August 09, 2017

Music Defeats War


Music Defeats War
In a Leningrad street after a German air raid. {Photo: RIA Novosti archive, image #601181 / Boris Kudoyarov / CC-BY-SA 3.0}

One thing has always had the power to connect humankind across time and space: music.

In June 1941, Nazi Germany invaded Soviet Russia, and later that year laid siege to Leningrad (known today as St. Petersburg). The siege lasted more than two years and killed at least a million people. The conditions in Leningrad during the siege were unimaginably terrible – soldiers died trying to defend the city, while its inhabitants succumbed to illness or hunger. Dead bodies littered the streets, since few could spare the energy to give them a proper burial. In desperation, some resorted to cannibalism.

During these dark times, humanity was revealed at both its worst… and its best. At the height of the horrors of the siege, Karl Eliasberg, a music conductor, received orders to begin rehearsals of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony. It was nearly impossible for Eliasberg to find enough musicians for his orchestra. An order had to be issued to soldiers at the battlefront, calling for anyone with musical ability to join the orchestra. In this way, rehearsing the symphony united and inspired the people of Leningrad, demonstrating that the people of Leningrad would never give in.

Even when Eliasberg had enough musicians, they had no energy to play their instruments. For they not only had to struggle for food, they also had to deal with their loved ones dying. One in three people perished during the siege. Yet the musicians persevered. On August 9, 1942, despite the odds, the Seventh Symphony was played in Leningrad and broadcast throughout the city and the country. Thankfully, there were no German air raids to interrupt the performance.

A member of the audience, Olga Kvade, recalls, “On the one hand I wanted to cry, but at the same time there was a sense of pride. ‘Damn you, we have an orchestra! We’re at the Philharmonic Hall, so you Germans stay where you are!’ We were surrounded by Germans. They were shelling us, but there was this feeling of superiority.”

The very Germans that she spoke of were listening that day. Their conditions were also bleak, and many soldiers were only there because it was their duty. Everyone who heard the music was moved by it – this stunning act of defiance – regardless of what side of the war they were on.

Shostakovich faced criticism for the piece, as many felt it was too simplistic. Some also believed he had inserted some anti-Stalin undertones. Regardless, in the time and place, his Seventh Symphony, simply named “Leningrad,” was incredibly powerful. It went on to become his most famous piece. Even today, listening to it can give a hint of what the people of Leningrad must have experienced during the invasion. For a little more than 78 minutes, the people of Leningrad showed the world the best of humanity.

Listen to the Seventh Symphony performed.

Dmitry Shostakovich speaks briefly, then plays part of the first movement of the Seventh Symphony.

You Might Also Like

Contact With a Mystery
  • June 17, 2017

Contact With a Mystery

Born on this day in 1882, Igor Stravinsky, one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century, in many ways defined the music of his era. We look back at his Rite of Spring.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.
Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.
A Taste of Russia

A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.
Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
At the Circus (bilingual)

At the Circus (bilingual)

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.
The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955