Symphony No. 7 (Shostakovich)
Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 60 dedicated to the city of Leningrad was completed on 27 December 1941. In its time, the symphony was extremely popular in both Russia and the West as a symbol of resistance and defiance to Nazi totalitarianism and militarism. Still today it is regarded as the major musical testament of the 25 million Soviet citizens who lost their lives in World War II due to the German invasion. It is played at the Leningrad Cemetery where half a million victims of The 900-days Siege of Leningrad are buried. As a condemnation of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the piece is particularly representative of the political responsibilities that Shostakovich felt he had for the state, regardless of the conflicts and criticisms he faced throughout his career with Soviet censors and Joseph Stalin.
Read more about Symphony No. 7 (Shostakovich): Form, Instrumentation, Quotations and Allusions, In Popular Culture, Film Version
Famous quotes containing the word symphony:
“The truth is, as every one knows, that the great artists of the world are never Puritans, and seldom even ordinarily respectable. No virtuous man—that is, virtuous in the Y.M.C.A. sense—has ever painted a picture worth looking at, or written a symphony worth hearing, or a book worth reading, and it is highly improbable that the thing has ever been done by a virtuous woman.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)