Leningrad: Siege and Symphony

For 872 days during World War II, the German Army encircled the city of Leningrad-modern-day St. Petersburg-in a military operation that would cripple the former capital and major Soviet industrial center. Palaces were looted and destroyed. Schools and hospitals were bombarded. Famine raged and millions died, soldiers and innocent civilians alike. Against the backdrop of this catastrophe, historian Brian Moynahan tells the story of Dmitri Shostakovich, whose Seventh Symphony was first performed during the siege and became a symbol of defiance in the face of fascist brutality. Titled "Leningrad" in honor of the city and its people, the work premiered on August 9, 1942-with musicians scrounged from frontline units and military bands, because only twenty of the orchestra's hundred members had survived.