I wanted to convey in the symphony how, through a series of tragic conflicts of great inner spiritual turmoil, optimism asserts itself as a worldview there is nothing more honorable for a composer than to create works for and with the people. Orchestra with chorus 1929 shostakovich made a reduction of the score for solo piano, including the vocal score of the final chorus as op. And so the symphony is a memorial to the people of leningrad. This is my own arrangement of the famous part of the first movement of shostakovich seventh. Apparently my doubts about the scores quality isnt widely shared. However, the music actually reflects the soviet invasion of hungary, as the symphony was composed in the aftermath. He often performed this arrangement with students in his. Shostakovich symphony no 7 leningrad i score 7 dmitri shostakovich composer 19061975 play streams in full or download mp3 from classical archives. If only maxim shostakovichs 1972 recording with the ussr symphony orchestra had been released on cd it never has been, astoundingly, as this wold be the obvious first choice. Shostakovich who began to write his famous symphony before evacuation from besieged leningrad in 1941, could not go back to attend its premier.
The story of the great city terrorized by stalin, starved by hitler, immortalized by shostakovich kindle edition by moynahan, brian. Maxim shostakovich explains how the seventh came to be performed in london and new york before its premiere in leningrad. Everything about it was larger than life including its length approximately eighty minutes and the oversized orchestra it. The ultimate horror is, in fact, that nobody will ever know. It is a history ineluctably tied to older eras the classical haydn, beethoven and the romantic berlioz, brahms and tied, t. Download pdf symphony no5 op47 full score dsch new collected works shostakovich symphony 7 leningrad op.
Even today, people wonder just what shostakovich was trying to say. The program notes inform us that the seventh is shostakovichs bestknown symphony, a surprise to anyone brought up on the once ubiquitous fifth. Dmitry shostakovich, in full dmitry dmitriyevich shostakovich, born september 12 september 25, new style, 1906, st. The live broadcast was a powerful symbol of resilience, for the country, and for the allies. On march 5, 1942, kuybyshev briefly became the cultural capital of the world when shostakovichs seventh leningrad symphony was played in the palace of culture for the first time. Dmitri shostakovichs leningrad sym phony is sorely. The leningrad was finally performed in leningrad itself on august 9 and, until the end of the 1940s, enjoyed great popularity.
The news about dmitry shostakovichs seventh symphony premiere in besieged leningrad spread all over the world. In 1937 russia, at the height of stalins purges, the communist party strongly denounced dmitri shostakovichs most recent works. Petersburg, russiadied august 9, 1975, moscow, russia, u. Although shostakovich originally gave titles to the. Shostakovich, dmitry all original works compositions and arrangements of this person are still under in canada, the eu, japan and elsewhere and are thus subject to immediate deletion. Begun on april 18, 1937, completed three months later, on july 20. Shostakovichs eventual official statement, i dedicated my seventh symphony to our fight against fascism, to our coming victory over the enemy and to my native city of leningrad, is reproduced on the first page of the printed score merely as dedicated to the city of leningrad. Evgeny mravinsky conducted the leningrad philharmonic. Yevgeny mravinsky conducted the leningrad philharmonic, in leningrad.
Gergievs approach to shostakovichs symphony proved gripping, driving the big moments. Shostakovich assembled a suite of the from the bedbug for orchestra as op. Choosing to call a new work a symphony also means confronting the genres long, intimidating history and its powerful traditions. It was first performed by the leningrad philharmonic orchestra and the academy capella choir under nikolai malko, on 5 november 1927. Dmitri shostakovich was a leading composer of the 20th century and soviet russias most important symphonist his adult life was lived entirely inside the ussr and his music was deeply affected by political events there, especially under stalin while still a boy, studied at petrograd conservatoire under glazunov and steinberg, graduating as a brilliant pianist and composer early works. And if you can get hold of it, lookout for yevgeny mravinskys leningrad. The premiere was a huge success and received an ovation that lasted well over half an hour. David geffen hall 10 lincoln center plaza new york, ny 100236970. With his score for the symphony and little else in hand, he flew with his family over enemy lines to moscow. As soon as shostakovich received the score, he transcribed it for piano fourhands. Completed in 1941, while leningrad was under siege by the german army, it is a monumental work of shattering power and unwavering resistance. Shostakovich made all the right statements publicly.
Leningrad, shostakovich and the music of transcendence. Begun in the summer, and completed in the fall of 1953. Shostakovich composed most of his seventh symphony in. Amid hunger and cold, an unforgettable symphony premiere. For one thing, shostakovich himself had been seeding rumors for years, apparently misleading, that he was working on a lenin symphony, which would have been his seventh. Symphony no 7 leningrad invasion theme shostakovich. Some people claim that stalin was responsible for as many as three times that number of deaths. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets.
The work premiered informally on march 5, 1942, at a rural retreat by the volga, where the composer and many of his colleagues were seeking refuge from world war ii. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading leningrad. After the premiere, shostakovich made some revisions to the score, and this final version was first played in moscow later. Written and first performed as german forces besieged leningrad, shostakovichs symphony still echoes with the pounding rhythms of war tom service sat 2 jan 2016 07. A year into the siege of leningrad, a haggard group of musicians defiantly and improbably performed dmitri shostakovichs symphony.
Fearing for his life, the young composer wrote a symphony ending with a rousing march. In 1997 he won first prize in the shostakovich choral conducting competition and was made chief conductor of the st petersburg state academic symphony orchestra, during which time he took on the principal. In additon to ny philharmonic, used by chicago symphony. Andersons newest book, titled symphony for the city of the dead. Its first performance was on november 21, 1937, in leningrad by the leningrad philharmonic orchestra under yevgeny mravinsky. The voyage of dmitri shostakovichs leningrad symphony to the west.
Brian moynahans entry point is the performance of dmitri shostakovichs seventh symphony in the starving and brutalized city on aug. Arranged for piano and simple percussion feel free to use anything you want for the percussion instrument. A microfilm of the score had been smuggled out of russia and it was in this way that the us, too, heard the symphony before leningrad when toscanini conducted the nbc symphony in a broadcast on july 19, 1942. It was an important message to all nations that hitlers attack on leningrad failed. Many stories have been told about the genesis of the leningrad symphony, not least by shostakovich himself and his many friends. The subtitle of the symphony refers to the events of the russian revolution of 1905. A committed advocate of the music of his homeland, russian conductor valery gergiev returns to the cso in one of shostakovichs most celebrated symphonies. Shostakovichs seventh symphony is a prisoner of its own history and the. Bernstein made a bettersounding remake with the chicago sym. The story of the 872 day nazi siege of leningrad, the humans who survived it, and the more than one million who died, the story told in shostakovichs seventh symphony, is one of humanitys greatest and most heroic tales ever.