Leningrad: Siege and Symphony

Leningrad: Siege and Symphony
ISBN-10
0857383027
ISBN-13
9780857383020
Series
Leningrad
Category
Saint Petersburg (Russia)
Pages
576
Language
English
Published
2014-10-02
Author
Brian Moynahan

Description

Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony was first played in the city of its birth on 9 August, 1942. There has never been a first performance to match it. Pray God, there never will be again. Almost a year earlier, the Germans had begun their blockade of the city. Already many thousands had died of their wounds, the cold, and most of all, starvation. The assembled musicians - scrounged from frontline units and military bands, for only twenty of the orchestra's 100 players had survived - were so hungry, many feared they'd be too weak to play the score right through. In these, the darkest days of the Second World War, the music and the defiance it inspired provided a rare beacon of light for the watching world. Setting the composition of Shostakovich's most famous work against the tragic canvas of the siege itself and the years of repression and terror that preceded it, Leningrad: Siege and Symphony is a magisterial and moving account of one of the most tragic periods in history.

Get the book

Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Search the book
eBay.com
eBay.com
Search the book

Other editions

Similar books

  • St Petersburg: The Rough Guide
    St Petersburg: The Rough Guide
    By Dan Richardson, Rob Humphreys

    Colin Wilson , Rasputin and the Fall of the Romanovs ( Panther , UK o / p ) . Perhaps the best account of the " mad monk " who hastened the downfall of a dynasty . It considers the most sensational tales with a sceptical eye .

  • St Petersburg: The Rough Guide
    St Petersburg: The Rough Guide
    By Dan Richardson, Rob Humphreys

    St. Petersburg is the linchpin for travel to and around Russia, and this guidebook covers it all in this detailed city-guide format.

  • Rough guide Санкт-Петербург: самый подробный и популярный путеводитель в мире
    By Дан Ричардсон, Е. М Беньковская

    Rough guide Санкт-Петербург: самый подробный и популярный путеводитель в мире

  • Особняк Кочневой, Фонтанка, 41
    By Наталья Георгиевна Гаврилова, Ю. П. Голиков

    Особняк Кочневой, Фонтанка, 41

  • Crime and Punishment
    Crime and Punishment
    By Fyodor Dostoyevsky

    Crime and Punishment

  • Caught in the Revolution: Petrograd 1917
    Caught in the Revolution: Petrograd 1917
    By Helen Rappaport

    Drawing upon a rich trove of material and through eye-witness accounts left by foreign nationals who saw the drama unfold, Helen Rappaport takes us right up to the action - to see, feel and hear the Revolution as it happened.

  • St. Petersburg
    St. Petersburg
    By Ryan Levitt, Thomas Cook Publishing Staff

    This is the savvy city breakers' pocket guide to seeing and doing more in Russia's city of romance - with a fun- seeking and cost-conscious slant.

  • Caught in the Revolution: Petrograd, 1917
    Caught in the Revolution: Petrograd, 1917
    By Helen Rappaport

    ' Saul David, Daily Telegraph Caught in the Revolution is Helen Rappaport's masterful telling of the outbreak of the Russian Revolution through eye-witness accounts left by foreign nationals who saw the drama unfold.

  • Blockade Diary: Under Siege in Leningrad, 1941-1942
    Blockade Diary: Under Siege in Leningrad, 1941-1942
    By Elena Kochina

    But this is far more than a catalogue of suffering and starvation: Blockade Diary is a testament to selfishness and moral collapse, but also a tribute to generosity and courage. This remarkable book reveals humanity at its best and worst.