Song Of The Forests
Dmitri Shostakovich composed his oratorio The Song of the Forests, Op. 81, in the summer of 1949. It was written to celebrate the forestation of the Russian steppes following the end of World War II. Premiered by the Leningrad Philharmonic under Yevgeny Mravinsky on 15 December 1949, the work was well received by the government, earning the composer a Stalin Prize the following year.
The oratorio is notorious for lines praising Joseph Stalin as the "great gardener", although its later performances have normally omitted them.
Read more about Song Of The Forests: Structure, Instrumentation, Bibliography
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