Leningrad: the pulse of an unapproachable soul

Abstract

This is an article about the great power of music, which sounded no matter what in a city surrounded by enemies, and about the high moral culture of Leningraders. The song, which requires no instruments and is ready to pour out at any moment, has become the leitmotif of the blockade music. In terms of strength and penetration, songs about love, home, and relatives were the most popular. Poets sent poems with requests to pass them on to the composers. The publication of song collections has intensified. Songs performed by K.Shulzhenko, L.Utesov, L.Ruslanova and other Soviet performers who performed both at the front and in the rear, broadcast on the radio, found the greatest response from the hearts of people, gave hope in difficult years for the city. The respondent, Valentina Tatarinkova, a resident of besieged Leningrad, a sailor of the 2nd class, calls "Black braids" by Peter Leshchenko and "Let's Smoke" by Claudia Shulzhenko among her favorite songs of this period. As a result of the "musical mobilization" in the summer of 1941, composers began writing war songs, D.Shostakovich was processing classical romances and arias, and the composers Yu.V.Kochurov, O.A.Yevlakhov, and V.V.Shcherbachev create military music and songs for performance in the field. Despite and in spite of everything, music continued to be played at the Philharmonic, the Musical Comedy Theater and the Kirov Theater (now the Mariinsky Theater), from the stages of amateur clubs, in hospitals and in trenches on the front line, this is also music from movies, etc. Concerts of the Baltic Fleet Song and Dance Ensemble were held, songs of I.Dunaevsky, V.P.Solovyov-Sedogo, and others were performed. Musicians, composers, and performers demonstrated high moral strength, never ceasing to create in difficult conditions. By a miracle, D. Shostakovich's "Seventh Symphony" was transported to Leningrad and performed, sounding like a manifesto of the undying people. In the autumn of 1944, the troupes of the Kirov Theater, the Conservatory, and others returned from the evacuation. musical institutions, and once again the living force of music sounded in full force.