This past Saturday evening I had the pleasure to perform Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony Number 7, "The Leningrad Symphony." I played the final measures of this 85 minute symphony with tears in my eyes and enjoyed every minute of it. There are conflicting books and articles written about Shostakovich, so I won't go into too much detail about him or this symphony here. But, I will try to explain this Time Magazine cover by sharing an excerpt of an interesting article.
"The start of the Great Patriotic War [1941, when Germany invaded Russia] stirred Shostakovich as it did millions of his countrymen. He tried twice to enlist in the Red Army but was turned down because of his poor eyesight. He then joined a Home Guard unit drawn from members of the Leningrad Conservatory (where Shostakovich taught), and the world-famous composer spent several weeks laboring to build defensive lines that Soviet military leaders were belatedly erecting around the city.
Shostakovich was next transferred to a firefighting brigade, where he was posted to extinguish any incendiaries that might land on the conservatory's roof. This assignment proved largely symbolic, as the school's directors always found excuses to keep their most valuable faculty member busy elsewhere.
Nonetheless, on July 29, 1941, Soviet propagandists posed fireman Shostakovich for a number of photos that were widely distributed and which came to symbolize the unshakable determination of Leningrad's defenders."
Go here to read the article in its entirety. (See also my previous post about Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.)
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