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On August 29,elements of the German Sixteenth Army seized the strategically important railroad town of Mga, some thirty miles southeast of Leningrad, the old Russian capital formerly known as St. This act signaled the beginning of the most prolonged, brutal, and dramatic siege of World War II. The shocking news of the German attack on the Soviet Union, Operation Barbarossa, had reached Leningrad at midday June 22 as Leningrad: Siege and Symphony throughout the city broadcast the voice of Commissar for Foreign Affairs V. The enemy will be crushed. Victory will be ours. While not exactly a household name, Dimitri Shostakovich was familiar to classical music lovers in such faraway places as New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. His distinctive, original, and emotionally communicative symphonic works marked Shostakovich as one of the premier talents of modern music. From the perspective of the Soviet leadership, an internationally recognized figure such as Shostakovich was a mixed blessing. On the other hand, the language of music is far less precise than the written word or even visual representations. Kremlin arbiters of taste and ideas Leningrad: Siege and Symphony never be sure if the sounds of a Shostakovich composition were truly extolling the glories of a Communist society — or ironically Leningrad: Siege and Symphony on its many shortcomings, which were never to be openly acknowledged. By his birth and training, Shostakovich was very much a Soviet artist. The rise and fall and rise again of his reputation mirrored the changes within his country as the Communist dictator Josef Stalin consolidated state controls over all aspects of everyday life. Through works such as his delightfully insouciant Symphony No. It was a time of show trials, followed by executions or harsh imprisonments for those denounced as enemies of the state, so this official censure had serious implications. The composer eventually responded to the charges with his Fifth Symphonya piece that — on one level at least — expressed the loyal response of a good Soviet citizen-artist to criticism by following an approved path struggle ending in triumph in an accessible musical language readily grasped by the masses. Just six months prior to its premiere, Shostakovich had seen his powerful friend and patron, Red Army Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky, arrested, tried, and shot for treason. The start of the Great Patriotic War stirred Leningrad: Siege and Symphony as it did millions of his countrymen. He tried twice to enlist in the Red Army but was turned down because of his poor eyesight. He then joined a Home Leningrad: Siege and Symphony unit drawn from members of the Leningrad Conservatory where Shostakovich taughtand the world-famous composer spent several weeks laboring to build defensive lines that Soviet military leaders were belatedly erecting around the city. Shostakovich had also turned his prodigious talents to arranging small musical works for the spare instrumental combinations used to entertain troops at the front. Go boldly into dread battle! Yet Leningrad: Siege and Symphony is what Shostakovich set out to do. The period between June 22 and July 19 had been marked by a seemingly endless series of German victories and Red Army defeats. Thanks to utterly misplaced confidence in their defensive schemes, Russian military Leningrad: Siege and Symphony were rocked by disaster after disaster as one position after another was Leningrad: Siege and Symphony bypassed or encircled. By the time he had completed a full copy of what became the first movement of his new symphony, it was September 3 and German forces were consolidating for a direct assault on the city, their shells even reaching Leningrad proper. At a time when entire contemporary symphonies rarely exceeded twenty-five to thirty-five minutes in length, Shostakovich lined out a war symphony that was gargantuan Leningrad: Siege and Symphony size by finishing a first movement that itself lasted more than twenty-six minutes. The tune begins quietly, even playfully, but in the course of this movement it grows greatly in intensity and darkens considerably in mood, becoming positively Goyaesque in its brutality. Shostakovich expected the comparison. A few Leningrad: Siege and Symphony pages convey a visual representation as well, with notes arranged with an orderly precision suggesting a vast formation marching through Red Square. A second movement was finished on September By then elements of the Finnish army, which was allied with Germany, were actively threatening Leningrad from the northwest, while Wehrmacht operations south of the city continued to chew up Soviet positions and defensive forces. So serious had matters become that Stalin put his principal military troubleshooter, Red Army General G. Why am I telling you this? So that the radio listeners who are listening to me now will know that life in our city is proceeding normally. For the next twelve days the tempo of combat along the southern approaches to the city was unrelenting; both sides finally halted in mutual exhaustion in late September. Casualties were high for attackers and Leningrad: Siege and Symphony. He departed the city with his wife and two children, taking a plane to Moscow on October 1. Even as Soviet officials uprooted and transported essential armaments industries eastward, away from the advancing German armies, they also acted to protect their cultural treasures. Since Moscow itself was under a direct threat from the advancing Germans, the composer and his family soon had to flee once more, packed aboard a refugee train. The last was briefly misplaced during the hectic, chaotic journey, but was recovered without having suffered any damage. On October 22, Shostakovich and his family detrained at the reserve Soviet capital, Kuybyshev present-day Samarathe location of one of several centers established for artistic Soviet refugees. Even though his public pronouncements were positive, Shostakovich was stymied. The result was a series of localized offensives beginning in mid-October. The attacks, which added to the growing casualty lists, merely sustained the status quo. Cold and snow at last slowed the pace of events. By the end of December, Leningrad remained a Soviet citadel, but it was closely invested and about to endure the darkest, deadliest winter in its history. There were no overt gestures to the masses, just a resolute struggle that ends with the victor grimly satisfied but not celebratory. Conductor Samuil Samosud, better known for his operatic work than for symphonic concerts, was given the task, and by late January the work was in full rehearsal. Conditions for Shostakovich remained difficult: His apartment lacked sufficient heat, he had problems finding enough music paper for his work, and the news from Leningrad was greatly discouraging. What the Germans could not win by force of arms on the ground they now tried to claim through bombardment and starvation. A tenuous supply line crossing Lake Ladoga allowed a trickle of supplies to reach the starving metropolis. Everything about it was larger than life — including its length approximately eighty minutes and the oversized orchestra it required. Yet, incredibly, the massive, abstract work forged Leningrad: Siege and Symphony a symbol of resistance Leningrad: Siege and Symphony fascism became a cultural icon in the Soviet popular mind. Even the urgent blare of air raid sirens could not restrain the audience, whose applause rang out for twenty minutes once the music had ended. Leningrad: Siege and Symphony plans were underway for the worldwide dissemination of the work. In a journey whose cloak-and-dagger aspects seem somehow appropriate, the score was handled like a high-priority state document. It was copied onto 35mm film, packed into a small tin box, and shipped out via plane to Tehran, then by automobile to Cairo, and finally on a plane to the West. English radio listeners first heard it on June 22 — a year to the day after Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa. The Russian Koussevitzky landed the concert premiere, but it was to follow a nationwide radio broadcast by the NBC Symphony. Because of his foresight in scouting the work, and his own history of presenting other Shostakovich compositions to American audiences, Stokowski expected to do the honors with the Leningrad Symphony radio broadcast. NBC had other plans, however. The company had created the NBC Symphony expressly for Toscanini, and even though its relations with the often-temperamental musician were rocky at times, he was still their most marketable cultural personality. Stokowski and Toscanini exchanged some polite letters, each advancing his claim to the U. The concert was scheduled for July 19, All these high-art maneuvers took place at a time when Franklin D. Through books, films, op-ed pieces, and other means, the government and national media churned out stories emphasizing Soviet sacrifices and heroism, some even comparing life under Stalin favorably to the American way of life reaching its most effusive expression in the epic Warner Brothers movie Mission Leningrad: Siege and Symphony Moscow. All the while, the U. The July 19 radio broadcast was opened by the Leningrad: Siege and Symphony Ben Grauer, announcing that the program was dedicated to Russian War Relief. NBC later estimated the listening audience at twenty million. Reaction in the United States was divided between the music critics who mostly did not like it and everyone else who mostly did. There were no fewer than sixty-two performances in the United States during the season. All those glittering galas paled before the shabby one that took place in Leningrad itself. During the time that the piece was making its Leningrad: Siege and Symphony across the globe, Soviet fortunes on the Leningrad front had not dramatically changed. Efforts by the Red Army to open a secure corridor to resupply the city had failed, and violent German counterattacks showed no lessening in their resolve. Once again, this lengthy, expansively scored composition proved Leningrad: Siege and Symphony rallying point for patriotic fervor. Even then, a call was issued for drafted musicians serving at the front, and it reached a point where some of the necessary brass players had to be forcibly pried loose from their units. Many of the instrumentalists were so weak from starvation diets that initial rehearsals ended within fifteen minutes and extra rations had to be authorized. After the conductor fainted from exhaustion while walking home following one run-through, worried officials secured a bicycle for him. In the face of all these formidable obstacles, a performance of the symphony took place in Leningrad on August 9, Karl Eliasberg, who conducted on that occasion, noted that Soviet artillery pounded known German battery positions just prior to the concert in order to silence them. The performance was carried Leningrad: Siege and Symphony the city via a loudspeaker network, and, in a psychological move, additional monitors projected the music toward the German lines. While the quality of the playing can only be imagined under the harsh circumstances, the historic moment was less about art and more about expressing defiance. In America especially, composers did their part by writing works large and small. One of the biggest was a nearly hour-long paean forgotten today to the U. In the years immediately following the conflict, the passions of the Cold War and changing tastes in music made it easy for critics to deride the Leningrad Symphony as a bloated, vulgar composition of no lasting consequence. Leningrad: Siege and Symphony, like Mark Twain commenting on his premature obituary, the piece lives on, in concert performances and recordings. A new generation of music writers is finding levels of meaning beyond the events surrounding its birth, and many today view it not as a battle piece but as an artistic commentary on totalitarianism. Yet despite this, and even though the winds of change have recast the city of Peter and Lenin once again as St. Petersburg, the story of Leningrad endures in no small measure because the Leningrad Symphony continues to bring the story of its tremendous suffering, sacrifice, and eventual triumph to new audiences. At a time when Soviet arms could Leningrad: Siege and Symphony deliver even a symbolic victory to convince the West of its viability, a Soviet artist did. A native of Leningrad, Dimitri Shostakovich composed most of his Leningrad: Siege and Symphony, or Leningrad, Symphony from the besieged city. Library of Congress. Shostakovich, Leningrad, and the greatest story ever played | The Spectator

Northern Front : 1, killed, captured or missing [9] 2, wounded and sick [9] Total : 3, casualties Russian estimate of killed, captured or missing [10] : Baltic Fleet : 55, Leningrad Front :Phase 2. Phase 3. Phase 4. The Finnish army invaded from the north, co-operating with Leningrad: Siege and Symphony Germans until Finland had recaptured territory lost in the recent Winter Warbut refused to make further approaches to the city. Also co-operating with the Germans since in August: the Spanish Blue Division that was transferred to the southeastern flank of the Leningrad: Siege and Symphony of Leningrad, just south of the Neva near PushkinKolpino and its main intervention was in Krasny Bor in the Izhora River area. The siege began on 8 Septemberwhen Leningrad: Siege and Symphony Wehrmacht severed the last road to the city. Although Soviet forces managed to open a narrow land corridor to the city on 18 Januarythe Red Army did not lift the siege until 27 Januarydays after it began. The blockade became one of the longest and most destructive sieges in historyand possibly the costliest in casualties suffered. Some historians, from both the former Soviet Union and the Westclassify it as genocide. Leningrad's capture was one of three strategic goals in the German Operation Barbarossa and the main target of Army Group North. The strategy was motivated by Leningrad 's political status as the former capital of Russia and the symbolic capital of the Russian Revolutionits military importance as a main base of the Soviet Baltic Fleetand its industrial strength, housing numerous arms factories. It has been reported that Adolf Hitler was so confident of capturing Leningrad that he had invitations printed to the victory celebrations to be held in the city's Hotel Astoria. Although various theories have been put forward about Germany's plans for Leningrad, including renaming the city Adolfsburg as claimed by Soviet journalist Lev Bezymenski [19] and making it the capital of the new Ingermanland province of the Reich in Generalplan Ostit is clear Hitler's intention was to utterly destroy the city and its population. According to a directive sent to Army Group North on 29 September, "After the defeat of Soviet Russia there can be no interest in Leningrad: Siege and Symphony continued existence of this large urban centre. In this war for our very existence, we can have no interest in maintaining even a part of this very large urban population. Hitler's ultimate plan was to raze Leningrad to the ground and give areas north of the River Neva to the Finns. Von Leeb's plan called for capturing the city on the move, but due to Hitler's recall of 4th Panzer Group persuaded by his Chief of General Staff, Franz HalderLeningrad: Siege and Symphony transfer this south to participate in Fedor von Bock 's push for Moscow[23] von Leeb had to lay the city under siege indefinitely after reaching the shores of Lake Ladogawhile trying to complete the encirclement and reaching the Finnish Army under Marshal Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim waiting at the Svir Rivereast of Leningrad. Finnish military forces were north of Leningrad, while German forces occupied territories to the south. Thus, it is argued Leningrad: Siege and Symphony much of the Finns participation was merely Leningrad: Siege and Symphony. The Germans planned on lack of food being their chief weapon against the citizens; German scientists had calculated the city would reach starvation after only a few weeks. On Friday, 27 Junethe Council of Deputies of the Leningrad administration organised "First response groups" of civilians. Leningrad: Siege and Symphony the next days, Leningrad's civilian population was informed of the danger and over a million Leningrad: Siege and Symphony were mobilised for the construction of fortifications. Several lines of defences were built along the city's perimeter to repulse hostile forces approaching from Leningrad: Siege and Symphony and south by means of civilian resistance. In the north the defensive line against the Finns, the Karelian Fortified Regionhad been maintained Leningrad: Siege and Symphony Leningrad's northern suburbs since the s, and was now returned to service. Even the guns from the cruiser Aurora were removed from the ship to be used to defend Leningrad. The Soviet defenders fought to the death, despite the German discovery of the Soviet defence plans on an officer's corpse. This had the effect of creating siege positions from the Gulf of Finland to Lake Ladogawith the eventual aim of isolating Leningrad from all directions. The Finnish Army was then expected to advance along the eastern shore of Lake Ladoga. The 14th Army of the Soviet Red Army defended Murmansk and the 7th Army defended Ladoga Karelia; thus they did not participate in the initial stages of Leningrad: Siege and Symphony siege. The 8th Army was initially part of the Northwestern Front and retreated through the Baltics. On 23 August, the Northern Front was Leningrad: Siege and Symphony into the Leningrad Front and the Karelian Frontas it became impossible for front headquarters to control everything between Murmansk and Leningrad. Zhukov states, "Ten volunteer opolcheniye divisions were formed in Leningrad in the first three months of the war, as well as 16 separate artillery and machine-gun opolcheniye battalions. Finnish intelligence had broken some of the Soviet military codes and read their low-level communications. This was particularly helpful for Hitler, who constantly requested intelligence information about Leningrad. On 8 September, the road to the besieged city was severed when the Germans reached Lake Ladoga at Shlisselburgleaving just a corridor of land between Lake Ladoga and Leningrad which remained unoccupied by Axis forces. Bombing on 8 September caused fires. Occupying the city was ruled out "because it would make us responsible for food supply". Leningrad: Siege and Symphony Finnish forces crossed the pre- Winter War border on the Karelian Isthmus by eliminating Soviet salients at Beloostrov and Kirjasalo, thus straightening the frontline so that it ran along the old border near the shores of Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga, and those positions closest to Leningrad still lying on the pre-Winter War border. According to Soviet claims, the Finnish advance was stopped in September through resistance by the Karelian Fortified Region ; [44] however, Finnish troops had already earlier in August received orders to halt the advance after reaching their goals, some of which lay beyond the pre- Winter War border. After reaching their respective goals, the Finns halted their advance and started moving troops to East Karelia. For the next three years, the Finns did little to contribute to the battle for Leningrad, maintaining their lines. In the southeast, the Germans captured Tikhvin on 8 November, but failed to complete their encirclement of Leningrad by Leningrad: Siege and Symphony further north to join with the Finns at the Svir River. On 9 December, a counter-attack of the Volkhov Front forced the Wehrmacht to retreat from their Tikhvin positions in the River Volkhov line. His main goal was to persuade Mannerheim to continue the offensive. InPresident Ryti declared to the Finnish Parliament that the aim of the war was to restore the territories lost during the Winter War and gain more territories in the east to create a " Greater Finland ". The Germans aimed us at crossing the old border and continuing the offensive to Leningrad. I said that the capture of Leningrad was not our goal and that we should not take part in it. Mannerheim and Minister of Defense Walden agreed with me and refused the offers of the Germans. The result was a paradoxical situation: the Germans could not approach Leningrad from the north At one point, the defending Front Commander, Popovcould not release reserves opposing the Finnish forces to be deployed against the Wehrmacht because they were needed to bolster the 23rd Army's defences on the Karelian Isthmus. Popov felt relieved, and redeployed two divisions to the German sector on 5 September. Subsequently, the Finnish forces reduced the salients of Beloostrov and Kirjasalo[54] which had threatened their positions Leningrad: Siege and Symphony the sea coast and south of the River Vuoksi. These naval units operated against the supply route in the summer and autumn ofthe only period the units were able to operate as freezing waters then forced the lightly equipped units to be moved away, and changes in front lines made it Leningrad: Siege and Symphony to reestablish these units later in the war. It included the 23rd Army in the northern sector between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga, and the 48th Army in the western Leningrad: Siege and Symphony between the Gulf of Finland and the Slutsk — Mga position. According to Zhukov, "Before the war Leningrad had a population of 3, and 3, counting the suburbs. As many as 1,, includingchildren were evacuated" between 29 June and 31 March They were moved to the Volga area, the Urals, Siberia and Kazakhstan. By Septemberthe link with the Volkhov Front commanded by Kirill Meretskov was severed and the defensive sectors were held by four armies: 23rd Army in the Leningrad: Siege and Symphony sector, 42nd Army on the western sector, 55th Army on the southern sector, and the 67th Army on the eastern sector. The 8th Army of the Volkhov Front had the responsibility of maintaining the logistic route to the city in coordination with the Ladoga Flotilla. The defensive operation to protect the 1, civilian evacuees was part of Leningrad: Siege and Symphony Leningrad counter-siege operations under the command of Andrei ZhdanovKliment Voroshilovand Aleksei Kuznetsov. Additional military operations were carried out in coordination with Baltic Fleet naval forces under the general command of Admiral Vladimir Tributs. The Ladoga Flotilla under the command of V. Baranovsky, S. Zemlyanichenko, P. Traynin, and B. Khoroshikhin also played a major military role in helping with evacuation of the civilians. The first success of the Leningrad air defense took place on the night of 23 June. The JuA bomber from the 1st air corps KGr. All crew members, including commander, Lieutenant Hans Turmeyer, were captured on the ground. The commander of the 15th battery, lieutenant, Alexey Pimchenkov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. By Monday, 8 September, German forces had largely surrounded the city, cutting off all supply routes to Leningrad and its suburbs. Unable to press home their offensive, and facing defences of the city organised by Marshal Zhukovthe Axis armies laid siege to the city for " days and nights". The air attack of Friday, Leningrad: Siege and Symphony September was particularly brutal. It was the heaviest air raid Leningrad would suffer during the war, as German bombers hit the Leningrad: Siege and Symphony killing 1, civilians. Many of those killed were recuperating from battle wounds in hospitals that were hit by German bombs. Six air raids Leningrad: Siege and Symphony that day. Five hospitals were damaged in the bombing, as well as the city's largest shopping bazaar. Hundreds of people had run from the street into the store to take shelter from the air raid. Artillery bombardment of Leningrad began in August, increasing in intensity during with Leningrad: Siege and Symphony arrival of new equipment. It was stepped up further duringwhen several times as many shells and bombs were used as in the year before. Against this, the Soviet Baltic Fleet Navy aviation made overair missions to support their military operations during the siege. To sustain the defence of the city, it was vitally important for the Red Army to establish a route for bringing a constant flow of supplies into Leningrad. Transport Leningrad: Siege and Symphony Lake Ladoga was achieved by means of watercraft during the warmer months and land vehicles driven over thick ice in winter hence the route becoming known as "The Ice Road". Vehicles risked becoming stuck in the snow or Leningrad: Siege and Symphony through broken ice caused by constant German bombardments, but the road brought necessary military and food supplies in and took civilians and wounded soldiers out, allowing the city to continue resisting the enemy. The two-and-a-half-year siege caused the greatest destruction and the largest loss of life ever known in a modern city. The days of the siege caused extreme famine in the Leningrad region through disruption of utilities, water, energy and food supplies. This resulted in the deaths of up to 1, [72] soldiers and civilians and the evacuation of 1, more mainly women and childrenmany of whom died during evacuation due to starvation and bombardment. Economic destruction and human losses in Leningrad on both sides Leningrad: Siege and Symphony those of the Battle of Stalingradthe Battle of Moscowor the bombing of Tokyo. The siege of Leningrad Leningrad: Siege and Symphony as the most lethal siege in world historyand some historians speak of the siege operations in terms of genocide Leningrad: Siege and Symphony, as a "racially motivated starvation policy" that became an integral part of the unprecedented German war of extermination against populations of the Soviet Union generally. Civilians in the city suffered from extreme starvationespecially in the winter of — Deaths peaked in January—February atper month, mostly from starvation. While reports of cannibalism appeared in the winter of —42, NKVD records on the subject were not published until Most evidence for cannibalism that surfaced before this time was anecdotal. Anna Reid points out that "for most people at the time, cannibalism was a matter of second-hand horror stories rather than direct personal experience". A dystrophic walked along With a dull look Leningrad: Siege and Symphony a basket he carried a corpse's arse. I'm having human flesh for lunch, This piece will do! Ugh, hungry sorrow! And for supper, clearly I'll need a little baby. Leningrad: Siege and Symphony | Grove Atlantic

The Germans reached the outskirts of Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, just a few weeks after invading the Soviet Union on June 22, By early September they had Leningrad: Siege and Symphony choked the city that the Soviets could deliver supplies only by boat across Lake Ladoga and, when the water froze, by truck over the ice. Those who survived did so on rations of as little as grams of bread a day. People ate cats, dogs and sawdust. Reports of cannibalism spread. With the temperature dipping under 20 degrees below zero, corpses were left to freeze in the snow. One survivor recalled being trapped in his apartment by the weight of a body pressed against the door. Moynahan, a former foreign correspondent for The Sunday Times of London and the author of several books Leningrad: Siege and Symphony Russian history, pieces together his account largely from published sources. Shostakovich scored it for a large orchestra at a time when Leningrad: Siege and Symphony musicians in Leningrad had the strength to lift their bows or fill their lungs with air. He was partly right: The conductor saved the dying drummer by increasing his Leningrad: Siege and Symphony after discovering that he could still move his fingers. Few ideas are more affirming than the triumph of art over inhumanity, but some analytical distance can be of value when chronicling how a piece of music came to embody this message. Moynahan, however, chips away at that distance by echoing the emotional tenor of the memoirs that he uses to construct his history. Home Page World U.