Symphony No. 7 “Leningrad”

Shostakovich's 15 symphonies constitute one of the greatest phenomena of musical literature of the 20th century. Several of them carry a specific “program” related to history or war. The idea for “Leningradskaya” arose from personal experience.

“Our victory over fascism, our future victory over the enemy,
to my beloved city Leningrad, I dedicate my seventh symphony"
(D. Shostakovich)

I speak for everyone who died here.
In my lines are their muffled steps,
Their eternal and hot breath.
I speak for everyone who lives here
Who went through fire, and death, and ice.
I speak like your flesh, people,
By the right of shared suffering...
(Olga Berggolts)

In June 1941 fascist Germany invaded the Soviet Union and soon found Leningrad under siege, which lasted 18 months and entailed countless hardships and deaths. In addition to those killed in the bombing, more than 600,000 Soviet citizens died of starvation. Many froze or died due to lack of medical care– The number of victims of the blockade is estimated at almost a million. In a besieged city, enduring terrible hardships along with thousands of others, Shostakovich began work on his Symphony No. 7. He had never dedicated his large works, but this symphony became an offering to Leningrad and its inhabitants. The composer was driven by love for his native city and these truly heroic times of struggle.
Work on this symphony began at the very beginning of the war. From the first days of the war, Shostakovich, like many of his fellow countrymen, began working for the needs of the front. He dug trenches and was on duty at night during air raids.

He made arrangements for concert brigades going to the front. But, as always, this unique musician-publicist already had a major symphonic plan ripening in his head, dedicated to everything that was happening. He began writing the Seventh Symphony. The first part was completed in the summer. He wrote the second in September already in besieged Leningrad.

In October, Shostakovich and his family were evacuated to Kuibyshev. Unlike the first three parts, which were created literally in one breath, work on the finale was progressing poorly. It is not surprising that the last part did not work out for a long time. The composer understood that from the symphony, dedicated to the war, will expect a solemn victorious final. But there was no reason for this yet, and he wrote as his heart dictated.

On December 27, 1941, the symphony was completed. Starting with the Fifth Symphony, almost all of the composer's works in this genre were performed by his favorite orchestra - the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by E. Mravinsky.

But, unfortunately, Mravinsky’s orchestra was far away, in Novosibirsk, and the authorities insisted on an urgent premiere. After all, the symphony was dedicated by the author to the feat hometown. It was given political significance. The premiere took place in Kuibyshev performed by an orchestra Bolshoi Theater under the direction of S. Samosud. After this, the symphony was performed in Moscow and Novosibirsk. But the most remarkable premiere took place in besieged Leningrad. Musicians were gathered from everywhere to perform it. Many of them were exhausted. Before the start of rehearsals, we had to put them in the hospital - feed them, treat them. On the day the symphony was performed, all artillery forces were sent to suppress enemy firing points. Nothing should have interfered with this premiere.

The Philharmonic hall was full. The audience was very diverse. The concert was attended by sailors, armed infantrymen, air defense soldiers dressed in sweatshirts, and emaciated regulars of the Philharmonic. The performance of the symphony lasted 80 minutes. All this time, the enemy’s guns were silent: the artillerymen defending the city received orders to suppress the fire of German guns at all costs.

Shostakovich's new work shocked the audience: many of them cried without hiding their tears. Great music was able to express what united people at that difficult time: faith in victory, sacrifice, boundless love to your city and country.

During its performance, the symphony was broadcast on the radio, as well as over the loudspeakers of the city network. It was heard not only by the residents of the city, but also by the German troops besieging Leningrad.

On July 19, 1942, the symphony was performed in New York, and after that its victorious march around the world began.

The first movement begins with a broad, sing-song epic melody. It develops, grows, and is filled with more and more power. Recalling the process of creating the symphony, Shostakovich said: “While working on the symphony, I thought about the greatness of our people, about their heroism, about the best ideals of humanity, about the wonderful qualities of man...” All this is embodied in the theme of the main part, which is related to the Russian heroic themes of sweeping intonations, bold wide melodic moves, heavy unisons.

The side part is also songlike. She looks calm lullaby song. Its melody seems to dissolve in silence. Everything breathes the calm of peaceful life.

But then, from somewhere far away, the beat of a drum is heard, and then a melody appears: primitive, similar to couplets - an expression of everyday life and vulgarity. It's like puppets moving. Thus begins the “invasion episode” - a stunning picture of the invasion of destructive force.

At first the sound seems harmless. But the theme is repeated 11 times, becoming increasingly stronger. Its melody does not change, it only gradually acquires the sound of more and more new instruments, turning into powerful chord complexes. So this topic, which at first seemed not threatening, but stupid and vulgar, turns into a colossal monster - a grinding machine of destruction. It seems that she will crush all living things in her path.

The writer A. Tolstoy called this music “the dance of learned rats to the tune of the pied piper.” It seems that the learned rats, obedient to the will of the rat catcher, enter the battle.

The invasion episode is written in the form of variations on a constant theme - passacaglia.

Even before the start of the Great Patriotic War Shostakovich wrote variations on a constant theme, similar in concept to Ravel's Bolero. He showed it to his students. The theme is simple, as if dancing, which is accompanied by the beat of a snare drum. It grew to enormous power. At first it sounded harmless, even frivolous, but it grew into a terrible symbol of suppression. The composer shelved this work without performing or publishing it. It turns out that this episode was written earlier. So what did the composer want to portray with them? The terrible march of fascism across Europe or the attack of totalitarianism on the individual? (Note: Totalitarian is a regime in which the state dominates all aspects of society, in which there is violence, the destruction of democratic freedoms and human rights).

At that moment, when it seems that the iron colossus is moving with a roar straight towards the listener, the unexpected happens. Opposition begins. A dramatic motive appears, which is usually called the motive of resistance. Moans and screams are heard in the music. It’s as if a grand symphonic battle is being played out.

After a powerful climax, the reprise sounds dark and gloomy. The theme of the main part in it sounds like a passionate speech addressed to all humanity, full of great power of protest against evil. Particularly expressive is the melody of the side part, which has become melancholy and lonely. An expressive bassoon solo appears here.

It's no longer a lullaby, but rather a cry punctuated by painful spasms. Only in code main party sounds in a major key, as if affirming the overcoming of the forces of evil. But from afar you can hear the beat of a drum. The war is still ongoing.

The next two parts are designed to show the spiritual wealth of a person, the strength of his will.

The second movement is a scherzo in soft tones. Many critics in this music saw a picture of Leningrad with transparent white nights. This music combines smile and sadness, light humor and self-absorption, creating an attractive and bright image.

The third movement is a majestic and soulful adagio. It opens with a chorale - a kind of requiem for the dead. This is followed by a pathetic statement from the violins. The second theme, according to the composer, conveys “rapture of life, admiration for nature.” The dramatic middle of the part is perceived as a memory of the past, a reaction to tragic events first part.

The finale begins with a barely audible timpani tremolo. It’s as if strength is gradually gathering. This is how it gets prepared main topic, full of indomitable energy. This is an image of struggle, of popular anger. It is replaced by an episode in the rhythm of a saraband - again a memory of the fallen. And then begins a slow ascent to the triumph of the completion of the symphony, where the main theme of the first movement is heard by trumpets and trombones as a symbol of peace and future victory.

No matter how wide the variety of genres in Shostakovich’s work, in terms of his talent he is, first of all, a composer-symphonist. His work is characterized by a huge scale of content, a tendency towards generalized thinking, the severity of conflicts, dynamism and a strict logic of development. These features were especially evident in his symphonies. Shostakovich wrote fifteen symphonies. Each of them is a page in the history of the life of the people. It was not for nothing that the composer was called the musical chronicler of his era. And not as a dispassionate observer, as if observing everything that happens from above, but as a person who subtly reacts to the upheavals of his era, living the life of his contemporaries, involved in everything that happens around him. He could say about himself in the words of the great Goethe:

- I'm not an outsider,
And a participant in earthly affairs!

Like no one else, he was distinguished by his responsiveness to everything that happened to him. home country and its people and even more broadly - with all humanity. Thanks to this sensitivity, he was able to capture the characteristic features of that era and reproduce them in highly artistic images. And in this regard, the composer's symphonies - unique monument history of mankind.

August 9, 1942. On this day, in besieged Leningrad, the famous performance of Dmitry Shostakovich’s Seventh (“Leningrad”) Symphony took place.

The organizer and conductor was Karl Ilyich Eliasberg, the chief conductor of the Leningrad Radio Orchestra. While the symphony was being performed, not a single enemy shell fell on the city: by order of the commander of the Leningrad Front, Marshal Govorov, all enemy points were suppressed in advance. The guns were silent while Shostakovich's music sounded. It was heard not only by the residents of the city, but also by the German troops besieging Leningrad. Many years after the war, the Germans said: “Then, on August 9, 1942, we realized that we would lose the war. We felt your strength, capable of overcoming hunger, fear and even death..."

Starting from its performance in besieged Leningrad, the symphony had enormous propaganda and political significance for the Soviet and Russian authorities.

On August 21, 2008, a fragment of the first part of the symphony was performed in the South Ossetian city of Tskhinvali, destroyed by Georgian troops, by an orchestra Mariinsky Theater directed by Valery Gergiev.

“This symphony is a reminder to the world that the horror of the siege and bombing of Leningrad must not be repeated...”
(V. A. Gergiev)

Presentation

Included:
1. Presentation 18 slides, ppsx;
2. Sounds of music:
Symphony No. 7 “Leningradskaya”, op. 60, 1 part, mp3;
3. Article, docx.

Galkina Olga

My research is of an informational nature, I wanted to take a closer look at the history of the siege 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:

“Fire Symphony of Siege Leningrad and the Fate of its Author”

Completed by: 10th grade student

MBOU "Gymnasium No. 1"

Galkina Olga.

Curator: history teacher

Chernova I.Yu.

Novomoskovsk 2014

Plan.

1. Siege 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 of an informational nature; I wanted to take a closer look at the history of the siege of Leningrad through the history of the creation of Symphony No. 7 by Dmitry Dmitrievich Shostakovich.

Soon after the start of the war, Leningrad was captured by German troops, and the city was blocked on all sides. The siege of Leningrad lasted 872 days; on September 8, 1941, Hitler’s troops cut it off Railway Moscow - Leningrad, Shlisselburg was captured, Leningrad was surrounded from land. The capture of the city was part of the war plan developed by Nazi Germany against the USSR - the Barbarossa plan. It stipulated 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 residents, and they refused to move anywhere. But initially, children began to be taken away from the city to areas of Leningrad, which then began to rapidly be captured by German regiments. As a result, 175 thousand children were returned back 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 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 on Big Earth, about 400 thousand people were transported. In total, about 1.5 million people were evacuated from Leningrad during the war. Food cards were introduced: from October 1, workers and engineers began to receive 400 g of bread per day, all others- to 200. Public transport stopped because by the winter of 1941- 1942 there were no fuel reserves or electricity left. 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 thousand people died from cold and hunger in Leningrad. But the city lived and fought: the factories did not stop their work and continued to produce military products, theaters and museums operated. All this time, when the blockade was going on, the Leningrad radio, where poets and writers spoke, did not stop talking.In besieged Leningrad, in darkness, in hunger, in sadness, where death, like a shadow, trailed on his heels... there remained a professor at the Leningrad Conservatory, the most famous composer throughout the world - Dmitry Dmitrievich Shostakovich. A grandiose plan for a new composition matured in his soul, which was supposed to reflect the thoughts and feelings of millions Soviet people. With extraordinary enthusiasm, the composer began to create his 7th symphony. With extraordinary enthusiasm, the composer began to create his 7th symphony. “Music burst out of me uncontrollably,” he later recalled. Neither hunger, nor the onset of autumn cold and lack of fuel, nor frequent artillery shelling and bombing could interfere with inspired work.”

Pre-war life of D. D. Shostakovich

Shostakovich was born and lived in difficult and controversial times. He did not always adhere to the party’s policies; he sometimes conflicted with the authorities, sometimes receiving their approval.

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

Dmitry Shostakovich was born in 1906, “at the end” of the Russian Empire, in St. Petersburg, when Russian empire lived out her life last days. By the end of the First World War and the subsequent revolution, the past had been decisively erased as the country embraced a new radical socialist ideology. Unlike Prokofiev, Stravinsky and Rachmaninov, 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 his younger sister Zoya became a veterinarian. Shostakovich studied at private school, and then in 1916-18, during the revolution and formation Soviet Union, studied at the school of I. A. Glyasser.

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

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

Life was difficult, and in order to continue to support his family and his 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 attended his opera “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” based on the story by N. S. Leskov and was shocked by its sharp satire and innovative music. The official reaction followed immediately. The government newspaper Pravda, in an article entitled “Confusion Instead of Music,” subjected the opera to real destruction, and Shostakovich was recognized as 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 even more trouble, and began work on a new symphony. In those terrible years There was a period when the composer lived for many months, expecting 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 affair. But with the birth of their daughter Galina in 1936, the situation improved.

Pursued by the press, he wrote his Symphony No. 5, which, fortunately, was a great success. She was the first climax symphonic creativity composer, its premiere in 1937 was conducted by the young Evgeniy Mravinsky.

The history of the creation of the “Leningrad” Symphony.

On the morning of September 16, 1941, Dmitry Dmitrievich Shostakovich spoke on Leningrad radio. At this time, the city was being 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 manage to write this work well, if I manage to finish 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 life in our city is going well. 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 us protect our music, let us work honestly and selflessly..."

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

Seventh (“Leningrad”) Symphony- one of significant works Shostakovich. The symphony was written in 1941. And most of it was composed in besieged Leningrad.The composer completed the entire 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 ( modern theater opera and ballet) under the direction of S. Samosud.The premiere of the seventh symphony took place in Leningrad in August 1942. In a besieged city, people found the strength to perform a symphony. There were only fifteen people left in the Radio Committee orchestra, but 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 orchestras 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 them...”- Olga Berggolts and Georgy Makogonenko wrote then in Komsomolskaya Pravda.

The Seventh Symphony is often compared to documentary works about the war, called a “chronicle”, “document”- It conveys the spirit of events so accurately.The idea of ​​the symphony is struggle Soviet people against the fascist occupiers 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 repel the cruel enemy. The seventh symphony is a poem about our struggle, about our impending victory.” This is what he wrote in the Pravda newspaper on March 29, 1942.

The idea of ​​the symphony is embodied in 4 movements. 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 burst into our beautiful peaceful life - war.” These words defined two themes contrasted 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 (fascist invasion). “The first theme is the image of joyful creation. This emphasizes the Russian sweeping, broad theme, filled with calm confidence. Then melodies embodying images of nature sound. They seem to dissolve, melt. Warm summer night sank to the ground. Both people and nature – everything fell asleep.”

In the episode of the invasion, the composer conveyed inhuman cruelty, blind, lifeless, creepy automatism, inextricably linked with the appearance of the fascist military. Leo Tolstoy’s expression – “evil machine” – is very appropriate here.

This is how musicologists L. Danilevich and A. Tretyakova characterize the image of an enemy invasion: “To create such an image, Shostakovich mobilized all the means of his compositional arsenal. The theme of the invasion is deliberately blunt, square, reminiscent of a Prussian military march. It is repeated eleven times - eleven variations. The harmony and orchestration change, but the melody remains the same. It repeats itself with iron inexorability - exactly, note for note. All variations are permeated with a fractional march rhythm. This snare drum rhythmic figure is repeated 175 times. The sound gradually increases from subtle pianissimo to thunderous fortissimo.” “Growing to gigantic proportions, the theme depicts some kind of unimaginably gloomy, fantastic monster, which, growing larger and denser, moves forward more and more rapidly and menacingly.” This topic is reminiscent of “the dance of learned rats to the tune of the rat catcher,” A. Tolstoy wrote about it.

How does such a powerful development of the theme of enemy invasion end? “At the moment when it would seem that all living things are dying, unable to resist the onslaught of this terrible, all-crushing robot monster, a miracle occurs: a new force appears on its path, capable of not only resisting, but also entering into the fight. This is the theme of resistance. Marching, solemn, it sounds with passion and great anger, resolutely opposing the theme of invasion. The moment of its appearance is the highest point in the musical dramaturgy of part 1. After this collision, the theme of invasion loses its solidity. It fragments and becomes smaller. All attempts to revive are in vain - the death of the monster is inevitable.”

Alexey Tolstoy very precisely said about what wins the symphony as a result of this struggle: “The threat of fascism- dehumanize a person- he (that is, Shostakovich.- G.S.) responded with a symphony about the victorious triumph of everything lofty and beautiful created by the humanitarian..."

In Moscow, D. Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony was performed 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,
Entrances of the Hall of Columns.

The weather was stingy
A little powdered with snow,
As if this cereal
We were given cards.

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

When the composer is sideways
I made my way to the foot of the piano,
In the orchestra, bow by bow
Woke up, lit up, shone

As if from the darkness of nights
Blizzard gusts have reached us.
And immediately all the violinists
The sheets flew off the stands.
And this stormy darkness,
Whistling gloomily in the trenches,
Wasn't anyone before him
Written like a score.

A thunderstorm was rolling over the world.
Never before at a concert
I never felt the hall so close
The presence of life and death.

Like a house from floors to rafters,
Immediately engulfed in flames,
The orchestra, maddened, screamed
One musical phrase.

The flames were breathing in her face.
The cannonade drowned her out.
She was breaking through the ring
Siege nights of Leningrad.

Humming in the deep blue,
I was on the road all day.
And the night ended in Moscow
Air raid siren.

Post-war years.

In 1948, Shostakovich again had 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, which often reflected the violence, horror and bitterness of the times the composer lived through.

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

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

Death overtook the composer on August 9, 1975. But even after death, the all-powerful authorities 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 to August 14 because foreign delegations did not have time to arrive. Shostakovich was an “official” composer, and he was buried officially with loud speeches from representatives of the party and government who had criticized him for so many years.

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

Conclusion.

Everyone performed feats in the war - on the front line, in partisan detachments, in concentration camps, in the rear in factories and hospitals. Musicians also performed feats, inhumane conditions wrote music and performed it at the front 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 strength and energy into this composition,” the composer wrote in the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper. – I have never worked with such enthusiasm as I do now. There is such a thing popular expression: “When the guns roar, then the muses are silent.” This rightly applies to those guns that suppress life, joy, happiness, and culture with their roar. Then the guns of darkness, violence and evil roar. 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 are monuments to military events. The Seventh Symphony is one of the most grandiose, monumental monuments, This live page history that we should not forget.

Internet resources:

Literature:

1. Tretyakova L.S. Soviet music: Book. for students of Art. classes. – M.: Education, 1987.
2. I. Prokhorova, G. Skudina.Soviet musical literature for VII class children's music school, ed. T.V. Popova. Eighth edition. – Moscow, “Music”, 1987. Pp. 78–86.
3. Music in grades 4–7: Toolkit for the teacher / T.A. Bader, T.E. Vendrova, E.D. Kritskaya et al.; 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. Biryukova, V. Tatarinov, under the general editorship of V. Lazarev. – M.: All-Union edition. Soviet composer, 1986. Pp. 98.

The path to the goal

The virtuoso was born on September 25, 1906 in a family where music was respected and loved. The parents' passion was passed on to their son. At the age of 9, after watching N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera “The Tale of Tsar Saltan,” the boy declared that he intended to study music seriously. The first teacher was my mother, who taught piano. Later she gave the boy to music school, of which he was director famous teacher I. A. Glyasser.

Later, misunderstandings arose between student and teacher regarding the choice of direction. The mentor saw the guy as a pianist, the young man dreamed of becoming a composer. Therefore, in 1918, Dmitry left the school. Perhaps, if the talent had remained to study there, the world today would not know such a work as Shostakovich’s 7th Symphony. The history of the creation of the composition is a significant part of the musician’s biography.

Melodist of the future

The following summer, Dmitry went to audition for the Petrograd Conservatory. There he was noticed by the famous professor and composer A.K. Glazunov. History mentions that this man turned to Maxim Gorky with a request to help with a scholarship for young talent. When asked whether he was good at music, the professor honestly answered that Shostakovich’s style was alien and incomprehensible to him, but this was a topic for the future. So, in the fall the guy entered the conservatory.

But it was only in 1941 that Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony was written. The history of the creation of this work - ups and downs.

Universal love and hate

While still studying, Dmitry created significant melodies, but only after graduating from the conservatory did he write his First Symphony. The work became a diploma work. Newspapers called him a revolutionary in the world of music. Along with fame, a lot of negative criticism fell on the young man. Nevertheless, Shostakovich did not stop working.

Despite his amazing talent, he was unlucky. Every job failed miserably. Many ill-wishers sharply condemned the composer even before Shostakovich's 7th symphony was released. The history of the creation of the composition is interesting - the virtuoso composed it already at the peak of its popularity. But before that, in 1936, the newspaper Pravda harshly condemned ballets and operas of the new format. Ironically, the unusual music from the productions, the author of which was Dmitry Dmitrievich, also came under the hot hand.

The terrible muse of the Seventh Symphony

The composer was persecuted and his works were banned. The fourth symphony was a pain. For some time he slept dressed and with a suitcase next to the bed - the musician was afraid of arrest at any moment.

However, he didn’t pause. In 1937 he released the Fifth Symphony, which surpassed his previous compositions and rehabilitated him.

But another work opened up the world of experiences and feelings in music. The story of the creation of Shostakovich's 7th symphony was tragic and dramatic.

In 1937, he taught composition classes at the Leningrad Conservatory, and later received the title of professor.

In this city the Second finds him World War. Dmitry Dmitrievich met her during the blockade (the city was surrounded on September 8), then he, like other artists of that time, was taken from the cultural capital of Russia. The composer and his family were evacuated first to Moscow, and then, on October 1, to Kuibyshev (since 1991 - Samara).

Start of work

It is worth noting that the author began working on this music even before the Great Patriotic War. In 1939-1940, the history of the creation of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 began. The first people to hear her excerpts were her students and colleagues. Originally it was simple theme, which developed with the sound of a snare drum. Already in the summer of 1941, this part became a separate emotional episode of the work. The symphony officially started on July 19. Afterwards the author admitted that he had never written so actively. It is interesting that the composer addressed Leningraders on the radio, where he announced his creative plans.

In September I worked on the second and third parts. On December 27, the master wrote the final part. On March 5, 1942, Shostakovich’s 7th Symphony was performed for the first time in Kuibyshev. The story of the creation of the work during the siege is no less exciting than the premiere itself. The evacuated orchestra of the Bolshoi Theater played it. Conducted by Samuel Samosuda.

Main concert

The master's dream was to perform in Leningrad. They spent a lot of effort to make the music sound. The task of organizing the concert fell to the only orchestra that remained in besieged Leningrad. The battered city brought musicians together drop by drop. Everyone who could stand on their feet was accepted. Many front-line soldiers took part in the performance. Only the musical notation. Then they signed the games and put up posters. On August 9, 1942, Shostakovich's 7th Symphony was performed. The history of the creation of the work is also unique in that it was on this day that fascist troops planned to break through the defenses.

The conductor was Carl Eliasberg. The order was given: “While the concert is going on, the enemy must remain silent.” Soviet artillery ensured calm and actually covered all the artists. They broadcast music on the radio.

It was a real holiday for the exhausted residents. People cried and gave standing ovation. In August the symphony was played 6 times.

World recognition

Four months after the premiere, the work was performed in Novosibirsk. In the summer, residents of Great Britain and the USA heard it. The author became popular. People from all over the world were captivated by the siege story of the creation of Shostakovich's 7th symphony. In the first few months, it was played more than 60 times. Its first broadcast was listened to by more than 20 million people on this continent.

There were also envious people who argued that the work would not have received such popularity if not for the drama of Leningrad. But, despite this, even the bravest critic did not dare to declare that the author’s work was mediocrity.

There were changes on the territory of the Soviet Union as well. Ace has been called the Beethoven of the twentieth century. The man received a negative opinion about the genius from the composer S. Rachmaninov, who said: “They forgot all the artists, only Shostakovich remained.” Symphony 7 “Leningradskaya”, the history of whose creation is worthy of respect, has won the hearts of millions.

Music of the Heart

Tragic events are heard in music. The author wanted to show all the pain that comes not only from war, but also He loved his people, but despised the power that governs them. His goal was to convey the feelings of millions of Soviet people. The master suffered along with the city and its inhabitants and defended the walls with notes. Anger, love, suffering are embodied in such a work as Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony. The history of its creation covers the period of the first months of the war and the start of the blockade.

The theme itself is a grandiose struggle between good and evil, peace and slavery. If you close your eyes and turn on the tune, you can hear the sky buzzing with enemy planes, like motherland moans from dirty boots occupiers, as a mother cries as she sees off her son to his death.

The “Famous Leningradka” became a symbol of freedom - as poetess Anna Akhmatova called her. On one side of the wall there were enemies, injustice, on the other - art, Shostakovich, the 7th symphony. The history of its creation briefly reflects the first stage of the war and the role of art in the struggle for freedom!

Preparations for the concert took place under the most difficult conditions. The city had been under siege for almost a year; there were very few professional musicians left in it. Many died or died of starvation, some went to the front or were evacuated. The rest were busy in activities to protect and defend Leningrad; their health left much to be desired. The conductor's baton was entrusted to Carl Eliasberg.

Conductor Carl Eliasberg

“They announced on the radio that all musicians were invited. It was hard to walk. I had scurvy and my legs hurt a lot. At first there were nine of us, but then more came. The conductor Eliasberg was brought in on a sleigh because he was completely weak from hunger. Men were even called from the front line. Instead of weapons, they had to pick up musical instruments“- recalled flutist Galina Lelyukhina, a participant in the siege concert.

An anti-aircraft gunner played the horn, and a machine gunner played the trombone. Eliasberg saved drummer Zhaudat Aidarov from the dead, noticing that his fingers were still moving. The musicians were given additional rations and began rehearsing.

Symphony in besieged Leningrad

Collage: Channel Five

The 355th day of the blockade was marked by a concert. The premiere of Dmitri Shostakovich's 7th symphony was scheduled for August 9. Actually, on this day the Germans planned to capture the city, but it turned out differently. Shortly before this, the Leningrad Front was headed by Leonid Govorov, the future marshal. He ordered continuous massive fire on enemy batteries throughout the concert. Fascist shells should not have prevented Leningraders from listening to music.

Marshal Leonid Govorov

The Philharmonic hall was overcrowded, but not only those who had a ticket heard the concert. Thanks to radio broadcasts, loudspeakers and loudspeakers, all residents of the city, its defenders and even Germans behind the front line could enjoy the music. After the war, Eliasberg met with the war participants who were on the other side of the barricades. One of them admitted that it was then that he realized that the fight was lost.

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Video: Channel Five archive

The first sketches included in the seventh symphony appeared before the war, but focused work on a new piece of music Dmitri Shostakovich began already in the summer of 1941. After the blockade began, the musician finished writing the second part and began the third. They managed to finish the symphony in evacuation, and then the plane broke through to Leningrad and delivered the score. The music reflected the feelings of the residents: anxiety, pain, but at the same time faith in future victory, which filled them with strength in the most difficult moments of life under siege.

Composer Dmitry Shostakovich

In honor of the 75th anniversary of the concert, commemorative events were held in St. Petersburg. At night the seventh symphony accompanied the breeding Palace Bridge. Hundreds of citizens and tourists gathered on the banks of the Neva.

And during the day Palace Square exhibition opened military equipment during the war.

Another exhibition began at the Presidential Library - “Blockade through the eyes of contemporary artists" And there is still a gala concert ahead on the main square of the city and a car and motorcycle rally along Nevsky Prospekt.

The Seventh Symphony united Leningraders and, at the most difficult moment, showed that the city continues to live. So the whole world saw that great music, written in blood, has crushing power. And the residents and defenders of besieged Leningrad received a monument that cannot be destroyed. Even in Poland and the Baltic states, where monuments to Soviet soldiers are now being destroyed, Shestakovich’s symphony sounds as decisive and powerful as it did 75 years ago.

70 years ago, on August 9, 1942, in besieged Leningrad, Dmitry Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony in C major, which later received the name “Leningrad”, was performed.

“With pain and pride I looked at my beloved city. And it stood, scorched by fires, battle-hardened, having experienced the deep suffering of a fighter, and was even more beautiful in its stern grandeur. How could one not love this city, built by Peter, one cannot tell everything the world about its glory, about the courage of its defenders... My weapon was music", the composer later wrote.

In May 1942, the score was delivered to the besieged city by plane. At a concert at the Leningrad Philharmonic, Symphony No. 7 was performed by the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra Leningrad Radio Committee under the direction of conductor Carl Eliasberg. Some of the orchestra members died of hunger and were replaced by musicians recalled from the front.

"The circumstances under which the Seventh was created were publicized throughout the world: the first three movements were written in about a month in Leningrad, under the fire of the Germans who reached that city in September 1941. The symphony was thus considered a direct reflection of the events of the first days of the war. No one took into account the composer's style of work. Shostakovich wrote very quickly, but only after the music was fully formed in his mind as a reflection of the pre-war fate of both the composer and Leningrad."

From the book "Testimony"

“The first listeners did not connect the famous “march” from the first part of the Seventh with the German invasion; this is the result of later propaganda. Conductor Evgeny Mravinsky, a friend of the composer of those years (the Eighth Symphony is dedicated to him), recalled that after hearing the march from the Seventh on the radio in March 1942, he thought that the composer had created a comprehensive picture of stupidity and stupid vulgarity.

The popularity of the march episode was hidden obvious fact that the first part - and in fact, the work as a whole - is full of sorrow in the style of a requiem. Shostakovich emphasized at every opportunity that for him the central place in this music is occupied by the intonation of the requiem. But the composer's words were deliberately ignored. The pre-war years, in reality full of hunger, fear and massacres of innocent people during the period of Stalin's terror, were now portrayed in official propaganda as a bright and carefree idyll. So why not present the symphony as a “symbol of the fight” against the Germans?”

From the book "Testimony. Memoirs of Dmitry Shostakovich,
recorded and edited by Solomon Volkov."

RIA News. Boris Kudoyarov

Residents of besieged Leningrad emerge from a bomb shelter after the all-clear

Shocked by Shostakovich's music, Alexey Nikolaevich Tolstoy wrote about this work:

"...The seventh symphony is dedicated to the triumph of the human in man.<…>

The Seventh Symphony arose from the conscience of the Russian people, who without hesitation accepted mortal combat with the black forces. Written in Leningrad, it has grown to the size of great world art, understandable at all latitudes and meridians, because it tells the truth about man in an unprecedented time of his misfortunes and trials. The symphony is transparent in its enormous complexity, it is both stern and masculinely lyrical, and all flies into the future, revealing itself beyond the victory of man over the beast.<…>

The theme of war arises remotely and at first looks like some kind of simple and eerie dance, like learned rats dancing to the tune of the pied piper. Like a rising wind, this theme begins to sway the orchestra, it takes possession of it, grows, and becomes stronger. The rat catcher with his iron rats rises from behind the hill... This is a war moving. She triumphs in the timpani and drums, the violins answer with a cry of pain and despair. And it seems to you, squeezing the oak railings with your fingers: is it really, really, everything has already been crushed and torn to pieces? There is confusion and chaos in the orchestra.<…>

No, man is stronger than the elements. Stringed instruments start to fight. The harmony of violins and human voices of bassoons is more powerful than the roar of a donkey skin stretched over drums. With the desperate beating of your heart you help the triumph of harmony. And the violins harmonize the chaos of war, silence its cavernous roar.

The damned rat catcher is no more, he is carried away into the black abyss of time. The bows are lowered, and many of the violinists have tears in their eyes. Only the thoughtful and stern human voice of the bassoon can be heard - after so many losses and disasters. There is no return to stormless happiness. Before the gaze of a person, wise in suffering, is the path traveled, where he seeks justification for life."

The concert in besieged Leningrad became a kind of symbol of the resistance of the city and its inhabitants, but the music itself inspired everyone who heard it. This is how I wrote it poetess about one of the first performances of Shostakovich’s work:

“And so on March 29, 1942, the joint orchestra of the Bolshoi Theater and the All-Union Radio Committee performed the Seventh Symphony, which the composer dedicated to Leningrad and called the Leningrad Symphony.

Famous pilots, writers, and Stakhanovites came to the Column Hall of the House of Unions. There were many front-line soldiers here - with Western Front, from the South, from the North - they came to Moscow on business, for a few days, in order to go to the battlefields again tomorrow, and still found time to come listen to the Seventh - Leningrad - Symphony. They put on all their orders, granted to them by the Republic, and everyone was in their best dresses, festive, beautiful, elegant. And in the Hall of Columns it was very warm, everyone was without coats, the electricity was on, and there was even a smell of perfume.

RIA News. Boris Kudoyarov

Leningrad during the siege during the Great Patriotic War. Air defense fighters early in the morning on one of the city streets

The first sounds of the Seventh Symphony are pure and joyful. You listen to them greedily and in surprise - this is how we once lived, before the war, how happy we were, how free, how much space and silence there was around. I want to listen to this wise, sweet music of the world endlessly. But suddenly and very quietly a dry crackling sound is heard, the dry beat of a drum - the whisper of a drum. It’s still a whisper, but it’s becoming more and more persistent, more and more intrusive. In a short musical phrase - sad, monotonous and at the same time somehow defiantly cheerful - the instruments of the orchestra begin to echo each other. The dry beat of the drum is louder. War. The drums are already thundering. A short, monotonous and alarming musical phrase takes over the entire orchestra and becomes scary. The music is so loud it's hard to breathe. There is no escape from it... This is the enemy advancing on Leningrad. He threatens death, the trumpets growl and whistle. Death? Well, we are not afraid, we will not retreat, we will not surrender ourselves to the enemy. The music rages furiously... Comrades, this is about us, this is about the September days of Leningrad, full of anger and challenge. The orchestra thunders furiously - the fanfare rings in the same monotonous phrase and uncontrollably carries the soul towards mortal combat... And when you can no longer breathe from the thunder and roar of the orchestra, suddenly everything breaks off, and the theme of war turns into a majestic requiem. A lonely bassoon, covering the raging orchestra, raises its low, tragic voice skyward. And then he sings alone, alone in the ensuing silence...

“I don’t know how to characterize this music,” says the composer himself, “maybe it contains the tears of a mother, or even the feeling when the grief is so great that there are no more tears left.”

Comrades, this is about us, this is our great tearless grief for our relatives and friends - the defenders of Leningrad, who died in battles on the outskirts of the city, who fell on its streets, who died in its half-blind houses...

We haven’t cried for a long time, because our grief is greater than tears. But, having killed the tears that eased the soul, grief did not kill the life in us. And the Seventh Symphony talks about this. Its second and third parts, also written in Leningrad, are transparent, joyful music, full of rapture for life and admiration for nature. And this is also about us, about people who have learned to love and appreciate life in a new way! And it is clear why the third part merges with the fourth: in the fourth part, the theme of war, excitedly and defiantly repeated, bravely moves into the theme of the coming victory, and the music rages freely again, and its solemn, menacing, almost cruel rejoicing reaches unimaginable power, physically shaking the vaults building.

We will defeat the Germans.

Comrades, we will definitely defeat them!

We are ready for all the trials that still await us, ready for the triumph of life. This triumph is evidenced by the "Leningrad Symphony", a work of world-wide resonance, created in our besieged, starving city, deprived of light and warmth - in a city fighting for the happiness and freedom of all mankind.

And the people who came to listen to the “Leningrad Symphony” stood up and stood and applauded the composer, son and defender of Leningrad. And I looked at him, small, fragile, in big glasses, and thought: “This man is stronger than Hitler...”

The material was prepared based on information from open sources