How Shostakovich’s 7th Symphony saved thousands of lives during one of the most brutal sieges in human history.
Featuring violent political upheavals, cultish dictators, art that walked the thin line between expression and propaganda, operas about noses, -starvation camps- collective farms, a regime that massacred millions of its own citizens, World War II and more cultish dictators, 900-day sieges, idiotic city planning, resorting to sawdust bread and wallpaper paste for nourishment, dark winters and below-freezing temperatures, starved orchestras and undead drummers, music in foreign policy, a musical thumbing of the nose at the enemy, and something mysterious and beautiful that kept people alive against all odds.
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:29 Historical context: Leningrad culture, Stalin’s purges
09:56 World War II
15:06 Siege of Leningrad
19:39 The Leningrad Symphony
22:23 The symphony and international relations
25:15 Historic Leningrad premiere
30:32 Aftermath
32:39 Outro
Sources for nerds
Symphony for the city of the dead: https://archive.org/details/symphonyforcityo0000ande/mode/2up
Leningrad: state of siege: https://archive.org/details/leningradstateof0000jone_t4q5/mode/1up
Barbarossa Hitler Stalin: War warnings Stalin ignored: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-13862135
Research Starters: Worldwide Deaths in World War II: https://www.nationalww2museum.org/students-teachers/student-resources/research-starters/research-starters-worldwide-deaths-world-war
TIME Monday, Jul. 20, 1942 Music: Shostakovich & the Guns: https://csoarchives.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/time-magazine-article-1942.pdf
The Lend-Lease Program, 1941-1945: https://www.fdrlibrary.org/lend-lease
Leningrad siege survivors recall their ordeal after 75 years: https://apnews.com/article/868ae25703c44a35aa23c061ab583ec2
War music: the humanity, heroism and propaganda behind Shostakovich’s Symphony No 7: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jan/02/war-music-the-humanity-heroism-and-propaganda-behind-shostakovich-symphony-no-7
Orchestral manoeuvres: https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2001/nov/25/features.magazine27 and https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2001/nov/25/features.magazine57
How mental health affects physical health: https://www.livescience.com/how-mental-health-affects-physical-health
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