piko-komorika

[piko-komorika]

Sorry for the Shostakovich spam, he's honestly one of the biggest musical badasses in history and my biggest source of inspiration for both writing and continuing down the path of musicianship. Plus the message of his 7th symphony is literally "Fuck you, nazis". Which he wrote in Leningrad while under attack by the nazis.

[piko-komorika]

(via gatheringbones)

On 9 August 1942 the besieged city put on a performance of Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony. (…) The symbolic importance of this concert was enormous. Composer Dmitry Shostakovich had stayed in Leningrad and begun work on his Seventh Symphony during the first month of the blockade. Later, Stalin insisted that he be evacuated, but Shostakovich dedicated the finished symphony to his native city. In March 1942 the musical score was flown into besieged Leningrad by special military plane. Trombonist Viktor Orlovsky is one of the two surviving musicians who performed at the Leningrad premiere of the Seventh Symphony on 9 August 1942. ‘Being an artist during the siege was both an overwhelming and heartbreaking experience,’ Orlovsky recalls. ‘The halls were always packed, which I thought was extraordinary. ’ The Radio Committee Orchestra held its first rehearsal on 30 March 1942. It lasted a mere twenty minutes, with Eliasberg so feeble that he had to be driven in on a sledge. The orchestra had been re-formed with one powerful idea in mind - to give a sense of dignity and worth to starving Leningraders living without electricity or heat. The Germans had boasted that they would capture the city on 9 August and hold a victory celebration at Leningrad’s Astoria Hotel. The date for the Seventh Symphony’s premiere was thus deliberately chosen. Orlovsky vividly remembers the atmosphere of the concert: ‘People were all dressed up and some had even had their hair done. It felt like a victory. At the end, our conductor, Eliasberg, received one bouquet of flowers from a teenage girl. She turned to the orchestra and said simply, “My family did this because life has to go on as normal - whatever happens around us.” ’ It was this unconquerable spirit which saved Leningrad. Many years after the war Karl Eliasberg was approached by a group of German tourists, who said that they had come to the city especially to see him. They had been in the besieging army outside the city, so close that they were able to intercept Leningrad’s radio signals, and hear the broadcast of Shostakovich’s Seventh. Now these veterans said: ‘It had a slow but powerful effect on us. The realisation began to dawn that we would never take Leningrad. But something else started to happen. We began to see that there was something stronger than starvation, fear and death - the will to stay human.’

Leningrad: State of Siege by Michael Jones

[piko-komorika]

Soldier buying a ticket to the Leningrad premiere of Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony, 1942

AntonRubinstein:

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.

Dmitri Shostakovich had intended for the piece to be premièred by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, but because of the siege that group was evacuated from the city, as was the composer himself. The world première of the symphony was held in Kuibyshev with the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra. The Leningrad première was performed by the surviving musicians of the Leningrad Radio Orchestra, supplemented with military performers. Most of the musicians were starving, which made rehearsing difficult: musicians frequently collapsed during rehearsals, and three died. The orchestra was able to play the symphony all the way through only once before the concert.

Despite the poor condition of the performers and many of the audience members, the concert was highly successful, prompting an hour-long ovation. The concert was supported by a Soviet military offensive, code-named Squall, intended to silence German forces during the performance. The symphony was broadcast to the German lines by loudspeaker as a form of psychological warfare. The Leningrad première was considered by music critics to be one of the most important artistic performances of the war because of its psychological and political effects. The conductor concluded that “in that moment, we triumphed over the soulless Nazi war machine”. Reunion concerts featuring surviving musicians were convened in 1964 and 1992 to commemorate the event.

Leningrad première of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7

[piko-komorika]

Music is a means capable of expressing dark dramatism and pure rapture, suffering and ecstasy, fiery and cold fury, melancholy and wild merriment – and the subtlest nuances and interplay of these feelings which words are powerless to express and which are unattainable in painting and sculpture.

Dmitri Shostakovich “The Power of Music” (1964), translated in Music Journal, September 1965.  (via atomulrich)

[piko-komorika]

When a man is in despair, it means that he still believes in something.

Dmitri Shostakovich (via stavesofmysymphony)

[piko-komorika]

If they cut off both hands, I will compose music anyway holding the pen in my teeth.

Dmitri Shostakovich (via solitaryfossil)

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[piko-komorika]

catch, and release

[piko-komorika]

stop! making! plans! in! front! of! people! then! not! inviting! them!

[piko-komorika]

“all nazis are bad” should be literally the easiest safest most unanimous political statement you could make what is happening

[piko-komorika]

Unsourced screencap making the rounds on Facebook.

[piko-komorika]

If you publicly and unreservedly condemn the actions of Nazis in Charlottesville and elsewhere, including everything from quiet hate speech to vehicular terrorism, can you please reblog this post.

I think a few friends, a few followers, every Jew who happens across this post and my own heart could do with knowing that there are more of you out there than there are of them

[piko-komorika]

Racist white folks don’t even realize they’re admirers of African culture.

[piko-komorika]

Holly Boswell, creator of the transgender symbol and trans advocate and organizer, has passed away today, 8/14/17. Details still unknown.

[piko-komorika]

The research, led by the National Institute of Psychiatry, interviewed 250 transgender people and found that it is not a mental disorder as once believed. Apparently, distress and impairment are the two essential characteristics of a mental disorder, and they found transgender people can experience some distress but not because they are transgender, but because of social rejection and violence.

[piko-komorika]

PUNCHING NAZIS IS COOL BUT MAKING SURE JEWISH PEOPLE ARE SAFE AND LOVED IS BETTER ✊🏻✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿

[piko-komorika]

imagine laying in bed and instead of pulling on your legs or whatever, a demon straight up just smacks your ass