It is also a look at the power-and layered meaning-of music in beleaguered lives.Įvery now and then a book comes along that blows me away and Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad is one of those books.Ī riveting story of the music of composer Dimitri Shostakovich along with an extensively researched This is the true story of a city under siege: the triumph of bravery and defiance in the face of terrifying odds.

Trapped between the Nazi invading force and the Soviet government itself was composer Dmitri Shostakovich, who would write a symphony that roused, rallied, eulogized, and commemorated his fellow citizens-the Leningrad Symphony, which came to occupy a surprising place of prominence in the eventual Allied victory. Residents burned books, furniture, and floorboards to keep warm they ate family pets and-eventually-one another to stay alive. Survivors recall corpses littering the frozen streets, their relatives having neither the means nor the strength to bury them. In September 1941, Adolf Hitler’s Wehrmacht surrounded Leningrad in what was to become one of the longest and most destructive sieges in Western history-almost three years of bombardment and starvation that culminated in the harsh winter of 1943–1944. Anderson delivers an account of the Siege of Leningrad and the role played by Russian composer Shostakovich and his Leningrad Symphony. Symphony for the City of the Dead is a masterwork thrillingly told and impeccably researched by National Book Award-winning author M. It is also a look at the power-and layered meaning-of music in beleaguered lives.

In September 1941, Adolf Hitler's Wehrmacht surrounded Leningrad in what was to become one of the longest and most destructive sieges in Western history-almost three years of bombardment and starvation that culminated in the harsh winter of 1943-1944. Anderson delivers a brilliant and riveting account of the Siege of Leningrad and the role played by Russian composer Shostakovich and his Leningrad Symphony. A 2016 YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults FinalistNational Book Award winner M.

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