Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad

M.T. Anderson chronicles the creation of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony against the backdrop of the Nazi blockade of Leningrad during World War II. The narrative tracks Shostakovich’s precarious standing under Stalin’s regime, detailing how the composer navigated state censorship and the Great Purge before the German invasion. It describes the physical reality of the siege, where residents faced starvation and cannibalism, while Shostakovich composed a score intended to bolster Soviet morale. The book concludes with the symphony’s 1942 premiere in the starving city, broadcast over loudspeakers as both a psychological weapon and a testament to endurance.

Readers interested in the intersection of twentieth-century music and geopolitical history come to this work to understand how art functions under totalitarianism. Those studying the Eastern Front find a granular look at civilian survival and the logistical horrors of the Leningrad blockade. The reader finishes the book with a technical and historical understanding of how a musical composition was used as international propaganda and a visceral sense of the human cost behind the Soviet war effort.

Clear-cut; a moderate read.

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