Symphony For The City Of The Dead Analysis

Looking back at America's history, it's clear to see that literature is one of the most powerful and influential art forms in the world. The greatest writers throughout the years have influenced and shaped the youth of their generations. The great fiction writers used vivid storytelling and satire to criticize past generations and failed ideas. Such examples include George Orwell’s “Animal Farm.” Nonfiction writers have used their past experiences to educate readers from a different perspective, more effectively than any textbook can. One of the greatest works of nonfiction, Booker T. Washington’s “Up From Slavery,” told his story of upbringing from a slave to an educator. “Symphony for the city of the Dead” by M.T. Anderson is another great work of nonfiction. “Symphony for the City of the Dead” is a biography about the life of Dmitri Shostakovich, a famous composer who lived in the city of Leningrad during the siege in World War 2. The story revolves around Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony, composed as the city of Leningrad crumbled around him due to the Nazis’ relentless assaults. “Symphony for the City of the Dead” is the story of the last flicker of hope in Leningrad in 1942.

The story of Dmitry Shostakovich had a large impact on me as a reader. Going into the story, I wasn’t sure how

interesting the story of a classical composer from Russia could be. After reading deeper into the story, I began to learn about how famous Dmitri Shostakovich was. Less than 100 years ago, there was a composer that was working on a piece of classical music that the whole world was holding its collective breath waiting for. The idea of a world-famous piece of classical music is not something many young readers would picture possible in modern society, but that’s exactly what Shostakovich’s “Symphony Number 7” was. “Symphony for the City of the Dead” teaches readers about the power that any kind of music can have on listeners. As the city of Leningrad crumbled, with cannibals and criminals taking to the streets to try to get by, the outlook looked desolate. Citizens who refused to resort to being criminals had to take to eating their own families in order to avoid starving to death; even then, many still starved to death as the Nazis assaulted their home town. Under such chaos, one composer was able to give the citizens of Leningrad hope. All of this speaks as to how powerful music really can be to those going through hard, or even disastrous, times.

The main character of “Symphony for the City of the Dead” is Dmitri Shostakovich. Shostakovich was a famous composer during the mid 1900’s. Many of Shostakovich’s works were highly praised, but he had also come under scrutiny for some of his works. One of his most controversial works of art was his “Lady Macbeth of Mzensk,” which was about life in a small town in Tsarist Russia. “Lady Macbeth of Mzensk” was a satirical piece that was viewed as “un-soviet’ by some, yet still was viewed as an interesting piece of art that fascinated many. Shostakovich was under heat from the Nationalists of Russia as Stalin was one of the many that did not enjoy “Lady Macbeth of Mzensk.” In fact, Stalin walked out before the musical was even finished. Due to some viewing his works as un-soviet and the dire situation of the Siege of Leningrad, Shostakovich was under a lot pressure when he announced his Seventh Symphony. Symphony Number Seven was originally dedicated to Vladimir Lenin, but was later dedicated to the city of Leningrad following the devastation of the Siege. One of the most impactful discussions of the story comes when Shostakovich went on the radio to announce his seventh symphony, later to be titled “Leningrad.” “ An hour ago I finished scoring the second movement of my latest large orchestral composition.” Said Shostakovich. “Why am I telling you this? I am telling you this so the people of Leningrad will know that life goes on in our city(Anderson. 184.)” This moment reveals to the reader that Shostakovich wrote his seventh symphony with the citizens of Leningrad constantly in the back of his mind.

The setting of the story is the city of Leningrad during World War II. The setting of the story is very significant as the siege of the city going on at the time was the inspiration for Shostakovich’s most famous symphony. The conditions of the city were grim at best. A paragraph of the story describes the city: “More than a million people trapped inside the city were blocked off almost entirely from the outside world. Over the winter, they had been without electricity, without running water, without food, without firewood, and almost without hope. Families ate Wallpaper paste and sawdust. Women prowled basements for corpses to eat, and there were rumors that gangs of men who turned cannibal went out at night to hunt for victims in alleys (Anderson, 4.)”

“Symphony for the City of the Dead” is a very powerful story that made me think about the power of music in a very different way.

It never occurred to me that one simple song could hold as much power as Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony, “Leningrad,” did. The greatest strength of Shostakovich’s biography is his ability to recreate the vivid setting of 1940’s Leningrad. The artful descriptions of the city help bring out the contrast between the fallen city and the hope that Shostakovich’s symphony brought. Memoirs are becoming so popular today because they provide in-depth looks into snippets of history, like M.T. Anderson does with “Symphony for the City of the

Dead.