article about the "Leningrad" symphony, in which he not only designated the composition as a triumph of the thought of the human in man, but also analyzed the work from a musical point of view.
• Most of the musicians were taken out of the city at the beginning of the blockade, so it was difficult to assemble a whole orchestra. But still it was assembled, and the work was learned in just a few weeks. The well-known conductor of German origin Eliasberg conducted the Leningrad premiere. Thus, it was emphasized that, regardless of nationality, every person strives for peace.

• The symphony can be heard in the famous computer game called Entente.
• In 2015, the work was performed at the Donetsk Philharmonic. The premiere took place as part of a special project.
• The poet and friend Alexander Petrovich Mezhirov dedicated poetry to this work.
• One of the Germans, after the victory of the USSR over Nazi Germany, admitted: “It was on the day of the premiere of the Leningrad Symphony that we realized that we would lose not only the battle, but the entire war. Then we felt the strength of the Russian people, which could overcome everything, both hunger and death.
• Shostakovich himself wanted the symphony to be performed in Leningrad by his beloved Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, which was directed by the brilliant Mravinsky. But this could not happen, since the orchestra was in Novosibirsk, the transportation of musicians would become too difficult and could lead to tragedy, since the city was under blockade, so the orchestra had to be formed from people who were in the city. Many were musicians of military orchestras, many were invited from neighboring cities, but in the end the orchestra was assembled and performed the piece.
• During the performance of the symphony, the secret operation Flurry was successfully carried out. Later, a participant in this operation will write a poem dedicated to Shostakovich and the operation itself.
• A review by a journalist from the English magazine "Time" has been preserved, who was specially sent to the USSR for the premiere in Kuibyshev. The correspondent then wrote that the work was filled with extraordinary nervousness, he noted the brightness and expressiveness of the melodies. In his opinion, the symphony must have been performed in the UK and around the world.

• Music is associated with another military event that has already happened in our days. On August 21, 2008 the work was performed in Tskhinvali. The symphony was conducted by one of the best conductors of our time, Valery Gergiev. The performance was broadcast on the leading channels of Russia, the broadcast was also carried out on radio stations.
• On the building of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, you can see a memorial plaque dedicated to the premiere of the symphony.
• After signing the capitulation, a reporter in a European news outlet said: “How can one defeat a country in which, during such terrible hostilities, blockades and death, destruction and famine, people manage to write such a powerful work and perform it in a besieged city? I think not. This is an incredible feat."

The Seventh Symphony is one of the works written on a historical basis. The Great Patriotic War aroused in Shostakovich the desire to create a composition that helps a person to gain faith in victory and gaining a peaceful life. The heroic content, the triumph of justice, the struggle of light against darkness - this is what is reflected in the work.

The symphony has a classical 4-part structure. Each part has its own role in terms of the development of dramaturgy:

• I part written in sonata form without elaboration. The role of the part is the exposition of two polar worlds, namely the main part is a world of calm, grandeur, built on Russian intonations, the side part complements the main part, but at the same time changes its character, and resembles a lullaby. The new musical material, called "the invasion episode" is a world of war, anger and death. A primitive melody accompanied by percussion instruments is performed 11 times. The climax reflects the struggle of the main party and the "invasion episode". From the code it becomes clear that the main party won.
• II part is a scherzo. The music contains images of Leningrad in peacetime with notes of regret about the former calm.
• III part is an adagio written in the genre of a requiem for dead people. The war took them forever, the music is tragic and sad.
• The final continues the fight between light and darkness, the main party gains energy and strength and wins the "invasion episode". The theme of the sarabande sings of all those who died in the struggle for peace, and then the main party is established. Music sounds like a real symbol of a brighter future.

The key in C major was not chosen by chance. The fact is that this tonality is a symbol of a blank slate on which history is written, and only a person decides where it will turn. Also, C major provides many opportunities for further modulations, both in the flat and sharp directions.

Use of the music of the Symphony No. 7 in motion pictures

To date, the "Leningrad Symphony" is rarely used in cinema, but this fact does not reduce the historical significance of the work. Below are films and series in which you can hear fragments of the most famous work of the twentieth century:

• "1871" (1990);
• "Military field novel" (1983);
• "Leningrad Symphony" (1958).

"Leningrad Symphony" Dmitry Dmitrievich Shostakovich is a grandiose work, glorifying the strength and invincibility of the Russian people. This is not just an essay, it is a story that tells about a feat, about the victory of good over evil. And while Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony sounds solemnly, the whole world will remember the victory over fascism, and how many people laid down their lives so that today we have a bright sky above our heads.

Video: listen to the "Leningrad Symphony"

Galkina Olga

My research work is informational in nature, I would like to get to know the history of the blockade of Leningrad through the history of the creation of Symphony No. 7 by Dmitry Dmitrievich Shostakovich.

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Research

in history

on the topic of:

"Fiery symphony of besieged Leningrad and the fate of its author"

Done by: 10th grade student

MBOU "Gymnasium No. 1"

Galkina Olga.

Curator: history teacher

Chernova I.Yu.

Novomoskovsk 2014

Plan.

1. Blockade of Leningrad.

2. The history of the creation of the "Leningrad" symphony.

3. Pre-war life of D. D. Shostakovich.

4.Post-war years.

5. Conclusion.

Leningrad blockade.

My research work is informational in nature, I would like to get to know the history of the blockade of Leningrad through the history of the creation of Symphony No. 7 by Dmitry Dmitrievich Shostakovich.

Shortly after the start of the war, Leningrad was captured by German troops, the city was blocked from all sides. The blockade of Leningrad lasted 872 days; on September 8, 1941, Hitler's troops cut the Moscow-Leningrad railway, Shlisselburg was captured, and Leningrad was surrounded by land. The capture of the city was part of the war plan developed by Nazi Germany against the USSR - the Barbarossa plan. It provided that the Soviet Union should be completely defeated within 3-4 months of the summer and autumn of 1941, that is, during the “blitzkrieg”. The evacuation of Leningrad residents lasted from June 1941 to October 1942. During the first period of evacuation, the blockade of the city seemed impossible to the inhabitants, and they refused to move anywhere. But initially, children began to be taken away from the city to the regions of Leningrad, which then began to rapidly capture the German regiments. As a result, 175,000 children were returned to Leningrad. Before the blockade of the city, 488,703 people were taken out of it. At the second stage of the evacuation, which took place from January 22 to April 15, 1942, 554,186 people were taken out along the ice Road of Life. The last stage of the evacuation, from May to October 1942, was carried out mainly by water transport along Lake Ladoga to the mainland, about 400 thousand people were transported. In total, about 1.5 million people were evacuated from Leningrad during the war years. Food cards were introduced: from October 1, workers and engineers began to receive 400 g of bread per day, all the rest- to 200. Public transport stopped, because by the winter of 1941- 1942 there were no fuel reserves and electricity. Food supplies were rapidly declining, and in January 1942 there was only 200/125 g of bread per person per day. By the end of February 1942, more than 200,000 people had died in Leningrad from cold and hunger. But the city lived and fought: the factories did not stop their work and continued to produce military products, theaters and museums worked. All this time, when the blockade was going on, the Leningrad radio did not stop, where poets and writers spoke.In besieged Leningrad, in the darkness, in hunger, in sadness, where death, like a shadow, dragged along on its heels ... there also remained a professor at the Leningrad Conservatory, the world-famous composer - Dmitry Dmitrievich Shostakovich. A grandiose idea for a new work ripened in his soul, which was supposed to reflect the thoughts and feelings of millions of Soviet people.With extraordinary enthusiasm, the composer set about creating his 7th symphony. With extraordinary enthusiasm, the composer set about creating his 7th symphony. “Music burst out of me uncontrollably,” he later recalled. Neither hunger, nor the beginning of autumn cold and lack of fuel, nor frequent shelling and bombing could interfere with inspired work.

Pre-war life of D. D. Shostakovich

Shostakovich was born and lived in difficult and ambiguous times. He did not always adhere to the policy of the party, sometimes he clashed with the authorities, sometimes he received its approval.

Shostakovich is a unique phenomenon in the history of world musical culture. In his work, like no other artist, our difficult cruel era, the contradictions and the tragic fate of mankind were reflected, the upheavals that befell his contemporaries were embodied. All the troubles, all the suffering of our country in the twentieth century. he passed through his heart and expressed in his writings.

Dmitri Shostakovich was born in 1906, "at the end" of the Russian Empire, in St. Petersburg, when the Russian Empire was living out its last days. By the end of World War I and the subsequent revolution, the past was decisively erased as the country adopted a new radical socialist ideology. Unlike Prokofiev, Stravinsky and Rachmaninoff, Dmitri Shostakovich did not leave his homeland to live abroad.

He was the second of three children: his older sister Maria became a pianist, and the younger Zoya became a veterinarian. Shostakovich studied at a private school, and then in 1916-18, during the revolution and the formation of the Soviet Union, he studied at the school of I. A. Glyasser.

Later, the future composer entered the Petrograd Conservatory. Like many other families, he and his relatives found themselves in a difficult situation - constant starvation weakened the body and, in 1923, Shostakovich, for health reasons, urgently left for a sanatorium in the Crimea. In 1925 he graduated from the conservatory. The diploma work of the young musician was the First Symphony, which immediately brought the 19-year-old youth wide fame at home and in the West.

In 1927 he met Nina Varzar, a physics student whom he later married. In the same year, he became one of eight finalists at the International Competition. Chopin in Warsaw, and the winner was his friend Lev Oborin.

Life was difficult, and in order to continue to support his family and widowed mother, Shostakovich composed music for films, ballets and theater. When Stalin came to power, the situation became more complicated.

Shostakovich's career experienced rapid ups and downs several times, but the turning point in his fate was 1936, when Stalin visited his opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District based on the novel by N. S. Leskov and was shocked by its harsh satire and innovative music. The official response was immediate. The government newspaper Pravda, in an article entitled "Muddle Instead of Music", subjected the opera to a real defeat, and Shostakovich was declared an enemy of the people. The opera was immediately removed from the repertoire in Leningrad and Moscow. Shostakovich was forced to cancel the premiere of his recently completed Symphony No. 4, fearing that it might cause more trouble, and began work on a new symphony. In those terrible years, there was a period when the composer lived for many months, waiting for arrest at any moment. He went to bed dressed and had a small suitcase ready.

At the same time, his relatives were arrested. His marriage was also in jeopardy due to an infatuation on the side. But with the birth of her daughter Galina in 1936, the situation improved.

Harassed by the press, he wrote his Symphony No. 5, which, fortunately, was a great success. It was the first culmination of the composer's symphonic work; its premiere in 1937 was conducted by the young Yevgeny Mravinsky.

The history of the creation of the "Leningrad" symphony.

On the morning of September 16, 1941, Dmitry Dmitrievich Shostakovich spoke on the Leningrad radio. At this time, the city was bombed by fascist planes, and the composer spoke to the roar of anti-aircraft guns and bomb explosions:

“An hour ago I finished the score of two parts of a large symphonic work. If I succeed in writing this work well, if I succeed in completing the third and fourth parts, then it will be possible to call this work the Seventh Symphony.

Why am I reporting this? ... so that the radio listeners who are listening to me now know that the life of our city is going on normally. We are all now on our combat watch ... Soviet musicians, my dear and numerous comrades-in-arms, my friends! Remember that our art is in great danger. Let's protect our music, let's work honestly and selflessly…”

Shostakovich - outstanding master of the orchestra. He thinks in an orchestral way. Instrumental timbres and combinations of instruments are used with amazing accuracy and in many ways in a new way as living participants in his symphonic dramas.

Seventh ("Leningrad") symphony- one of the most significant works of Shostakovich. The symphony was written in 1941. And most of it was composed in besieged Leningrad.The composer completed the symphony in Kuibyshev (Samara), where he was evacuated by order in 1942.The first performance of the symphony took place on March 5, 1942 in the hall of the Palace of Culture on Kuibyshev Square (the modern Opera and Ballet Theatre) conducted by S. Samosud.The premiere of the Seventh Symphony took place in Leningrad in August 1942. In the besieged city, people found the strength to perform a symphony. There were only fifteen people left in the orchestra of the Radio Committee, and at least a hundred were required for the performance! Then they called together all the musicians who were in the city, and even those who played in the army and navy front-line bands near Leningrad. On August 9, Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony was played in the Philharmonic Hall. Conducted by Karl Ilyich Eliasberg. “These people were worthy to perform the symphony of their city, and the music was worthy of themselves ...”- Olga Berggolts and Georgy Makogonenko wrote then in Komsomolskaya Pravda.

The Seventh Symphony is often compared with documentary works about the war, called "chronicle", "document"- She conveys the spirit of events so accurately.The idea of ​​the symphony is the struggle of the Soviet people against the fascist invaders and faith in victory. This is how the composer himself defined the idea of ​​the symphony: “My symphony is inspired by the terrible events of 1941. The insidious and treacherous attack of German fascism on our Motherland rallied all the forces of our people to repulse the cruel enemy. The Seventh Symphony is a poem about our struggle, about our coming victory.” So he wrote in the Pravda newspaper on March 29, 1942.

The idea of ​​the symphony is embodied in 4 parts. Part I is of particular importance. Shostakovich wrote about it in the author's explanation, published in the program of the concert on March 5, 1942 in Kuibyshev: "The first part tells how a formidable force - war broke into our beautiful peaceful life." These words determined two themes opposed in the first part of the symphony: the theme of peaceful life (the theme of the Motherland) and the theme of the outbreak of war (the fascist invasion). “The first theme is the image of joyful creation. This emphasizes the Russian sweeping-wide warehouse of the theme, filled with calm confidence. Then melodies sound, embodying images of nature. They seem to dissolve, melt. A warm summer night has fallen to the ground. Both people and nature - everything fell into a dream.

In the episode of the invasion, the composer conveyed inhuman cruelty, blind, lifeless and terrible automatism, inextricably linked with the appearance of the fascist military. Here the expression of Leo Tolstoy is very appropriate - "an evil machine."

Here is how musicologists L. Danilevich and A. Tretyakova characterize the image of the enemy invasion: “To create such an image, Shostakovich mobilized all the means of his composer's arsenal. The theme of the invasion - deliberately blunt, square - resembles a Prussian military march. It is repeated eleven times - eleven variations. The harmony and orchestration change, but the melody remains the same. It is repeated with iron inexorability - exactly, note for note. All variations are permeated with the fractional rhythm of the march. This snare drum pattern is repeated 175 times. The sound gradually grows from a barely perceptible pianissimo to a thunderous fortissimo. “Growing to gigantic proportions, the theme draws some unimaginably gloomy, fantastic monster, which, increasing and compacting, moves forward more and more rapidly and menacingly.” This theme is reminiscent of "the dance of learned rats to the tune of a rat-catcher" A. Tolstoy wrote about it.

How does such a powerful development of the theme of the enemy invasion end? “At the moment when it would seem that all living things collapse, being unable to resist the onslaught of this terrible, all-destroying robot monster, a miracle happens: a new force appears on its way, capable of not only resisting, but also joining the fight. This is the theme of resistance. Marching, solemn, it sounds with passion and great anger, resolutely opposing the theme of the invasion. The moment of its appearance is the highest point in the musical dramaturgy of the 1st part. After this collision, the theme of the invasion loses its solidity. She's crumbling, she's crumbling. All attempts to rise in vain - the death of the monster is inevitable.

About what wins in the symphony as a result of this struggle, Alexei Tolstoy very accurately said: “On the threat of fascism- dehumanize a person- he (i.e. Shostakovich.- G.S.) responded with a symphony about the victorious triumph of all that is high and beautiful, created by the humanitarian…”.

D. Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony was performed in Moscow on March 29, 1942, 24 days after its premiere in Kuibyshev. In 1944, the poet Mikhail Matusovsky wrote a poem called "The Seventh Symphony in Moscow".

You probably remember
How the cold then penetrated
Night quarters of Moscow
Hall of Columns.

There was bad weather,
Snow puffed a little,
As if this cereal
We were given cards.

But the city shrouded in darkness
With a sadly creeping tram,
Was this siege winter
Beautiful and unforgettable.

When the composer sideways
I made my way to the foot of the piano,
Bow by bow in the orchestra
Wake up, light up, shine

As if from the darkness of night
The gusts of a blizzard have reached us.
And all the violinists at once
Sheets flew off the coasters.
And this gloomy haze
Whistling sullenly in the trenches,
Nobody before him
Scheduled as a score.

A storm rolled over the world.
Never before in concert
I didn't feel the hall so close
The presence of life and death.

Like a house from floors to rafters
engulfed in flames at once,
The orchestra, distraught, yelled
One musical phrase.

She breathed fire in her face.
Jammed her cannonade.
She broke the ring
Blockade nights of Leningrad.

Buzzing in the dull blue
Been on the road all day.
And the night ended in Moscow
Air raid siren.

post-war years.

In 1948, Shostakovich again got into trouble with the authorities, he was declared a formalist. A year later, he was fired from the conservatory, and his compositions were banned from performance. The composer continued to work in the theater and film industry (between 1928 and 1970 he wrote music for almost 40 films).

Stalin's death in 1953 brought some relief. He felt relative freedom. This allowed him to expand and enrich his style and create works of even greater skill and range, often reflecting the violence, horror and bitterness of the times the composer lived through.

Shostakovich visited Great Britain and America and created several other grandiose works.

60s pass under the sign of deteriorating health. The composer suffers two heart attacks, a disease of the central nervous system begins. Increasingly, you have to stay in the hospital for a long time. But Shostakovich tries to lead an active lifestyle, to compose, although every month he gets worse.

Death overtook the composer on August 9, 1975. But even after his death, the omnipotent power did not leave him alone. Despite the composer's desire to be buried in his homeland, in Leningrad, he was buried at the prestigious Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

The funeral was postponed until August 14, because foreign delegations did not have time to arrive. Shostakovich was the "official" composer, and he was officially buried with loud speeches by representatives of the party and government, who had criticized him for so many years.

After his death, he was officially proclaimed a loyal member of the Communist Party.

Conclusion.

Everyone in the war accomplished feats - on the front lines, in partisan detachments, in concentration camps, in the rear in factories and in hospitals. Performed feats and musicians who, in inhuman conditions, wrote music and performed it on the fronts and for home front workers. Thanks to their feat, we know a lot about the war. The 7th symphony is not only musical, it is a military feat of D. Shostakovich.

“I put a lot of effort and energy into this work,” the composer wrote in the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper. - I have never worked with such a lift as now. There is such a popular expression: "When the cannons rumble, then the muses are silent." This rightly applies to those cannons that, with their roar, suppress life, joy, happiness, and culture. The guns of darkness, violence and evil rumble. We are fighting in the name of the triumph of reason over obscurantism, in the name of the triumph of justice over barbarism. There are no more noble and sublime tasks than those that inspire us to fight the dark forces of Hitlerism.

Works of art created during the war years are monuments of military events. The Seventh Symphony is one of the most grandiose, monumental monuments; it is a living page of history that we must not forget.

Internet resources:

Literature:

1. Tretyakova L.S. Soviet music: Prince. for students Art. classes. - M .: Education, 1987.
2. I. Prokhorova, G. Skudina.Soviet musical literature for the 7th grade of the children's music school, ed. T.V. Popova. Eighth edition. - Moscow, "Music", 1987. Pp. 78–86.
3. Music in grades 4–7: a manual for teachers / T.A. Bader, T.E. Vendrova, E.D. Kritskaya and others; Ed. E.B. Abdullina; scientific Head D.B. Kabalevsky. - M .: Education, 1986. Pp. 132, 133.
4. Poems about music. Russian, Soviet, foreign poets. Second edition. Compiled by A. Biryukov, V. Tatarinov under the general editorship of V. Lazarev. - M .: All-Union ed. Soviet composer, 1986. Pp. 98.

There are episodes in history that seem to be far from heroism. But they remain in the memory of a majestic legend, remain at the crossroads of our hopes and sorrows. Especially if the story is connected with the highest art - music.

This day - August 9, 1942 - remained in the annals of the Great Patriotic War, first of all, as evidence of the indestructible Leningrad character. On this day, the Leningrad, blockade premiere of the Seventh Symphony by Dmitry Dmitrievich Shostakovich took place.

Dmitri Shostakovich worked on his main (let us allow ourselves such a subjective assessment) symphony in the first weeks of the Siege, and completed it in Kuibyshev. Every now and then a note appeared on the musical pages - VT, air raid alert. The theme of the invasion from the Leningrad Symphony has become one of the musical symbols of our country, its history. It sounds like a requiem for the victims, like a hymn to those who "Fought on Ladoga, fought on the Volkhov, did not retreat a single step!".

The blockade lasted about 900 days - from September 8, 1941 to January 27, 1944. During this time, 107 thousand air bombs were dropped on the city, about 150 thousand shells were fired. Only according to official data, 641 thousand Leningraders died of starvation there, about 17 thousand people died from bombing and shelling, about 34 thousand were injured ...

Clashing, "iron" music is an image of merciless force. An inverted bolero with as much simplicity as complexity. Leningrad radio speakers transmitted the monotonous beat of a metronome - it suggested a lot to the composer.

It is likely that Shostakovich found the idea of ​​"Invasion" even before the war: the era provided enough material for tragic forebodings. But the symphony was born during the war, and the image of the besieged Leningrad gave it an eternal meaning.

As early as June 1941, Shostakovich realized that fateful days were beginning, perhaps the main battle in history. He several times tried to volunteer to go to the front. It seemed that he was more needed there. But the 35-year-old composer had already straddled world fame, the authorities knew about it. Both Leningrad and the country needed him as a composer. On the radio, not only new works by Shostakovich sounded, but also his patriotic appeals - confused, but pointedly sincere.

In the first days of the war, Shostakovich wrote the song "Oath to the People's Commissar". Together with other volunteers, he digs fortifications near Leningrad, watches on rooftops at night, extinguishes incendiary bombs. The cover of Time magazine will feature a portrait of the composer in a fireman's helmet... One of Shostakovich's songs based on Svetlov's poems, Flashlight, is dedicated to these heroic city days. True, Svetlov wrote about Moscow:

Permanent sentry
All nights until dawn
My old friend is my flashlight,
Burn, burn, burn!

I remember the time of the foggy twilight,
We remember those nights every hour, -
Narrow beam flashlight
In the night they never went out.

He presented the first part of the symphony to a small friendly audience in front-line Leningrad. “Yesterday, under the roar of anti-aircraft guns, in a small company of composers, Mitya ... played the first two parts of the 7th symphony ...

On September 14, nevertheless, a defense concert took place in front of a crowded hall. Mitya played his preludes...

How I pray to God that he save his life ... In moments of danger, wings usually grow in me and help me overcome adversity, but still I become a worthless and whiny old woman ...

The enemy is outrageous in Leningrad now, but we are all alive and well…”, wrote the composer’s wife.

At the end of October they were evacuated from Leningrad. On the way, Shostakovich almost lost the score... Every day he remembered Leningrad: “I looked at my beloved city with pain and pride. And he stood, scorched by fires, hardened in battles, having experienced the deep suffering of war, and was even more beautiful in his severe grandeur. And the music was born again: “How was it not to love this city ... not to tell the world about its glory, about the courage of its defenders. Music was my weapon."

On March 5, 1942, in Kuibyshev, the premiere of the symphony took place, it was performed by the Bolshoi Theater Orchestra conducted by Samuil Samosud. Somewhat later, the Seventh Symphony was also performed in Moscow. But even before these brilliant concerts, Aleksey Tolstoy wrote with fervor about the new symphony throughout the country. Thus began the great glory of the Leningrad ...

And what happened on August 9, 1942? According to the plan of the Nazi command, Leningrad was to fall that day.

Conductor Karl Ilyich Eliasberg, with great difficulty, assembled the orchestra in the besieged city. During rehearsals, the musicians were given additional rations. Karl Ilyich found drummer Zhaudat Aidarov in the dead room, noticed that the musician's fingers moved slightly. "He's alive!" - Gathering his strength, the conductor shouted, and saved the musician. Without Aidarov, the symphony in Leningrad would not have taken place - after all, it was he who was supposed to beat out the drum roll in the “invasion theme”.

Karl Ilyich Eliasberg led the symphony orchestra of the Leningrad Radio Committee - the only one that did not leave the northern capital during the blockade.

“We took part in the work of the only Soyuzkinochronika factory in Leningrad, voicing most of the films and newsreels released by newsreels during the years of the blockade. The entire composition of our team was awarded medals "For the Defense of Leningrad", while several people received diplomas from the Leningrad City Council. Gone are the hard times. The war ended with a great victory. Looking into the faces of my fellow orchestra members, I remember the courage and heroism with which they experienced difficult years. I remember our listeners making their way to concerts through the dark streets of Leningrad, under the thunder of artillery fire. And a feeling of deep emotion and gratitude overwhelms me,” recalled Eliasberg. The main day in his biography is the 9th of August.

The score of the symphony was delivered to the city by a special plane that broke through the ring of fire, on which was the author's inscription: "Dedicated to the city of Leningrad." All the musicians still remaining in the city were gathered for the performance. There were only fifteen of them, the rest were carried away by the first year of the blockade, and at least a hundred were required!

And then the crystal chandeliers were burned in the hall of the Leningrad Philharmonic. Musicians in shabby jackets and tunics, the audience in quilted jackets ... Only Eliasberg - with sunken cheeks, but in a white shirt-front, with a bow tie. The troops of the Leningrad Front were ordered: "During the concert, not a single bomb, not a single shell should fall on the city." And the city listened to great music. No, it was not a funeral song for Leningrad, but the music of irresistible power, the music of the future Victory. For eighty minutes the wounded city listened to the music.

The concert was broadcast through loudspeakers throughout Leningrad. He was heard by the Germans on the front line. Eliasberg recalled: “The symphony ended. Applause resounded in the hall ... I went into the dressing room ... Suddenly everyone parted. M. Govorov entered quickly. He spoke very seriously, cordially about the symphony, and as he left he said somehow mysteriously: "Our gunners can also be considered participants in the performance." Then, to be honest, I did not understand this phrase. And only many years later I learned that M. Govorov (the future Marshal of the Soviet Union, commander of the Leningrad Front - approx. A.Z.) gave the order, for the duration of the performance of D.D. Shostakovich's symphony, to our gunners to conduct intense fire on enemy batteries and force them to be silent. I think that in the history of music such a fact is the only one.

The New York Times wrote: "Shostakovich's symphony was the equivalent of several armed transports." Former Wehrmacht officers recalled: “We listened to the symphony that day. It was then, on August 9, 1942, that it became clear that we had lost the war. We felt your power to overcome hunger, fear, even death.” And since then the symphony has been called the Leningrad symphony.

Many years after the war, the poet Alexander Mezhirov (in 1942 he fought on the Leningrad front) writes:

What music was!
What music was playing
When both souls and bodies
The damned war trampled.

What kind of music is in everything
To all and for all - not by ranking.
We will overcome... We will survive... We will save...
Ah, not to fat - to be alive ...

The soldiers are circling their heads,
Three-row under the roll of logs
Was more needed for the dugout,
Than for Germany Beethoven.

And across the country a string
taut trembled,
When the damn war
And trampled souls and bodies.

They moaned furiously, sobbing,
One single passion for the sake of
At the half-station - a disabled person,
And Shostakovich - in Leningrad

Arseny Zamostyanov