History
Memory Score, a history
and music project
On the 80th anniversary of the Leningrad performance of Dmitry Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony
The performance of Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony on August 9, 1942 in besieged Leningrad was not only a unique phenomenon in musical culture, but also a major socio-political event. The symphony was played in the Grand Hall of the Philharmonia by the Leningrad Radio Committee Orchestra, conducted by Karl Eliasberg.
The St. Petersburg Academic Philharmonia is Russia’s oldest, and has been acknowledged as one of the largest centers of classical music in the world. This project aims to preserve the historical memory of one of the most significant events connected with the humanities to occur during World War II.
The Exhibition
In the Grand Hall’s lobby area, which will open on August 9, 2022, will feature the first display in 80 years of the official documents, egodocuments, and artifacts (posters, musical scores, photographs, letters, performers’ original instruments, etc.) related to performances of the symphony in Kuybyshev, Moscow, Novosibirsk, Tashkent, London, New York, and, of course, Leningrad, which will be the centerpiece of the exhibition.
The International Scientific Conference
Dedicated to the cultural memory of the Leningrad Symphony will take place on August 9, 2022, bringing together WWII historians and researchers, musicologists, archivists, museum professionals, and cultural memory experts from all over Russia and the former Soviet Union, as well as from Great Britain, USA, Germany, and Finland.
Historic and Musical Project "Memory Score"
Scientific Conference
"The Leningrad Symphony: History, Geography, Reflexion"
dedicated to the 80 th anniversary of Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony performance
Programme
09.30 - 10.00 - Registration
10.00 - 10.20 - Welcome and opening address
I.S. Cherkasov, Director, The D.D. Shostakovich St. Petersburg Academic Philharmonia
Y.Z. Kantor, Curator of the Memory Score Project, Doctor of History Plenary
10.20 - 10.40 Roman Nasonov, PhD in Art History, Associate Professor, Chair of World Music History, the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory, Associate Professor, Chair of Interdisciplinary Educational Programmes, the Moscow Higher School of Social and Economic Sciences (Moscow)
The Leningrad or the Liturgical? Regarding the conception of the Seventh symphony and its musical and historic contexts
10.40 - 11.00 Larisa Miller, Head of the Manuscript Research Department, Music Library of the Rimsky-Korsakov St. Petersburg Conservatory (St. Petersburg)
Text sources of Shostakovich's Seventh symphony - to the work's creative history
11.00 - 11.20 - Evgeny Malinkin, PhD in History, Head of the Archives Document Department, Samara Regional State Archives of the Social and Political History (Samara)
Shostakovich's Seventh symphony and its role in the cultural connections among the USSR, USA and Great Britain. From the NKID (People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs) documents and Egosources
11.20 - 11.40 Yulia Kantor, Doctor of History, Deputy Director, Chief Researcher, St. Petersburg Institute of History, Russian Academy of Sciences, Professor, Herzen University (St. Petersburg)
Eliasberg's orchestra. The hidden voice
11.40 - 12.00 - Discussion
12.00 - 12.20 - Coffee-break
Section 1. Performances of the Seventh in the Soviet Union (Moderator: E. Petrovsky)
12.20 - 12.40 Vyacheslav Mosunov, PhD in History, Senior Reseacher, Russian Railway Museum (St. Petersburg)
The Symphony before the storm: the war situation around Leningrad in early August 1942: the parties' plans and commanders' decisions
12.40 - 13.00 Olesya Bobrik, PhD in Art History, Associate Professor, the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory, Researcher at the Archives, the Note Library of the Bolshoi Theatre, Senior Researcher, the State Institute for Art Studies (Moscow)
Salute from the Moscow trombonists, or the History of the world's premiere of Shostakovich's Seventh's symphony in its first performers' autographs
13.00 - 13.20 Maria Karachevskaya, Musicologist, PhD in Art History, Deputy Head, Department of IT and IT Security, the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory, Conservatory Website Editor (Moscow)
Moscow premiere of Shostakovich's Seventh symphony: the unknown materials
13.20 - 13.40 Ravilya Khisamutdinova, Doctor of History, Professor, Head, Chair of General History and Methods of Teaching History and Social Sciences, Orenburg State Pedagogical University (Orenburg)
The unknown pages of performing Shostakovich's Seventh symphony in the Chkalov (Orenburg) region and preserving historic memory
13.40 - 13.55 - Discussion
13.55 - 14.15 Marina Dubrovskaya, Doctor of Art History, Professor, Chair of Musical Education, the Glinka Novosibirsk State Conservatory Elena Tarasevich, IV Year Student, the Faculty of Theory and Composition, the Glinka Novosibirsk State Conservatory (Novosibirsk)
The Leningrad symphony by D.D. Shostakovich in Novosibirsk: new sources
14.15 - 14.35 Konstantin Golodyaev, Researcher, the Novosibirsk Museum (Novosibirsk)
The premiere of the Seventh "Leningrad" symphony in Novosibirsk: the oral history materials
14.35 - 14.55 Olga Bukharkina, Head of the Documentation Department, the Kler Sverdlov Regional Local History Museum (Ekaterinburg)
About the history of the first performance of Shostakovich's Seventh symphony in Sverdlovsk in 1942: unknown museum and archives materials
14.55 - 15.15 Evgeniy Petrovsky, Deputy Art Director, the Shostakovich St. Petersburg Academic Philharmonia (St. Petersburg)
The Seventh by Shostakovich as an outstanding musical placard and an unwitting victim of the "Dutch Syndrome". From the history of philharmonic performances
15.15 - 15.30 - Discussion
Section 2. The World Performances of the Seventh and Memorialization Issues (Moderator: B. Kovalev)
12.20 - 12.40 Boris Kovalev, Doctor of History, Professor, Chief Researcher, St. Petersburg Institute of History, Russian Academy of Sciences (Veliky Novgorod)
The reaction to Shostakovich's creative work in the collaborationist press on the occupied USSR territories
12.40 - 13.00 Yulia Moshnik, PhD in History, Science Secretary, Vyborg United Museum- Reserve (Vyborg)
The Scandinavian premiere of the Seventh symphony: breach of neutrality and a step for Finland to withdraw from the war
13.00 - 13.20 Svetlana Shchegolikhina, PhD in History, Associate Professor, Chair of General History, Institute of History and Social Sciences, Herzen University (St. Petersburg)
The symphony which changed the mindset: American perception of Shostakovich's Leningrad symphony
13.20 - 13.40 Dmitry Astashkin, PhD in History, Associate Professor, Senior Researcher, St. Petersburg Institute of History, Russian Academy of Sciences (Veliky Novgorod)
Shostakovich and the perception of the Leningrad siege during World War II in Australia
13.40 - 13.55 Discussion
13.55 - 14.15 Irina Mamonova, PhD in Art History, Associate Professor, Chair of IT in Arts and Humanities, St. Petersburg State University, Faculty of Arts (St. Petersburg)
"The Leningrad symphony" in visual arts: the image of the city, the image of the composer, images of Leningraders
14.15 - 14.35 Pavel Dmitriev, PhD in Art History, Head, Music Library of the Shostakovich St. Petersburg Academic Philharmonia (St. Petersburg)
The history of a photograph. Of those behind the scenes
14.35 - 14.55 Nadim Aidarov, PhD in Art History, Staff Member, Institute of Theatre and Choreography, Herzen University (St. Petersburg)
The Leningrad premiere of Shostakovich's Seventh symphony. A family history
14.55 - 15.15 Irina Karpenko, PhD in History, Science Secretary, Museum of the History of St. Petersburg (St. Petersburg)
"We should not dwell on those central figures only who prepared and performed the feat". Memorialization of the Seventh symphony in Leningrad during 1950-1970
15.15 - 15.30 - Discussion
Project partners
General information partner of the project
Information partners of the project
