whats your opinion of 1812 overture with cannons
Ask and ye shall receive:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leningrad_premi%C3%A8re_of_Shostakovich%27s_Symphony_No._7
The Leningrad première of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 occurred on 9 August 1942 during the Second World War, while the city of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) was under siege by Nazi German forces.
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I wouldn’t defend Mother Russia with any other soundtrack.
But it feels like composers don’t really follow through. Where are the symphonies that require three armoured divisions preceded by airstrikes?
Lieutenant-General Govorov ordered a bombardment of German artillery positions in advance of the concert in a special operation, code-named “Squall”.[19] Soviet intelligence personnel had located the German batteries and observation posts a few weeks before, in preparation for the attack.[14] Three thousand high-caliber shells were lobbed onto the enemy.[31] The purpose of the operation was to prevent the Germans from targeting the concert hall and to ensure that it would be quiet enough to hear the music over speakers he ordered to be set up. He also encouraged Soviet soldiers to listen to the concert via radio.[32] Musicologist Andrei Krukov later praised Govorov’s actions as providing the “incentive” for the concert, adding that his choice to allow soldiers to participate was “a quite exceptional decision”.[33] Govorov himself later remarked to Eliasberg that “we played our instrument in the symphony, too, you know,” in reference to the artillery fire.[11] The military contribution to the affair was not widely known until well after the war ended.