Shostakovich - Why is he famous? - The arts past and present - 2/6

Joseph Stalin unleashed the first weapon of mass destruction. It changed the course of World War II. Its creator was a young composer, Dimitri Shostakovich, and the weapon was a symphony. Dimitri represented all the contradictions of working in 20th-century Russia. Was he undermining Stalin or celebrating him? Like so many, he lived in fear of his life. He watched as friends and family were arrested as enemies of the state. His music was officially denounced but he was quick to apologise and seemed to conform. He then went on to become Stalin's propaganda tool, even appearing on the cover of Time magazine. As World War II raged, he decided to create his most patriotic and emotive work. He started Leningrad, his seventh symphony. It would become his most famous. The score is peaceful to start, like life before the war. Then it bursts into a clatter of explosions and falling shells, mirroring the famous siege of Leningrad, which lasted for 872 days. Around one million people died. The survivors within the besieged city heard their symphony in August 1942, under the most dramatic circumstances imaginable. The score was flown in by military aircraft, but only 15 people were available for the first rehearsal. So the commanding general ordered all competent musicians to report from the front line. The emaciated players regularly had to break from rehearsals to return to their duties, and they were given extra rations to help keep them alive. From the Philharmonic Hall in the shell-shocked city, speakers were wheeled out and the Leningrad Symphony was radio-broadcast into the silence of no-man's land. A German soldier who picked up the broadcast was stunned. He famously said when he heard the symphony from the famine-stricken Leningrad, he knew the Germans would never take it. To find out more, go to www.openuniversity.co.uk/ Shostakovich