What is Symphony No. 7 (Shostakovich)?
{{no sources|date=January 2024}} '''''Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 60''''' is a [[symphony]] by [[Dmitri Shostakovich]]. It is also called the '''''[[Leningrad]]''''' symphony. It was composed in [[1941]]. It is very long, lasting about 75 minutes. It was first performed by the [[Bolshoi Theatre|Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra]] on [[5 March]] [[1942]]. Shostakovich was awarded a [[Stalin Prize]] by the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics|Soviet]] government for the symphony. == History of its composition == Shostakovich gave the symphony its title because it is about what was happening in [[Leningrad]] in 1941. It was during the [[World War II]] and the [[Germany|German]] [[army]] had invaded the [[Soviet Union]] and blocked communication between the city of Leningrad (now called [[St Petersburg]]) and the rest of the world. Conditions were terrible: the people hardly had any food to eat and they were very cold in the winter. About a million people died during the [[wikt:siege|siege]]. Shostakovich lived in fear most of his life because if [[Josef Stalin]], the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] dictator, did not like his music he could have been sent to [[prison]] or put to death. Sometimes Shostakovich was made a [[hero]] by the government and sometimes he was told that his music was not good because it was not in the style that the government thought he should write it in. The symphony was very popular at first in countries that fought on the same side as Russia in World War II, as well as in Russia. It was performed many times in the [[United States]] and the [[United Kingdom]]. Many people in these countries liked the symphony because it seemed to show the Russians as heroes fighting to save their city from the Germans. Later, during the [[Cold War]], many people in these same countries did not like the work very much, because the Russians were now their [[Enemy|enemies]] and they thought that music written there was [[propaganda]] meant to show Russia and its leaders as better than other countries and their leader