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1941
             
The year 1941 was one of the most terrible ever lived by this country… On June 22, the German armies crossed the Soviet border at the start of the Great Patriotic War which claimed the lives of 35 million Soviet people. The first months of the year were quite peaceful though. The Soviet leaders kept telling the people that there would be no fighting on Russian soil now that they had signed a non-aggression pact with the Germans. Unaware of the hard times looming ahead, the people kept filling the theaters and concert halls…
In spring, wind and brass players from all across the country were showcasing their skills in yet another national competition in Moscow. The 20 year-old Timofei Dokshitser became a laureate and, a few years later, he was named Russia's number one trumpet player.
In the Small Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, an all-star new trio of pianist Lev Oborin, violinist David Oistrakh and cellist Svyatoslav Knushevitsky, were making their debut. The success exceeded all their expectations and the three greats stayed together for more than 20 years up until Knushevitsky's death did them part in 1962…
In Moscow, the Vakhtangov Theater staged Mikhail Lermontov's Masquerade to the beautiful music by Aram Khachaturian. Some of the tunes are still very popular, especially the waltz…
The Masquerade premiered on the night of June 21, just hours before the German tanks crossed the Soviet border and the Luftwaffe started raining bombs on our cities…
The changed situation called for a different kind of music and, just days after the war's breakout, the troops were departing for the frontlines from Moscow's Belorussky Railway Station to the strains of Alexander Alexandrov's new song, The Holy War, performed by his Red Army Ensemble…
The song had an unbelievable effect on the soldiers, who, hushed and overwhelmed by the music, were eagerly listening to the song's stirring words calling on the great country to stand up and get ready for a mortal battle… The song quickly became popular as a symbol of that terrible war…
"In times of war, the Muses are silent" - this old rule was forgotten the very moment the war broke out. Just a few days into the fighting, they set up in Moscow an organization to tend to the cultural needs of the Soviet soldiers. More than 3,000 concerts were held in the first two months alone. On November 5 the Moscow Philharmonic opened its new season with Lev Oborin playing Chopin in the Conservatory's Big Hall in Moscow and David Oistrakh treating the public to a whole program of classical masterpieces, among them Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall.
The Moscow Philharmonic organized one more month of concerts, but, with the German armies edging closer and closer to the city, many of the participating performers were evacuated and so they had to cancel the whole season.
And still, some of the musicians stayed on playing concerts in various parts of the city. On November 6, the eve of the 24th anniversary of the 1917 socialist revolution, a gala concert was held down at the Mayakovskaya Metro station, away from the German bombs, by a constellation of leading musicians, among them the Bolshoi Opera's tenor Ivan Kozlovsky and bass Maxim Mikhailov.
On November 19, they opened a branch of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. The bulk of the Bolshoi company had already moved to the Volga city of Kuibyshev, now Samara. Those who had stayed on, however, decided to keep working even though the Germans were only 40 kilometers away… The performances started as early as 2 a.m. because of the bombing raids which usually commenced later in the day… Still, they often had to make a break and head to the shelters to wait out early Nazi air raids. The performances were always played to packed audiences of mostly uniformed people who applauded like crazy, especially to operatic superstars like Sergei Lemeshev.
Meanwhile, the Germans were tightening their stranglehold on Leningrad which for 900 cold and hungry days and nights became a symbol of unbending courage to the whole world. And, even against all those terrible odds, music continued to play in the besieged city…
In 1941, the Operetta Theater, which had stayed on in Leningrad, presented Imre Kalman's cheerful comedy Maritsa.
Members of the Leningrad Philharmonic had all been evacuated to Novosibirsk where Yevgeny Mravinsky's symphony orchestra alone gave more than 500 concerts!
Members of the Vassily Andreyev Russian folk orchestra, however, refused evacuation and, instead, volunteered to the frontlines, some of them never to come back again…The orchestra thus ceased to exist and only came back in 1951…
In November, Alexander Varlamov's famous jazz band was performing at the frontlines when they were suddenly encircled by the Nazis and almost entirely killed in the shootout. Only a few recordings made by that legendary orchestra have lived up to this day…
When Hitler's armies had moved dangerously close to Moscow, composer Boris Mokrousov wrote his inspiring Moscow Defenders' Song whose pulsating rhythm uplifted the spirits of the soldiers and volunteers defending the Soviet capital….
"Goodbye, beloved city! We're setting sail tomorrow…" These lines from a song written by Vassily Solovyov-Sedoi were hugely popular with the Baltic Fleet sailors defending Leningrad…
Down south, on the Dnieper river, composer Mark Fradkin wrote this song for the Southwestern Front's Ensemble…
During the war years, the Soviet composers wrote a number of wonderful songs which were fortifying the spirits of the Soviet soldiers and giving them the much-needed comfort in times of hardship. Many of these songs are classics now ...
 
THE RUSSIAN MUSICAL HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 20TH CENTURY is prepared for you by Olga Fyodorova.


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