It's Friday! The kids are still out of school, which means I don't have my usual research and lesson planning to perform. I thought I'd give us all a break from Christmas carols and family so we can just enjoy a wonderful piece of music written in horrific circumstances and completed on this day. Don't worry, there won't be a quiz.
As you can see by Itzl's concerned look, this group is for us to check in at to let people know we are alive, doing OK, and not affected by such things as heat, blizzards, floods, wild fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, power outages, or other such things that could keep us off DKos. It's also so we can find other Kossacks nearby for in-person checks when other methods of communication fail - a buddy system. Members come here to check in. If you're not here, or anywhere else on DKos, and there are adverse conditions in your area (floods, heatwaves, hurricanes, etc.), we and your buddy are going to check up on you. If you are going to be away from your computer for a day or a week, let us know here. We care!
IAN is a great group to join, and a good place to learn to write diaries. Drop one of us a PM to be added to the Itzl Alert Network anytime! We all share the publishing duties, and we welcome everyone who reads IAN to write diaries for the group! Every member is an editor, so anyone can take a turn when they have something to say, photos and music to share, a cause to promote or news!
Ok, we do have a diary schedule. But, when you are ready to write that diary, either post in thread or send FloridaSNMOM a Kosmail with the date. If you need someone to fill in, ditto. FloridaSNMOM is here on and off through the day usually from around 9:30 or 10 am eastern to around 11 pm eastern.
Monday:
BadKitties
Tuesday:
bigjacbigjacbigjac
Wednesday:
Caedy
Thursday:
weck
Friday:
FloridaSNMOM
Saturday:
broths
Sunday:
loggersbrat
Dmitri Sjostakovitsj was born in 1906 to a chemical engineer (father) and a pianist (mother). He studied piano under his mother and at a private school in St. Petersburg. In 1934 he collaborated with Aleksei Dikij on the opera "Katerina Izmailova" (aka Lady Makbeth of Mtsensk), Stalin however greatly criticized their work, and this lead to severe political and career difficulties for both of them.
Today, in 1941, Dmitri Sjostakovitsj completed his 7th symphony. A symphony he began during Nazi aerial attacks of Leningrad the summer before. During the siege of Leningrad, thousands died of starvation and in bombardment attacks. Sjostakovistj worked as part of a night patrol, putting out fires and neutralizing incendiary bombs. In times of quiet he worked on his symphony and played to raise the spirits of his countryman. He was evacuated from Leningrad late in December, and completed his symphony in Siberia.
In August of 1942 the symphony was performed in Leningrad by an orchestra made up of starving and malnourished survivors of the siege. The score was flown in, well more like smuggled in, by a Russian pilot on order of the military. Rehearsals sometimes lasted as little as 15 minutes because musicians had to build tolerance to holding and playing their instruments again, despite doubled rations. Even the conductor, Karl Eliasberg, was emaciated and ill, leaving the hospital long enough to conduct rehearsals.
On August 9, 1942 while the city was still under blockade, the symphony was performed and broadcast over the radio to the Russians and also to the Germans (as an attempt to demoralize them). Over a thousand civilians and hundreds of soldiers attended the performance, but Sjostkovitsj, having been evacuated, was unable to attend the historic event.
Despite all of this, in 1948 Sjostkovitsj was again censored by communists in Russia, and a ban on music was implemented. But now the composer had international fame and recognition on his side. He was invited to several international events, but Stalin refused to let him travel outside the country. It wasn't until after Stalin's death that he was permitted to attend world events.
He was awarded the International Peace Prize (1954), State Prize five times (in 1941-1952), State Prizes of Russia and the USSR, and was designated People's Artist of the USSR. From 1957-1975 he was secretary of the Union of Composers of Russia and the USSR.
His 13th symphony, "Babi Yar" was written with poet Yevgeni Yevtushenko to commemorate a site where the Nazis murdered 33,000 Jews in September of 1941. His work is now part of the WWII memorial at that site.
He wrote musical scores for 36 films including 'Suite from The Gadfly' from The Gadfly (1956), and the score for director Grigori Kozintsev's acclaimed film Hamlet (1964) starring Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy. He also wrote a total of 15 symphonies, many quartets and chamber music, and 12 musical comedies. Shostakovich died of a heart attack on august 9, 1975, in Moscow, and was laid to rest in Novodevichi Convent Cemetery in Moscow, Russia. His legacy is continued by his son, conductor Maxim Shostakovich, and his grandson, pianist Dmitri Shostakovich Jr.
Citations:
IMDB Biography