Dmitri Shostakovich completed his Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 60 dedicated to the city of Leningrad, 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. 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...
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Dmitri Shostakovich completed his Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 60 dedicated to the city of Leningrad, 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. 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 and fascism in general (and more specifically, the brutality of Stalin’s regime). This...
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