Symphonies by Dmitri Shostakovich

Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 33. Chapters: Symphony No. 2, Symphony No. 7, Symphony No. 4, Symphony No. 13, Symphony No. 5, Symphony No. 11, Symphony No. 14, Symphony No. 15, Symphony No. 12, Symphony No. 9, Symphony No. 8, Symphony No. 10, Symphony No. 6, Symphony No. 3. Excerpt: Dmitri Shostakovich¿s Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 60 dedicated to the city of Leningrad was completed on 27 December 1941. In its time, the symphony was extremely popular in both Russia and the West as a symbol of resistance and defiance to Nazi totalitarianism and militarism. Still today it is regarded as the major musical testament of the 25 million Soviet citizens who lost their lives in World War II due to the German invasion. It is played at the Leningrad Cemetery where ¿ million victims of The 900-days Siege of Leningrad are buried. As a condemnation of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the piece is particularly representative of the political responsibilities that Shostakovich felt he had for the state, regardless of the conflicts and criticisms he faced throughout his career with Soviet censors and Joseph Stalin. After the war, the symphony's reputation declined substantially, both due to its public perception as war propaganda as well as the increasingly prevalent view that it was one of Shostakovich¿s less accomplished works. In more recent years, scholars have suggested that the work is better interpreted as a depiction of totalitarianism in general (and more specifically, the brutality of Stalin¿s regime). This interpretation is complicated by uncertainty as to when the composer started to write the symphony, with evidence that Shostakovich largely completed the first movement, with its famous ¿invasion¿ theme, prior to the beginning of the siege in September 1941. The symphony is Shostakovich's longest, and one of the longest in the repertoire, with performances taking approximately one hour and fifteen minutes. The scale and scope of the work is consistent with Shostakovich¿s other symphonies as well as with those of composers considered to be his strongest influences, including Bruckner, Mahler, and Stravinsky. The symphony is written in the conventional four movements. The work is written for: There are conflicting accounts as to when Shost