Shostakovich and his "Leningrad" Symphony

Synopsis

The Russian city of Kuibyshev on the Volga river east of Moscow might seem an unlikely site for an important symphonic premiere. But from 1941 to 1943, Kuibyshev was the temporary capital of the Soviet Union. As German and Finnish troops advanced from the west, the Russian government and its cultural institutions moved east. Among the refugees relocated to Kuibyshev were the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra from Moscow and the composer Dimitri Shostakovich from Leningrad.

And so, on today’s date in 1942, that unlikely city was the venue for the world premiere of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7, subtitled “Leningrad.”

In 1942, the Soviet Union was America’s ally in the war against Hitler, and Shostakovich’s new symphony was enlisted as a major propaganda tool. A microfilm copy of the new score was flown from Kuibyshev to Tehran, then transported by car through Iran, Iraq, Jordan and Palestine to Cairo, then flown to Brazil for transfer by the U.S. Navy to New York. The American premiere was given on July 19, 1942, by the NBC Symphony under Arturo Toscanini.

Less than a month later, on August 9, 1942, the “Leningrad” symphony was even performed in the besieged and starving city of Leningrad. The few musicians still capable of performing were given extra rations to keep up their strength, and, to ensure a measure of quiet during their performance, a Russian artillery commander ordered an intensive artillery bombardment on the enemy troops surrounding the city.

It would seem logical that the Leningrad Philharmonic–not the Moscow-based Bolshoi Theater Orchestra–should have chosen to give the world premiere performance of Shostakovich's "Leningrad" Symphony; The reason why this did not occur was a simple matter of war-time logistics: in March of 1942, the Leningrad Philharmonic had been evacuated to Novosibirsk, while the Bolshoi Orchestra and Shostakovich both were sent to Kuybishev. After the March 5th premiere in Kuybishev with the Bolshoi Orchestra, Shostakovich was sent to Novosibirsk in July of 1942 to hear the Leningrad Philharmonic rehearse and perform his Seventh Symphony under the great Soviet conductor Yevgeny Mravinsky.

Music Played in Today's Program

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975) Symphony No. 7 (Leningrad) Kirov Orchestra and Rotterdam Philharmonic; Valery Gergiev, cond. Philips 376-02

On This Day

Births

• 1853 - American composer Arthur Foote, in Salem, Mass.;

• 1887 - Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, in Rio de Janeiro;

Deaths

• 1778 - British composer Thomas Arne, age 67, in London;

• 1947 - Italian composer Alfredo Casella, age 63, in Rome;

• 1953 - Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev, age 61, in Moscow (the same day that Joseph Stalin died);

Premieres

• 1735 - Handel: Organ Concertos Op. 4, nos. 2-3, in London as intermission features during a revival performance of Handel's oratorio "Esther" at the Covent Garden Theater (Gregorian date: March 16);

• 1818 - Rossini: opera "Mosè in Egitto" (Moses in Egypt) (1st version in Italian), in Naples at the Teatro San Carlo;

• 1868 - Boito: opera "Mefistofele," at the Teatro della Scala in Milan;

• 1889 - MacDowell: Piano Concerto No. 2, with the composer as soloist, in New York City;

• 1892 - Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 1 (Gregorian date: Mar. 17);

• 1904 - Liadov: symphonic poem "Baba Yaga" (Gregorian date: Mar. 18);

• 1904 - Ravel: String Quartet, in Paris, by the Heymann Quartet;

• 1905 - Frederick S. Converse: "The Mystic Trumpeter" by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Fritz Scheel conducting;

• 1933 - Barber: "Dover Beach" for medium voice and string quartet, at the French Institute in New York City, by mezzo-soprano Rose Bampton and the New York Art Quartet;

• 1933 - Malipiero: Violin Concerto No. 1, by the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orcherstra with Pierre Monteux conducting and Viola Mitchell the soloist;

• 1940 - Copland: "John Henry," on a CBS "School of the Air" radio broadcast, by the Columbia Broadcasting Symphony conducted by Howard Barlow;

• 1942 - Cage: "The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs" (text by James Joyce) for voice and piano, in New York;

• 1942 - Shostakovich: Symphony No. 7 ("Leningrad") by the Bolshoi Theater Orchestra, conducted by Samuel Abramovitch Samosud, in Kuibyshev (the temporary Soviet capital where the orchestra and Shostakovich had been evacuated);

• 1944 - Piston: Symphony No. 2, in Washington, D.C., by the National Symphony, Hans Kindler conducting;

• 1965 - Piston: Symphony No. 6, by the Boston Symphony;

• 1990 - David Ward-Steinman: "Intersections II: Borobudur," for percussion and "fortified" piano, at the Canberra Institute of the Arts in Australia, by percussionist Daryl Pratt and the composer at the piano;

• 2003 - Bright Sheng: Tone Poem for Pipa, Sheng, Cello, Piano, and Orchestra ("Song and Dance of Tears") with Wu Man (pipa, Wu Tong (sheng), Yo-Yo Ma (cello) and Emanuel Ax (piano), with the New York Philharmonic, David Zinman conducting.