St. Petersburg: City of Music

Shostakovich wrote his famous 7th Symphony in Leningrad in 1941 during the German occupation. This program shows how much classical music meant and still means to the people of St Petersburg.

During the German occupation, people were dying from starvation. To heighten the spirits and the moral in the besieged people it was decided that musicians should be assembled to play for the Russian people and in spite of the hunger and want they managed to assemble a symphony orchestra.