But with special impatience they awaited "their" Seventh Symphony in besieged Leningrad.

Back in August 1941, on the 21st, when the appeal of the Leningrad City Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, the City Council and the Military Council of the Leningrad Front "The Enemy at the Gates" was published, Shostakovich spoke on the city radio:

And now, when she sounded in Kuibyshev, Moscow, Tashkent, Novosibirsk, New York, London, Stockholm, Leningraders were waiting for her in their city, the city where she was born ...

On July 2, 1942, a twenty-year-old pilot, Lieutenant Litvinov, under continuous fire from German anti-aircraft guns, breaking through a ring of fire, delivered medicines and four bulky music books with the score of the Seventh Symphony. They were already awaited at the airport and taken away as the greatest treasure.

The next day, a short piece of information appeared in Leningradskaya Pravda: “The score of the Seventh Symphony by Dmitry Shostakovich was delivered to Leningrad by plane. Its public performance will take place in the Great Hall of the Philharmonic. "

But when chief conductor Karl Eliasberg opened the first of four notebooks of the score of the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra of the Leningrad Radio Committee, he darkened: instead of the usual three trumpets, three trombones and four French horns, Shostakovich had twice as many. And the drums have been added! Moreover, the score is written by Shostakovich's hand: "The participation of these instruments in the performance of the symphony is obligatory"... AND "necessarily" boldly underlined. It became clear that the symphony could not be played with the few musicians who still remained in the orchestra. Yes, and they own last concert played on December 7, 1941.

The frosts were fierce then. The Philharmonic Hall was not heated - nothing.

But people came anyway. They came to listen to music. Hungry, exhausted, wrapped up in something much, so it was impossible to make out where the women were, where the men were - only one face was sticking out. And the orchestra played, although it was scary to touch the brass horns, trumpets, trombones - they burned your fingers, the mouthpieces froze to your lips. And after this concert there were no more rehearsals. Music in Leningrad froze, as if frozen. Even the radio did not broadcast it. And this is in Leningrad, one of the musical capitals of the world! And there was no one to play. Of the one hundred and five orchestra members, several people were evacuated, twenty-seven died of hunger, the rest became dystrophic, unable to even move.

When rehearsals resumed in March 1942, only 15 weakened musicians could play. 15 out of 105! Now, in July, it is true, there are more, but those few who are able to play were collected with such difficulty! What to do?

From the memoirs of Olga Berggolts.

“The only orchestra of the Radio Committee that remained then in Leningrad was diminished from hunger during our tragic first blockade winter by almost half. I will never forget how, on a dark winter morning, the then artistic director of the Radio Committee, Yakov Babushkin (died at the front in 1943), dictated to the typist another report on the state of the orchestra: - The first violin is dying, the drum died on the way to work, the French horn is dying ... And nevertheless, these surviving, terribly exhausted musicians and the leadership of the Radio Committee were fired up with the idea of ​​performing the Seventh in Leningrad by all means ... Yasha Babushkin, through the city party committee, got our musicians an additional ration, but all the same people were not enough to perform the Seventh Symphony. Then, across Leningrad, an appeal was announced through the radio to all musicians in the city to appear at the Radio Committee to work in the orchestra ".

They were looking for musicians all over the city. Eliasberg staggered around the hospitals, reeling with weakness. He found the drummer Zhaudat Aydarov in the dead room, where he noticed that the musician's fingers moved slightly. "He's alive!" - exclaimed the conductor, and this moment was the second birth of Zhaudat. Without him, the performance of the Seventh would have been impossible - after all, he had to beat the drum roll in the "theme of the invasion." String group picked up, but a problem arose with the wind blower: people simply physically could not blow into wind instruments... Some fainted during rehearsals. Later, the musicians were attached to the canteen of the City Council - once a day they received a hot lunch. But there were still not enough musicians. We decided to ask the military command for help: many musicians were in the trenches - they were defending the city with weapons in their hands. The request was granted. By order of the head of the Political Directorate of the Leningrad Front, Major General Dmitry Kholostov, the musicians who were in the army and navy were ordered to come to the city, to the House of Radio, having musical instruments with them. And they reached out. Their documents read: "Commander to the Eliasberg Orchestra." The trombonist came from the machine-gun company, the viola player escaped from the hospital. The French horn player sent an anti-aircraft regiment to the orchestra, the flutist was brought on a sled - his legs were taken away. The trumpeter stamped on his felt boots, despite the spring: his feet, swollen from hunger, did not fit into other shoes. The conductor himself looked like his own shadow.

The rehearsals have begun. They lasted five to six hours in the morning and in the evening, sometimes ending late at night. The artists were given special passes allowing them to walk around Leningrad at night. And the traffic police officers even presented the conductor with a bicycle, and on Nevsky Prospect one could see a tall, extremely emaciated man, diligently twisting the pedals - hurrying to rehearsal either to Smolny, or to the Polytechnic Institute - to the Front's Political Administration. In between rehearsals, the conductor was in a hurry to settle many of the orchestra's other affairs. The spokes flashed merrily. The army bowler hat on the steering wheel jingled thinly. The city followed the course of rehearsals closely.

A few days later, posters appeared in the city, pasted up next to the proclamation "The Enemy at the Gates." They announced that on August 9, 1942, the premiere of Dmitry Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony will take place in the Great Hall of the Leningrad Philharmonic. Plays Big Symphony Orchestra Leningrad Radio Committee. Conducting K. I. Eliasberg. Sometimes, right there, under the poster, there was a light table on which lay packs with the concert program printed in the printing house. Behind him sat a warmly dressed pale woman, apparently still unable to warm up after a harsh winter. People stopped near her, and she held out to them the program of the concert, printed very simply, casually, with only black paint.

Its first page contains an epigraph: “I dedicate my Seventh Symphony to our fight against fascism, our coming victory over the enemy, to my native city - Leningrad. Dmitry Shostako-vich ". Lower, large: "THE SEVENTH SYMPHONY OF DMITRY SHOSTAKOVICH". And at the very bottom, finely: "Leningrad, 194 2 ". This program served entrance ticket for the first performance in Leningrad of the Seventh Symphony on August 9, 1942. Tickets sold out very quickly - everyone who could walk wanted to get to this unusual concert.

Oboist Ksenia Matus, one of the participants in the legendary performance of Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony in besieged Leningrad, recalled:

“When I came to the radio, I was scared at the first minute. I saw people, musicians, whom I knew well ... Some are in soot, who are completely exhausted, it is not known what they are wearing. I didn't recognize people. For the first rehearsal, the whole orchestra could not get together yet. Many simply could not climb to the fourth floor, where the studio was located. Those who had more strength or stronger character took the rest under their arms and carried them upstairs. At first we rehearsed for only 15 minutes. And if not for Karl Ilyich Eliasberg, not for his assertive, heroic character, no orchestra, no symphony in Leningrad would have been. Although he was also dystrophic, just like us. His wife brought him to rehearsals, on a sled. I remember how at the first rehearsal he said: "Well, come on ...", raised his hands, and they were trembling ... So this image remained in front of my eyes for the rest of my life, this shot bird, these wings that - then they will fall, and he will fall ...

This is how we started to work. Little by little we gained strength.

And on April 5, 1942, our first concert took place at the Pushkin Theater. Men put on quilted jackets first, and then jackets. We also wore everything under the dresses so as not to freeze. And the audience?

It was impossible to make out where the women were, where the men were, everyone was wrapped up, packed, in mittens, the collars were up, only one face was sticking out ... And suddenly Karl Ilyich came out - in a white shirt front, a clean collar, in general, like a first-class conductor. At the first moment his hands began to tremble again, but then it started ... We played a concert in one part very well, there were no "kiks", no hitch. But we didn’t hear applause - we were in mittens, we only saw that the whole hall was stirring, revived ...

After this concert, we somehow rose up at once, pulled ourselves together: “Guys! Our life begins! " Real rehearsals started, we were even given extra food, and suddenly there was news that the score of Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony was flying towards us on a plane, under bombardment. Everything was organized instantly: the parties were painted, and more musicians from the military bands were recruited. And now, finally, the parties are on our consoles and we begin to study. Of course, some did not succeed, people were exhausted, their hands were frostbitten ... Our men worked in gloves with their fingers cut off ... And so, rehearsal after rehearsal ... We took the parts home to learn. So that everything is perfect. People from the Committee for Art Affairs came to us, some commissions constantly listened to us. And we worked a lot, as we had to learn other programs at the same time. I remember such a case. They played some fragment where the trumpet has a solo. And the trumpeter has an instrument on his knee. Karl Ilyich addresses him:

- First trumpet, why aren't you playing?
- Karl Ilyich, I have no strength to blow! No forces.
- What do you think we have strength ?! Let's get to work!

These were the phrases that made the whole orchestra work. There were also group rehearsals, at which Eliasberg approached everyone: play it for me, like this, like this, like this ... That is, if it were not for him, I repeat, there would be no symphony.

… Finally, August 9th, the day of the concert, is coming. In the city, at least in the center, there were posters. And here is another unforgettable picture: transport did not go, people walked, women went to elegant dresses, but these dresses hung, as if on racks, great for everyone, men - in suits, also as if from someone else's shoulder ... Military vehicles with soldiers drove up to the Philharmonic - for a concert ... In general, there were quite a lot of people in the hall, and we felt an incredible uplift because we understood that today we are taking a big exam.

Before the concert (the hall was not heated all winter, it was icy), spotlights were installed upstairs to warm the stage, so that the air was warmer. When we went to our consoles, the projectors went out. As soon as Karl Ilyich showed up, deafening applause rang out, the whole audience stood up to greet him ... And when we played, we were also given a standing ovation. From somewhere a girl suddenly appeared with a bunch of fresh flowers. It was so amazing! .. Behind the scenes, everyone rushed to hug each other, kiss. It was great holiday... We did a miracle after all.

This is how our life began to go on. We are resurrected. Shostakovich sent a telegram, congratulating us all.»

Preparing for the concert and on the front line. One day, when the musicians were just writing the score of the symphony, the commander of the Leningrad Front, Lieutenant General Leonid Aleksandrovich Govorov, invited the artillery commanders to his place. The task was formulated briefly: During the performance of the Seventh Symphony by the composer Shostakovich, not a single enemy shell should explode in Leningrad!

And the gunners sat down at their "scores". As usual, the timing was done first. The symphony is performed for 80 minutes. Spectators will begin to gather at the Philharmonic in advance. Know cheat, plus another thirty minutes. Plus the same amount for the public traveling from the theater. For 2 hours and 20 minutes, the Nazi cannons should be silent. And therefore, our cannons should speak for 2 hours and 20 minutes - to perform their “fiery symphony”. How many shells will it take? What calibers? Everything had to be taken into account in advance. Finally, which enemy batteries should you take out first? Have they changed their positions? Have you brought up new weapons? Intelligence was to answer these questions. The scouts did their job well. Not only the enemy's batteries were plotted on the maps, but also his observation posts, headquarters, communications centers. Cannons with cannons, but the enemy artillery should also be "blinded" that destroyed the observation posts, "deafened" by interrupting communication lines, "decapitated" by destroying the headquarters. Of course, in order to perform this "fiery symphony", the artillerymen had to determine the composition of their "orchestra". It included many long-range guns, experienced artillerymen, who have been conducting counter-battery battles for many days. The "bass" group "or-kestra" consisted of the main caliber guns of the naval artillery of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet. For artillery escort musical symphony the front allocated three thousand large-caliber shells. Major General Mikhail Mikhalkin, commander of the 42nd Army, was appointed as the "conductor" of the artillery "orchestra".

So the two rehearsals went side by side.

One sounded the voices of violins, horns, trombones, the other was performed in silence and even secretly for the time being. The Nazis, of course, knew about the first rehearsal. And undoubtedly they were preparing to disrupt the concert. After all, the squares of the central sections of the city had long been targeted by their artillerymen. Fascist shells more than once rumbled on the tram loop opposite the entrance to the Philharmonic. But they knew nothing about the second rehearsal.

And the day came on August 9, 1942. 355th day of the Leningrad blockade.

Half an hour before the start of the concert, General Govorov went to his car, but did not get into it, but froze, intently listening to the distant rumble. He glanced at his watch again and noticed to the artillery generals standing next to him: - Our "symphony" has already begun.

And at the Pulkovo Heights, Private Nikolai Savkov took his place at the gun. He did not know any of the orchestra's musicians, but he understood that now they would work together with him, at the same time. The German guns were silent. On the heads of their artillerymen fell such a flurry of fire and metal that it was no longer up to the shooting: to hide somewhere! Bury yourself in the ground!

The Philharmonic Hall was filled with listeners. The leaders of the Leningrad party organization arrived: A. A. Kuznetsov, P. S. Popkov, Ya. F. Kapustin, A. I. Manakhov, G. F. Badaev. General DI Kholostov sat next to L.A. Govorov. We got ready to listen to the writers: Nikolai Tikhonov, Vera Inber, Vsevolod Vishnevsky, Lyudmila Popova ...

And Karl Ilyich Eliasberg waved his baton. He later recalled:

“It is not for me to judge the success of that memorable concert. I can only say that we have never played with such inspiration. And there is nothing surprising in this: the majestic theme of the Motherland, on which the ominous shadow of the invasion finds, a pathetic requiem in honor of the fallen heroes - all this was close, dear to every orchestra player, to everyone who listened to us that evening. And when the overcrowded hall exploded with applause, it seemed to me that I was again in peaceful Leningrad, that the most brutal of all wars that had ever raged on the planet was already behind, that the forces of reason, goodness and humanity had won. "

And the soldier Nikolai Savkov, the performer of another - "fiery symphony", after its completion, suddenly writes verses:

... And when, as a sign of the beginning
The baton went up
Above the front edge, like thunder, majestic
Another symphony has begun -
Symphony of our guards cannons
So that the enemy does not beat the city,
So that the city listens to the Seventh Symphony. ...
And there is a flurry in the hall,
And along the front - a flurry. ...
And when people dispersed to their apartments,
Full of high and proud feelings
The soldiers lowered the barrels of their guns,
Having protected the Arts Square from shelling.

This operation was called "Flurry". Not a single shell fell on the streets of the city, not a single plane managed to take off from enemy airfields at the time when the audience went to the concert in Big hall Philharmonic Society, while the concert was going on, and when the audience, after the end of the concert, returned home or to their military units. Transport did not go, and people walked to the Philharmonic. The women are in smart dresses. On the emaciated Leningrad women, they hung like on a hanger. Men - in suits, also as if from someone else's shoulder ... Military vehicles drove up to the Philharmonic building right from the front line. Soldiers, officers ...

The concert has begun! And to the roar of cannonade - She, as usual, thundered around - The invisible announcer said to Leningrad: "Attention! The siege orchestra is playing! .." .

Those who could not get into the Philharmonic listened to the concert on the street at the loudspeakers, in apartments, in dugouts and pancake-sales of the front line. When the last sounds died down, there was a standing ovation. The audience gave a standing ovation to the orchestra. And suddenly a girl got up from the stalls, went up to the conductor and handed him a huge bouquet of dahlias, asters, gladioli. For many it was some kind of miracle, and they looked at the girl with some kind of joyful amazement - flowers in a city dying of hunger ...

The poet Nikolai Tikhonov, returning from the concert, wrote in his diary:

“Shostakovich's symphony ... was played not so, perhaps, grandiosely, as in Moscow or New York, but the Leningrad performance had its own - Leningrad, something that merged the musical storm with the battle storm rushing over the city. She was born in this city, and, perhaps, only in this city she could have been born. This is her special strength. "

The symphony, which was broadcast on the radio and loudspeakers of the city network, was heard not only by the residents of Leningrad, but also by the German troops besieging the city. As they said later, the Germans just went crazy when they heard this music. They thought that the city was almost dead. After all, a year ago Hitler promised that on August 9, German troops would parade across Palace Square, and a gala banquet will take place at the Astoria Hotel !!! A few years after the war, two tourists from the GDR, who had tracked down Karl Eliasberg, confessed to him: “Then, on August 9, 1942, we realized that we would lose the war. We felt your strength to overcome hunger, fear and even death ... "

The work of the conductor was equated with a feat, having been awarded the Order of the Red Star "for the fight against the German fascist invaders" and awarded the title "Honored Artist of the RSFSR".

And for Leningraders, August 9, 1942 became, in the words of Olga Berggolts, "Victory Day in the midst of the war." And the Seventh Leningrad Symphony by Dmitry Shostakovich became the symbol of this Victory, the symbol of the triumph of Man over obscurantism.

Years will pass, and the poet Yuri Voronov, a boy who survived the blockade, will write about this in his poems: “... And the music rose over the darkness of the ruins, Crushed the silence of the dark apartments. And the dumbfounded world listened to her ... Could you do that if you were dying? .. ".

« 30 years later, on August 9, 1972, our orchestra -recalls Ksenia Markyanovna Matus, -
again received a telegram from Shostakovich, who was already seriously ill and therefore did not come for the performance:
“Today, like 30 years ago, I am with you with all my heart. This day lives on in my memory, and I will forever retain a feeling of deepest gratitude to you, admiration for your dedication to art, your artistic and civil feat... Together with you, I honor the memory of those participants and eyewitnesses of this concert who have not survived to this day. And to those who have gathered here today to mark this date, I send my heartfelt greetings. Dmitry Shostakovich ".

During the Great Patriotic War interest in real art did not wane either. Artists of drama and musical theaters, philharmonic societies and concert groups contributed to the common cause of fighting the enemy. Front-line theaters and concert brigades were very popular. Risking their lives, these people proved with their performances that the beauty of art is alive, that it is impossible to kill it. Among the frontline artists, the mother of one of our teachers also performed. We bring her memories of those unforgettable concerts.

Front-line theaters and concert brigades were very popular. Risking their lives, these people proved with their performances that the beauty of art is alive, that it is impossible to kill it. The silence of the front-line forest was broken not only by the artillery shelling of the enemy, but also by the admiring applause of the enthusiastic spectators, calling on the stage again and again their favorite performers: Lydia Ruslanova, Leonid Utesov, Klavdiya Shulzhenko.

A good song has always been the fighter's loyal assistant. With the song, he rested in the short hours of calm, recalled relatives and friends. Many front-line soldiers still remember the battered trench gramophone, on which they listened to their favorite songs to the accompaniment of artillery cannonade. The writer Yuri Yakovlev, a veteran of the Great Patriotic War, writes: “When I hear a song about a blue kerchief, I am immediately transported to a cramped front-line dugout. We are sitting on bunks, the meager light of a smokehouse flickers, firewood crackles in the stove, and a gramophone is on the table. And the song sounds, so dear, so understandable and so tightly merged with the dramatic days of the war. "A modest little blue handkerchief was falling from his lowered shoulders ...".

In one of the songs popular during the war, there were the following words: Who said that one should leave the Songs in the war? After the battle, the heart asks for Music doubly!

Given this circumstance, it was decided to resume the production of gramophone records, interrupted by the war, at the Aprelevsky plant. Beginning in October 1942, from under the press of the enterprise, gramophone records went to the front along with ammunition, cannons and tanks. They carried the song that the soldier needed so much, into every dugout, into every dugout, into every trench. Together with other songs, born in this difficult time, he fought with the enemy and "Blue Handkerchief", recorded on a gramophone record in November 1942.

Seventh Symphony by D. Shostakovich

Form start

End of form

Events 1936-1937 on the for a long time discouraged the composer from the desire to compose music with verbal text. Lady Macbeth was Shostakovich's last opera; only during the years of Khrushchev's "thaw" will he be able to create vocal and instrumental works not "on occasion", not to please the authorities. Literally devoid of words, the composer concentrates his creative efforts in the field of instrumental music, discovering, in particular, the genres of chamber instrumental music-making: the 1st string quartet (1938; a total of 15 works will be created in this genre), the piano quintet (1940). He tries to express all the deepest, personal feelings and thoughts in the genre of a symphony.

The appearance of each of Shostakovich's symphonies became a huge event in the life of the Soviet intelligentsia, who expected these works as a true spiritual revelation against the backdrop of a squalid semi-official culture crushed by ideological oppression. Wide mass Soviet people, the Soviet people knew Shostakovich's music much worse, of course, and was hardly able to fully understand many of the composer's works (so they “worked through” Shostakovich at numerous meetings, plenums and sessions for the “overcomplication” of the musical language) - and this despite the fact that reflections about the historical tragedy of the Russian people were one of the central themes in the artist's work. Nevertheless, it seems that none of the Soviet composers could so deeply and passionately express the feelings of his contemporaries, literally merge with their fate, as Shostakovich did in his Seventh Symphony.

Despite persistent offers to evacuate, Shostakovich remains in besieged Leningrad, repeatedly asks to be enrolled in the people's militia. Finally enrolled in the fire brigade of the air defense forces, he contributed to the defense of his hometown.

The 7th symphony, completed already in the evacuation, in Kuibyshev, and performed there for the first time, immediately became a symbol of the resistance of the Soviet people to the fascist aggressors and faith in the coming victory over the enemy. This is how she was perceived not only at home, but also in many countries of the world. For the first performance of the symphony in besieged Leningrad, the commander of the Leningrad Front L.A. Govorov ordered to suppress enemy artillery with a fire blow so that the cannonade would not interfere with listening to Shostakovich's music. And the music deserved it. The ingenious "episode of the invasion", the courageous and strong-willed themes of resistance, the mournful monologue of the bassoon ("Requiem for the victims of the war"), for all their journalism and poster simplicity of the musical language, really possess tremendous power artistic impact.

August 9, 1942, Leningrad besieged by the Germans. On this day, in the Great Hall of the Philharmonic, the Seventh Symphony of D.D. Shostakovich. 60 years have passed since the orchestra of the Radio Committee was conducted by K.I. Eliasberg. The Leningrad Symphony was written in besieged city Dmitry Shostakovich as a response to the German invasion, as a resistance to Russian culture, a reflection of aggression at the spiritual level, at the level of music.

The music of Richard Wagner, the favorite composer of the Fuehrer, inspired his army. Wagner was the idol of fascism. His dark majestic music was consonant with the ideas of revenge and the cult of race and power, which reigned in German society in those years. Wagner's monumental operas, the pathos of his titanic masses: Tristan and Isolde, Ring of the Nibelungen, The Rhine's Gold, Valkyrie, Siegfried, The Death of the Gods - all this splendor of pretentious music glorified the cosmos of German myth. Wagner became the solemn fanfare of the Third Reich, which conquered the peoples of Europe in a matter of years and stepped to the East.

Shostakovich perceived the German invasion in the key of Wagner's music as the victorious ominous tread of the Teutons. He brilliantly embodied this feeling in the musical theme of the invasion that runs through the entire Leningrad symphony.

In the theme of the invasion, echoes of Wagner's onslaught are heard, the culmination of which was "Flight of the Valkyries", the flight of female warriors over the battlefield from the opera of the same name. Her demonic features in Shostakovich dissolve into the musical rumble of the oncoming musical waves... In response to the invasion, Shostakovich took the theme of the Motherland, the theme of Slavic lyricism, which in a state of explosion generates a wave of such force that cancels, crushes and discards Wagner's will.

The Seventh Symphony immediately after its first performance received a huge resonance in the world. The triumph was universal - the musical battlefield also remained with Russia. Shostakovich's brilliant work, along with the song "The Holy War", became a symbol of the struggle and victory in the Great Patriotic War.

The “Invasion Episode”, which seems to live a life separate from the other sections of the symphony, with all the caricature and satirical sharpness of the image is not at all so simple. At the level of concrete imagery, Shostakovich depicts in it, of course, a fascist war machine that has invaded the peaceful life of Soviet people. But Shostakovich's music, deeply generalized, with merciless directness and captivating consistency, shows how an empty, soulless insignificance gains monstrous strength, trampling everything human around. A similar transformation of grotesque images: from vulgar vulgarity to cruel overwhelming violence - is more than once found in the works of Shostakovich, for example, in the same opera "The Nose". In the fascist invasion, the composer recognized, felt something familiar and familiar - something about which he had long been forced to remain silent. When he found out, he raised his voice with all fervor against the antihuman forces in the world around him ... Opposing non-humans in fascist uniforms, Shostakovich indirectly painted a portrait of his acquaintances from the NKVD, who for many years kept him, as it seemed, in mortal fear. The war with its strange freedom allowed the artist to express the forbidden. And this inspired further revelations.

Soon after the end of the Seventh Symphony, Shostakovich created two masterpieces in the field of instrumental music, deeply tragic in nature: the Eighth Symphony (1943) and the piano trio in memory of I.I. Sollertinsky (1944), a music critic, one of the composer's closest friends, like no one else who understood, supported and promoted his music. In many respects, these works will remain unsurpassed peaks in the composer's work.

Thus, the Eighth Symphony is clearly superior to the textbook Fifth. It is believed that this work is dedicated to the events of the Great Patriotic War and is at the center of the so-called "triad of military symphonies" by Shostakovich (7th, 8th and 9th symphonies). However, as we just saw in the case of the 7th Symphony, in the work of such a subjective, intelligentsia composer as Shostakovich was, even “poster” ones, equipped with an unambiguous verbal “program” (for which Shostakovich was, by the way, very stingy: the poor musicologists, no matter how hard they tried, could not get a single word out of him that would clarify the imagery of his own music), the works are mysterious from the point of view of specific content and defy superficial figurative and illustrative description. What can we say about the 8th symphony - a composition of a philosophical nature, which still amazes with the greatness of thought and feeling.

The audience and official critics at first accepted the work quite well-wishingly (largely in the wake of the ongoing triumphal march through the concert venues of the 7th Symphony world). However, a harsh retribution awaited the daring composer.

Everything happened outwardly as if by accident and absurdity. In 1947, the aging leader and Chief Critic of the Soviet Union, JV Stalin, together with Zhdanov and other comrades, deigned to listen at a private performance to the latest achievement of multinational Soviet art - Vano Muradeli's opera Great Friendship, which had been successfully staged by that time in several cities of the country ... The opera was, admittedly, very mediocre, the plot extremely ideologized; in general, the Lezginka to Comrade Stalin seemed very unnatural (and the Kremlin Highlander knew a lot about lezginka). As a result, on February 10, 1948, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) was issued, in which, following the harsh condemnation of the ill-fated opera, the best Soviet composers were declared “formalistic perverts” alien to the Soviet people and their culture. The resolution directly referred to the controversial articles of Pravda in 1936 as the fundamental document of the party's policy in the field of musical art. Is it any wonder that Shostakovich's surname was at the head of the list of “formalists”?

Six months of incessant vilification, in which each refined in his own way. Condemnation and de facto banning of the best compositions (and above all the brilliant Eighth Symphony). A heavy blow to the nervous system, which was already not very stable. Deepest depression. The composer was overwhelmed.

And they brought him to the very top of the semi-official Soviet art. In 1949, against the composer's will, he was literally pushed out as part of the Soviet delegation to the All-American Congress of Scientists and Cultural Workers in Defense of Peace - to make fiery speeches condemning American imperialism on behalf of Soviet music. It worked out pretty well. From that time on, Shostakovich was appointed the “front façade” of Soviet musical culture and mastered the difficult and unpleasant trade: to travel to various countries, reading prepared propaganda texts in advance. He could no longer refuse - his spirit was completely broken. The surrender was reinforced by the creation of appropriate pieces of music - no longer just compromise, but completely contrary to the artist's artistic vocation. The greatest success among these handicrafts - to the horror of the author - was won by the oratorio "Song of the Forests" (to the text of the poet Dolmatovsky), praising Stalin's plan for the transformation of nature. He was literally overwhelmed by the enthusiastic reviews from colleagues and the generous rain of money that fell on him as soon as he presented the oratorio to the public.

The ambiguity of the composer's position was that, using the name and skill of Shostakovich for propaganda purposes, the authorities did not forget to remind him on occasion that no one had canceled the 1948 decree. The whip organically complemented the gingerbread. Humiliated and enslaved, the composer almost abandoned genuine creativity: in the most important for him genre of symphony, an eight-year caesura appears (just between the end of the war in 1945 and the death of Stalin in 1953).

By creating the Tenth Symphony (1953) Shostakovich summed up not only the era of Stalinism, but also a long period in his own work, marked primarily by non-programmed instrumental compositions (symphonies, quartets, trios, etc.). In this symphony - consisting of a slow, pessimistically self-deepening first movement (sounding over 20 minutes) and three subsequent scherzos (one of which, with a very harsh orchestration and aggressive rhythms, is supposedly a kind of portrait of a hated tyrant who has just died) - as in no other the other revealed a completely individual, unlike anything else, the composer's interpretation of the traditional model of the sonata-symphonic cycle.

Shostakovich's destruction of the sacred classical canons was not carried out out of malice, not for the sake of a modernist experiment. Very conservative in his approach to musical form, the composer could not help but destroy it: his outlook on the world is too far from the classical one. The son of his time and his country, Shostakovich was shocked to the depths of his heart by the inhuman image of the world that had appeared to him and, unable to do anything about it, plunged into gloomy reflections. Here is the hidden dramatic spring of his best, honest, philosophically generalizing works: he would like to go against himself (say, joyfully come to terms with the surrounding reality), but the “vicious” insides take its toll. Everywhere the composer sees banal evil - disgrace, absurdity, lies and impersonality, unable to oppose it with anything but his own pain and sorrow. The endless, forced imitation of a life-affirming worldview only undermined the strength and devastated the soul, simply killed. It's good that the tyrant died and Khrushchev came. The "thaw" has come - the time for relatively free creativity.

Symphony No. 7 "Leningradskaya"

15 symphonies by Shostakovich constitute one of the greatest phenomena musical literature XX century. Several of them carry a specific "program" related to stories or war. The idea of ​​"Leningradskaya" arose from personal experience.

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

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

In June 1941, Nazi Germany invaded Soviet Union and, soon Leningrad was in a blockade that 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 hunger. Many have frozen or died due to lack of medical care- the number of victims of the blockade is estimated at almost a million. In the besieged city, enduring terrible hardships along with thousands of other people, Shostakovich began work on his Symphony No. 7. He had never dedicated his major works, but this symphony became an offering to Leningrad and its inhabitants. The composer was driven by love for his hometown 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 to work for the needs of the front. He dug trenches, was on duty at night during air raids.

He made arrangements for concert crews going to the front. But, as always, this unique musician-publicist had already matured in his head a large symphonic plan dedicated to everything that was happening. He began writing the Seventh Symphony. The first part was completed in the summer. The second he wrote 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, the work on the finale was going badly. Unsurprisingly, the last part took a long time to come through. The composer understood that from the symphony, dedicated to the war, will await a solemn victorious finale. But so far there was no reason for this, and he wrote as his heart suggested.

On December 27, 1941, the symphony was completed. Beginning 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, the Mravinsky 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 of his native city. Political significance was attached to it. The premiere took place in Kuibyshev, performed by the orchestra The Bolshoi Theater under the direction of S. Samosud. After that, 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 emaciated. I had to put them in the hospital before the start of rehearsals - to feed them, to heal them. On the day of the symphony's performance, all artillery forces were sent to suppress enemy firing points. Nothing was supposed to interfere with this premiere.

The Philharmonic Hall was full. The audience was very diverse. The concert was attended by sailors, armed infantrymen, air defense fighters dressed in sweatshirts, emaciated regulars of the Philharmonic. The symphony was performed for 80 minutes. All this time, the enemy's guns were silent: the artillerymen defending the city received an order to suppress the fire of German guns at all costs.

Shostakovich's new work shocked the audience: many of them cried, not hiding their tears. Great music managed to express what united people at that difficult time: faith in victory, sacrifice, boundless love for her city and country.

During the performance, the symphony was broadcast on the radio, as well as on 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 it began its triumphant march around the world.

The first movement begins with a broad, chanting 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 its heroism, about the best ideals of mankind, about the wonderful qualities of man ..." All this is embodied in the theme of the main part, which is related to the Russians heroic themes sweeping intonations, bold wide melodic moves, heavy unison.

The side part is also song. She looks like a calm lullaby... Her melody seems to dissolve into silence. Everything breathes with calm peaceful life.

But from somewhere in the distance, a drum roll is heard, and then a melody appears: primitive, similar to verses - an expression of commonness and vulgarity. As if the puppets are moving. This is how the "invasion episode" begins - a stunning picture of an invasion of destructive force.

Sounds harmless at first. But the theme is repeated 11 times, increasing more and more. 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 grind into powder all living things in her path.

The writer A. Tolstoy called this music "the dance of the learned rats to the tune of the rat-catcher." 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 the unchanging theme - passacalia.

Even before the start of World War II, Shostakovich wrote variations on an unchanging theme, similar in design 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 postponed this work without performing or publishing it. It turns out that this episode was written earlier. So what did the composer want to portray for them? A terrible march of fascism across Europe or an offensive of totalitarianism on a person? (Note: A totalitarian regime is called a regime in which the state dominates all aspects of the life of society, in which there is violence, destruction democratic freedoms and human rights).

At that moment, when it seems that the iron colossus is moving with a crash right at the listener, the unexpected happens. Resistance begins. A dramatic motive appears, which is usually called the motive of resistance. Moans and screams are heard in the music. It's like a grandiose symphonic battle is being played.

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

It is no longer a lullaby, but rather a cry interrupted by excruciating spasms. Only in the code, the main part sounds in major, as if affirming the overcoming of the forces of evil. But a drumbeat is heard from afar. The war is still going on.

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 colors. Many critics in this music saw the picture of Leningrad as transparent white nights. This music combines smile and sadness, light humor and self-depth, creating an attractive and light image.

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

The finale begins with a barely audible timpani tremolo. As if forces are gradually gathering. This prepares the main theme, full of indomitable energy. This is an image of struggle, of popular anger. It is replaced by an episode in the rhythm of sarabanda - again the 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 sounds at the trumpets and trombones as a symbol of peace and future victory.

No matter how wide the diversity 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 to generalized thinking, the severity of conflicts, dynamism and strict logic of development. These features were especially vividly manifested in his symphonies. Fifteen symphonies belong to Shostakovich. 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 an impassive observer, as if observing everything that happens from above, but a person who subtly reacts to the shocks of his era, living the life of his contemporaries, involved in everything that happens around him. He could have said about himself in the words of the great Goethe:

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

Like no one else, he was distinguished by responsiveness to everything that happened with home country and its people and even wider - with all of 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 respect, the composer's symphonies - unique monument history of mankind.

August 9, 1942. On this day, in besieged Leningrad, the famous performance of the Seventh ("Leningrad") Symphony by Dmitry Shostakovich 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 cannons 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 to overcome hunger, fear and even death ... "

Starting with the performance in besieged Leningrad, the symphony had for the Soviet and Russian authorities enormous agitation and political significance.

On August 21, 2008, a fragment of the first movement of the symphony was performed in the South Ossetian city of Tskhinvali, destroyed by Georgian troops, by the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev.

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

Presentation

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

Wept furiously, sobbing
For one single passion for the sake of
Disabled at the station
And Shostakovich is in Leningrad.
Alexander Mezhirov

The Seventh Symphony by Dmitry Shostakovich has the subtitle "Leningradskaya". But the name "Legendary" suits her better. Indeed, the history of creation, the history of rehearsals and the history of the performance of this piece have become practically legends.

From concept to implementation

It is believed that the idea of ​​the Seventh Symphony came to Shostakovich immediately after the Nazi attack on the USSR. Here are some other opinions.
Conductor Vladimir Fedoseev: "... Shostakovich wrote about the war. But what does the war have to do with it! Shostakovich was a genius, he did not write about the war, he wrote about the horrors of the world, about what threatens us." The theme of the invasion was written long ago before the war and on a completely different occasion. But he found character, expressed a premonition. "
Composer Leonid Desyatnikov: "... with the" theme of the invasion "itself, not everything is completely clear either: considerations were expressed that it was composed long before the start of the Great Patriotic War, and that Shostakovich connected this music with the Stalinist state machine, etc." There is an assumption that the "theme of the invasion" is built on one of Stalin's favorite melodies - lezginka.
Some go even further, arguing that the Seventh Symphony was originally conceived by the composer as a symphony about Lenin, and only the war prevented its writing. The musical material was used by Shostakovich in the new work, although no real traces of the "composition about Lenin" were found in Shostakovich's manuscript heritage.
Indicate the texture similarity of the "invasion theme" with the famous "Bolero" Maurice Ravel, as well as a possible transformation of the melody of Franz Lehár from the operetta "The Merry Widow" (Count Danilo's aria Alsobitte, Njegus, ichbinhier ... Dageh` ichzuMaxim).
The composer himself wrote: "While composing the theme of the invasion, I thought about a completely different enemy of mankind. Of course, I hated fascism. But not only German - I hated all fascism."
Let's get back to the facts. Between July and September 1941, Shostakovich wrote four-fifths of his new work. The completion of the second movement of the symphony in the final score is dated September 17th. The ending time of the score for the third movement is also indicated in the final autograph: September 29.
The most problematic is the dating of the beginning of work on the final. It is known that in early October 1941 Shostakovich and his family were evacuated from besieged Leningrad to Moscow, and then moved to Kuibyshev. While in Moscow, he played ready-made parts of the symphony in the editorial office of the newspaper " Soviet art"October 11 to a group of musicians." Even a cursory listening to the symphony performed by the author's piano allows us to speak of it as a phenomenon of enormous proportions, "one of the meeting participants testified and noted ... that" The symphony's finale is not yet available. "
In October-November 1941, the country experienced the most difficult moment of the struggle against the invaders. In these conditions, the optimistic ending, conceived by the author ("In the ending, I would like to say about the beautiful future life when the enemy is defeated "), did not lay down on paper. Artist Nikolai Sokolov, who lived in Kuibyshev next to Shostakovich, recalls:" Once I asked Mitya why he is not finishing his Seventh. He replied: "... I can't write yet ... So many of our people are dying!" ... But with what energy and joy he sat down to work immediately after the news of the defeat of the Nazis near Moscow! Very quickly the symphony was completed in almost two weeks. Soviet troops near Moscow began on December 6, and the first significant successes were brought on December 9 and 16 (the liberation of the cities of Yelets and Kalinin). Comparison of these dates and the term of work indicated by Sokolov (two weeks) with the date of the end of the symphony, indicated in the final score (December 27, 1941), makes it possible with great confidence to attribute the beginning of work on the finale to mid-December.
Practically immediately after the end of the symphony, they began to practice it with the Bolshoi Theater Orchestra under the baton of Samuel Samosud. The premiere of the symphony took place on March 5, 1942.

"Secret weapon" of Leningrad

The siege of Leningrad is an unforgettable page in the history of the city, which arouses special respect for the courage of its inhabitants. The witnesses of the blockade that led to tragic death almost a million of Leningraders. For 900 days and nights, the city withstood the siege of fascist troops. The Nazis pinned very high hopes on the capture of Leningrad. The capture of Moscow was supposed after the fall of Leningrad. The city itself was to be destroyed. The enemy surrounded Leningrad from all sides.

Whole year he strangled him with an iron blockade, showered him with bombs and shells, and killed him with hunger and cold. And he began to prepare for the final assault. Tickets for the gala banquet in the best hotel in the city - on August 9, 1942, were already printed in the enemy printing house.

But the enemy did not know that a few months ago a new one appeared in the besieged city " secret weapon". He was taken on a military plane with medicines that were so needed by the sick and wounded. These were four large voluminous notebooks covered with notes. They were eagerly awaited at the airport and taken away like the greatest treasure. It was Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony!
When the conductor Karl Ilyich Eliasberg, a tall and thin man, took the cherished notebooks in his hands and began to look through them, the joy on his face gave way to chagrin. It took 80 musicians to make this grandiose music really sound! Only then will the world hear it and make sure that the city in which such music is alive will never surrender, and that the people who create such music are invincible. But where can we find so many musicians? The conductor sadly sorted out in the memory of violinists, brass players, drummers, who perished in the snows of a long and hungry winter. And then the radio announced the registration of the surviving musicians. The conductor, reeling from weakness, went around hospitals in search of musicians. He found the drummer Zhaudat Aydarov in the dead room, where he noticed that the musician's fingers moved slightly. "He's alive!" - exclaimed the conductor, and this moment was the second birth of Zhaudat. Without him, the performance of the Seventh would have been impossible - after all, he had to beat out the drum roll in the "theme of the invasion."

Musicians came from the front. The trombonist came from the machine-gun company, the viola player escaped from the hospital. The French horn player sent an anti-aircraft regiment to the orchestra, the flutist was brought on a sled - his legs were taken away. The trumpeter stamped on his felt boots, despite the spring: his feet, swollen from hunger, did not fit into other shoes. The conductor himself looked like his own shadow.
But they got together for the first rehearsal. Some hands were hardened from weapons, others were shaking with exhaustion, but everyone tried their best to hold the tools, as if their lives depended on it. It was the shortest rehearsal in the world, lasting only fifteen minutes - they didn't have the strength for more. But they played these fifteen minutes! And the conductor, trying not to fall off the console, realized that they would perform this symphony. The horns' lips trembled, the bows of the string instruments were like cast iron, but the music sounded! Let it be weak, let it be out of tune, let it be out of tune, but the orchestra played. Despite the fact that during the rehearsals - two months - the musicians' food rations were increased, several artists did not live to see the concert.

And the day of the concert was appointed - August 9, 1942. But the enemy still stood under the walls of the city and gathered forces for the final assault. Enemy guns took aim, hundreds of enemy aircraft were waiting for the order to take off. And the German officers took another look at the invitation cards to the banquet, which was to take place after the fall of the besieged city, on August 9.

Why didn't they shoot?

The magnificent white-column hall was full and met the conductor's appearance with a standing ovation. The conductor raised his baton, and instantly there was silence. How long will it last? Or will the enemy now unleash a flurry of fire to prevent us? But the wand began to move - and previously unheard-of music burst into the hall. When the music ended and silence fell again, the conductor thought: "Why didn't they shoot today?" The last chord sounded, and silence fell for a few seconds in the hall. And suddenly all the people stood up in one impulse - tears of joy and pride rolled down their cheeks, and their palms glowed with thunderous applause. A girl ran out of the stalls onto the stage and presented the conductor with a bouquet of wildflowers. Decades later, Lyubov Shnitnikova, found by Leningrad schoolchildren-pathfinders, will tell that she specially grew flowers for this concert.

Why didn't the fascists shoot? No, they were shooting, or rather, they were trying to shoot. They aimed at the white-column hall, they wanted to shoot the music. But the 14th artillery regiment of Leningraders brought down an avalanche of fire on the fascist batteries an hour before the concert, providing seventy minutes of silence necessary for the performance of the symphony. Not a single enemy shell fell near the Philharmonic, nothing prevented the music from sounding over the city and over the world, and the world, hearing it, believed: this city will not surrender, this people is invincible!

Heroic Symphony of the XX century

Consider the music of Dmitry Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony itself. So,
The first movement is written in sonata form. A deviation from the classical sonata is that instead of development, there is a large episode in the form of variations ("invasion episode"), and after it an additional developmental fragment is introduced.
The beginning of the part embodies the images of a peaceful life. Main party sounds wide and courageous and has the features of a march song. This is followed by a lyrical side part. Against the background of the soft second "wiggle" of violas and cellos, a light, song-like melody of violins sounds, which alternates with transparent choral chords. The end of the exposure is beautiful. The sound of the orchestra seems to dissolve in space, the melody of the piccolo flute and the dumbfounded violin rises ever higher and freezes, melting against the background of a quietly sounding E major chord.
A new section begins - a stunning picture of the invasion of an aggressive destructive force. In the silence, as if from afar, the barely audible beat of a drum is heard. An automatic rhythm is established, which does not stop throughout this terrible episode. The very "theme of the invasion" is mechanistic, symmetrical, divided into even segments of 2 bars. The theme sounds dry, prickly, with clicks. The first violins play staccato, the second ones strike reverse side bow on strings, violas play pizzicato.
The episode is built in the form of variations on a melodically unchanging theme. The topic is repeated 12 times, acquiring more and more voices, revealing all its sinister sides.
In the first variation, the flute sounds soullessly, dead in the low register.
In the second variation, a piccolo flute joins it at a distance of one and a half octaves.
In the third variation, a dull-sounding dialogue arises: each phrase of the oboe is copied by the bassoon one octave lower.
From the fourth to the seventh variation, the aggressiveness in music grows. Brass instruments appear. In the sixth variation, the theme is presented parallel triads, insolently and smugly. The music takes on an increasingly cruel, "bestial" aspect.
In the eighth variation, it achieves the awesome sonority of fortissimo. Eight horns cut through the roar and clang of the orchestra "primal roar".
In the ninth variation, the theme moves to trumpets and trombones, accompanied by a moan.
In the tenth and eleventh variations, the tension in the music reaches an almost unthinkable force. But here a musical revolution, fantastic in its genius, takes place, which has no analogues in world symphonic practice. The tonality changes dramatically. Additional group joins brass tools... A few notes of the score stop the theme of invasion, the theme of resistance is opposed to it. An episode of the battle begins, incredible in its intensity and intensity. In the piercing heartbreaking dissonances, screams and groans are heard. With an inhuman effort Shostakovich leads the development to the main culmination of the first movement - a requiem - lamenting for the lost.

Konstantin Vasiliev. Invasion

The reprise begins. The main part is broadly recited by the whole orchestra in the marching rhythm of the funeral procession. The side part is hardly recognizable in the reprise. An intermittently tired bassoon monologue, accompanied by stumbling accompaniment chords at every step. Size changes all the time. This, according to Shostakovich, is "personal grief" for which "there are no more tears left."
In the code of the first part, pictures of the past appear three times, after the calling signal of the French horns. As if in a haze, the main and secondary themes pass in their original appearance. And at the very end, the theme of the invasion ominously reminds of itself.
The second movement is an unusual scherzo. Lyrical, slow. In it, everything adjusts to the memories of pre-war life. The music sounds as if in an undertone, in it one can hear the echoes of some kind of dance, now a touchingly tender song. An allusion to " Moonlight Sonata"Beethoven, which sounds a little grotesque. What is this? Is it the memories of a German soldier sitting in trenches around besieged Leningrad?"
The third part appears as an image of Leningrad. Her music sounds like a life-affirming hymn to a beautiful city. Majestic, solemn chords alternate in it with expressive "recitations" of solo violins. The third part goes into the fourth without interruption.
The fourth part - the mighty finale - is full of efficiency and activity. Shostakovich considered it, along with the first movement, to be the main one in the symphony. He said that this part corresponds to his "perception of the course of history, which must inevitably lead to the triumph of freedom and humanity."
The finale code uses 6 trombones, 6 trumpets, 8 French horns: against the background of the mighty sound of the entire orchestra, they solemnly proclaim main theme the first part. The conduct itself resembles a bell chime.

Wept furiously, sobbing
For one single passion for the sake of
Disabled at the station
And Shostakovich is in Leningrad.
Alexander Mezhirov

The Seventh Symphony by Dmitry Shostakovich has the subtitle "Leningradskaya". But the name "Legendary" suits her better. Indeed, the history of creation, the history of rehearsals and the history of the performance of this piece have become practically legends.

From concept to implementation

It is believed that the idea of ​​the Seventh Symphony came to Shostakovich immediately after the Nazi attack on the USSR. Here are some other opinions.
Conductor Vladimir Fedoseev: "... Shostakovich wrote about the war. But what does the war have to do with it! Shostakovich was a genius, he did not write about the war, he wrote about the horrors of the world, about what threatens us." The theme of the invasion was written long ago before the war and on a completely different occasion. But he found character, expressed a premonition. "
Composer Leonid Desyatnikov: "... with the" theme of the invasion "itself, not everything is completely clear either: considerations were expressed that it was composed long before the start of the Great Patriotic War, and that Shostakovich connected this music with the Stalinist state machine, etc." There is an assumption that the "theme of the invasion" is built on one of Stalin's favorite melodies - lezginka.
Some go even further, arguing that the Seventh Symphony was originally conceived by the composer as a symphony about Lenin, and only the war prevented its writing. The musical material was used by Shostakovich in the new work, although no real traces of the "composition about Lenin" were found in Shostakovich's manuscript heritage.
Indicate the texture similarity of the "invasion theme" with the famous "Bolero" Maurice Ravel, as well as a possible transformation of the melody of Franz Lehár from the operetta "The Merry Widow" (Count Danilo's aria Alsobitte, Njegus, ichbinhier ... Dageh` ichzuMaxim).
The composer himself wrote: "While composing the theme of the invasion, I thought about a completely different enemy of mankind. Of course, I hated fascism. But not only German - I hated all fascism."
Let's get back to the facts. Between July and September 1941, Shostakovich wrote four-fifths of his new work. The completion of the second movement of the symphony in the final score is dated September 17th. The ending time of the score for the third movement is also indicated in the final autograph: September 29.
The most problematic is the dating of the beginning of work on the final. It is known that in early October 1941 Shostakovich and his family were evacuated from besieged Leningrad to Moscow, and then moved to Kuibyshev. While in Moscow, he played the finished parts of the symphony in the editorial office of the newspaper "Soviet Art" on October 11 to a group of musicians. "Even a cursory listening to the symphony in piano performance by the author allows us to speak of it as a phenomenon of a huge scale," one of the participants in the meeting testified and noted ... that "The symphony's finale is not yet available."
In October-November 1941, the country experienced the most difficult moment of the struggle against the invaders. Under these conditions, the optimistic finale conceived by the author ("In the finale, I would like to say about a wonderful future life when the enemy is defeated") did not fit on paper. Artist Nikolai Sokolov, who lived in Kuibyshev next to Shostakovich, recalls: “Once I asked Mitya why he was not finishing his Seventh. .. But with what energy and joy he got down to work immediately after the news of the defeat of the Nazis near Moscow! Very quickly the symphony was completed by him almost in two weeks. " The Soviet counter-offensive near Moscow began on December 6, and the first significant successes were brought on December 9 and 16 (the liberation of the cities of Yelets and Kalinin). Comparison of these dates and the term of work indicated by Sokolov (two weeks) with the date of the end of the symphony, indicated in the final score (December 27, 1941), makes it possible with great confidence to attribute the beginning of work on the finale to mid-December.
Practically immediately after the end of the symphony, they began to practice it with the Bolshoi Theater Orchestra under the baton of Samuel Samosud. The premiere of the symphony took place on March 5, 1942.

"Secret weapon" of Leningrad

The siege of Leningrad is an unforgettable page in the history of the city, which arouses special respect for the courage of its inhabitants. The witnesses of the blockade, which led to the tragic death of almost a million Leningraders, are still alive. For 900 days and nights, the city withstood the siege of fascist troops. The Nazis pinned very high hopes on the capture of Leningrad. The capture of Moscow was supposed after the fall of Leningrad. The city itself was to be destroyed. The enemy surrounded Leningrad from all sides.

For a whole year he strangled him with an iron blockade, showered him with bombs and shells, and killed him with hunger and cold. And he began to prepare for the final assault. Tickets for the gala banquet in the best hotel in the city - on August 9, 1942, were already printed in the enemy printing house.

But the enemy did not know that a few months ago a new "secret weapon" had appeared in the besieged city. He was taken on a military plane with medicines that were so needed by the sick and wounded. These were four large voluminous notebooks covered with notes. They were eagerly awaited at the airport and taken away as the greatest treasure. It was Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony!
When the conductor Karl Ilyich Eliasberg, a tall and thin man, took the cherished notebooks in his hands and began to look through them, the joy on his face gave way to chagrin. It took 80 musicians to make this grandiose music really sound! Only then will the world hear it and make sure that the city in which such music is alive will never surrender, and that the people who create such music are invincible. But where can we find so many musicians? The conductor sadly sorted out in the memory of violinists, brass players, drummers, who perished in the snows of a long and hungry winter. And then the radio announced the registration of the surviving musicians. The conductor, reeling from weakness, went around hospitals in search of musicians. He found the drummer Zhaudat Aydarov in the dead room, where he noticed that the musician's fingers moved slightly. "He's alive!" - exclaimed the conductor, and this moment was the second birth of Zhaudat. Without him, the performance of the Seventh would have been impossible - after all, he had to beat out the drum roll in the "theme of the invasion."

Musicians came from the front. The trombonist came from the machine-gun company, the viola player escaped from the hospital. The French horn player sent an anti-aircraft regiment to the orchestra, the flutist was brought on a sled - his legs were taken away. The trumpeter stamped on his felt boots, despite the spring: his feet, swollen from hunger, did not fit into other shoes. The conductor himself looked like his own shadow.
But they got together for the first rehearsal. Some hands were hardened from weapons, others were shaking with exhaustion, but everyone tried their best to hold the tools, as if their lives depended on it. It was the shortest rehearsal in the world, lasting only fifteen minutes - they didn't have the strength for more. But they played these fifteen minutes! And the conductor, trying not to fall off the console, realized that they would perform this symphony. The horns' lips trembled, the bows of the string instruments were like cast iron, but the music sounded! Let it be weak, let it be out of tune, let it be out of tune, but the orchestra played. Despite the fact that during the rehearsals - two months - the musicians' food rations were increased, several artists did not live to see the concert.

And the day of the concert was appointed - August 9, 1942. But the enemy still stood under the walls of the city and gathered forces for the final assault. Enemy guns took aim, hundreds of enemy aircraft were waiting for the order to take off. And the German officers took another look at the invitation cards to the banquet, which was to take place after the fall of the besieged city, on August 9.

Why didn't they shoot?

The magnificent white-column hall was full and met the conductor's appearance with a standing ovation. The conductor raised his baton, and instantly there was silence. How long will it last? Or will the enemy now unleash a flurry of fire to prevent us? But the wand began to move - and previously unheard-of music burst into the hall. When the music ended and silence fell again, the conductor thought: "Why didn't they shoot today?" The last chord sounded, and silence fell for a few seconds in the hall. And suddenly all the people stood up in one impulse - tears of joy and pride rolled down their cheeks, and their palms glowed with thunderous applause. A girl ran out of the stalls onto the stage and presented the conductor with a bouquet of wildflowers. Decades later, Lyubov Shnitnikova, found by Leningrad schoolchildren-pathfinders, will tell that she specially grew flowers for this concert.

Why didn't the fascists shoot? No, they were shooting, or rather, they were trying to shoot. They aimed at the white-column hall, they wanted to shoot the music. But the 14th artillery regiment of Leningraders brought down an avalanche of fire on the fascist batteries an hour before the concert, providing seventy minutes of silence necessary for the performance of the symphony. Not a single enemy shell fell near the Philharmonic, nothing prevented the music from sounding over the city and over the world, and the world, hearing it, believed: this city will not surrender, this people is invincible!

Heroic Symphony of the XX century

Consider the music of Dmitry Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony itself. So,
The first movement is written in sonata form. A deviation from the classical sonata is that instead of development, there is a large episode in the form of variations ("invasion episode"), and after it an additional developmental fragment is introduced.
The beginning of the part embodies the images of a peaceful life. The main part sounds wide and courageous and has the features of a march song. This is followed by a lyrical side part. Against the background of the soft second "wiggle" of violas and cellos, a light, song-like melody of violins, which alternates with transparent choral chords, sounds. The end of the exposure is beautiful. The sound of the orchestra seems to dissolve in space, the melody of the piccolo flute and the dumbfounded violin rises ever higher and freezes, melting against the background of a quietly sounding E major chord.
A new section begins - a stunning picture of the invasion of an aggressive destructive force. In the silence, as if from afar, the barely audible beat of a drum is heard. An automatic rhythm is established, which does not stop throughout this terrible episode. The very "theme of the invasion" is mechanistic, symmetrical, divided into even segments of 2 bars. The theme sounds dry, prickly, with clicks. The first violins play staccato, the second hit the strings with the back of the bow, the violas play pizzicato.
The episode is built in the form of variations on a melodically unchanging theme. The topic is repeated 12 times, acquiring more and more voices, revealing all its sinister sides.
In the first variation, the flute sounds soullessly, dead in the low register.
In the second variation, a piccolo flute joins it at a distance of one and a half octaves.
In the third variation, a dull-sounding dialogue arises: each phrase of the oboe is copied by the bassoon one octave lower.
From the fourth to the seventh variation, the aggressiveness in music grows. Brass instruments appear. In the sixth variation, the theme is presented in parallel triads, insolently and smugly. The music takes on an increasingly cruel, "bestial" aspect.
In the eighth variation, it achieves the awesome sonority of fortissimo. Eight horns cut through the roar and clang of the orchestra "primal roar".
In the ninth variation, the theme moves to trumpets and trombones, accompanied by a moan.
In the tenth and eleventh variations, the tension in the music reaches an almost unthinkable force. But here a musical revolution, fantastic in its genius, takes place, which has no analogues in world symphonic practice. The tonality changes dramatically. An additional group of brass instruments is included. A few notes of the score stop the theme of invasion, the theme of resistance is opposed to it. An episode of the battle begins, incredible in its intensity and intensity. In the piercing heartbreaking dissonances, screams and groans are heard. With an inhuman effort Shostakovich leads the development to the main culmination of the first movement - a requiem - lamenting for the lost.

Konstantin Vasiliev. Invasion

The reprise begins. The main part is broadly recited by the whole orchestra in the marching rhythm of the funeral procession. The side part is hardly recognizable in the reprise. An intermittently tired bassoon monologue, accompanied by stumbling accompaniment chords at every step. Size changes all the time. This, according to Shostakovich, is "personal grief" for which "there are no more tears left."
In the code of the first part, pictures of the past appear three times, after the calling signal of the French horns. As if in a haze, the main and secondary themes pass in their original appearance. And at the very end, the theme of the invasion ominously reminds of itself.
The second movement is an unusual scherzo. Lyrical, slow. In it, everything adjusts to the memories of pre-war life. The music sounds as if in an undertone, in it one can hear the echoes of some kind of dance, now a touchingly tender song. Suddenly, an allusion to Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata breaks through, sounding somewhat grotesque. What's this? Are not the memories of a German soldier sitting in the trenches around besieged Leningrad?
The third part appears as an image of Leningrad. Her music sounds like a life-affirming hymn to a beautiful city. Majestic, solemn chords alternate in it with expressive "recitations" of solo violins. The third part goes into the fourth without interruption.
The fourth part - the mighty finale - is full of efficiency and activity. Shostakovich considered it, along with the first movement, to be the main one in the symphony. He said that this part corresponds to his "perception of the course of history, which must inevitably lead to the triumph of freedom and humanity."
The finale code uses 6 trombones, 6 trumpets, 8 horns: against the background of the mighty sound of the entire orchestra, they solemnly proclaim the main theme of the first movement. The conduct itself resembles a bell chime.