The Leningrad première of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 took place on 9 August 1942 during the Second World War. It was performed by the surviving musicians of the Lenedrad Radio Orchestra, supplemented with military performers. The symphony was broadcast to the German lines by loudspeaker as a form of psychological warfare. Reunion concerts featuring surviving musicians were convened in 1964 and 1992 to commemorate the event.
About Leningrad première of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 in brief
The Leningrad première of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 took place on 9 August 1942 during the Second World War. It was performed by the surviving musicians of the Lenedrad Radio Orchestra, supplemented with military performers. The symphony was broadcast to the German lines by loudspeaker as a form of psychological warfare. It is considered by music critics to be one of the most important artistic performances of the war because of its psychological and political effects. Reunion concerts featuring surviving musicians were convened in 1964 and 1992 to commemorate the event. The piece was completed on 27 December 1941 and dedicated to his native Lening rad. It received its radio Première in Western Europe on 22 June, in a performance broadcast by Henry Wood and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and its concert premiée at London’s Royal Albert Hall on 29 June. The North American premières were broadcast from New York City on 19 July 1942 by the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini. The world premiere was held on 5 March 1942 in Kuybyshev with the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra under conductor Samuil Samosud. The Moscow premiéres were given on 29 March in the Columned Hall of the House of Unions and in April in Tehran by the All-Union Radio orchestras. The composer had intended the piece to be Premièred by the Leningrade Philharmonics Orchestra, but that group was evacuated from the city, as was the composer himself.
At the time the city was about 16 weeks into its 872-day siege by Nazi German forces, which would kill about a third of the city’s pre-war population. Performing the symphony “became a matter of civic, even military, pride,” said an orchestra member. The concert was supported by a Soviet military offensive, code-named Squall, intended to silence German forces during the performance. Of the original 40-40-member Lening Rad Orchestra, only 14 or 15 lived in the city; the others had either been either starved to death or left to fight the enemy. The orchestra was able to play the Symphony all the way through only once before the concert, prompting an hour-long ovation. A log note from the next scheduled rehearsal reads: ‘Rehearsal did not take place. Srabian is dead, Petrov is sick. Borishev is dead. Orchestra not working””. It was considered an important political act because of the potential value of its potential propaganda value as well as its potential to be used as a propaganda tool by the Nazis. The LeningRad Radio Orchestra under Karl Eliasberg was the only remaining symphonic ensemble in Leningrad after the Philharmonica was evacuated. It required an expanded orchestra of 100 players, meaning the remaining personnel were grossly insufficient.
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