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The Siege Book of the Philharmonic Hall
In the library of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Hall there is a unique exhibit preserving the memory of the Great Patriotic war and the Philharmonic seasons in besieged Leningrad: it is a hand-written volume of the Philharmonic concert programmes from 5 April 1942 till 1 May 1944. Its yellowish pages keep the detailed information about the Philharmonic concerts which took place in the indicated time period: date, the kind of advertising, the concert bill and the list of performers, the data about the musicians’ fees, audience numbers and the total money raised. All data are arranged in columns.
The date of the first concert registered in the book is 5 April 1942, and it is not a chance coincidence. It was on this day that the Philharmonic concerts of the first siege year, interrupted by the tragic winter of 1941-1942, were resumed. From mid-December 1941 the Big Philharmonic Hall stayed closed. In early February the violinist Viktor Alexandrovich Zavetnovsky wrote to his daughter: “The concerts have come to a halt. The cold is unmerciful in the Philharmonic Hall, and there is no light. We go every day to the Radio to rehearse, but they keep cancelling them (rehearsals) – now because of the cold, then because of no light. Instead of seventy only about thirty people come – some are dead, others are sick”.
On 10 March 1942 Boris Ivanovic Zagursky, head of the Arts Committee in the Leningrad Gorispolkom (city executive committee), writes to the city authorities with a request to open the Philharmonic Hall, pointing out that “it could be used for different musical events (symphony concerts, opera pieces, ballet evenings, chamber music concerts, performances of the Red Army and Red Navy ensembles, etc.”. The hall was in a good condition, it was only necessary to “give an order to the Lenenergo (Leningrad energy company) to switch on electricity for lighting, and to the heating supplier – to provide heating”.
And yet initially the Radio Committee orchestra conducted by Karl Il’ych Eliasberg performed in the Pushkin State Academic Drama Theatre. It was there on 5 April 1942 that the cycle of the Philharmonic concerts was opened. The Philharmonic book painstakingly registers all the organizational issues: the concert programme was mixed, the orchestra played only in the first act, there was an event poster published sized 1 page, the concert bill was published, “the musicians were duly paid”. The book keeps the record of the audience numbers – 1269 people, and the total money raised by the concert – 13200 roubles. The second concert on 12 April happened in the same place. That time the orchestra gave a full-fledged two-part concert. The first act featured Russian composers: Tchaikovsky, Glazunov, Serov, Rimsky-Korsakov, and the second act – Rossini, Gounod, Liszt. There were more people in the audience, numbered 1303, and the money was bigger, too. The third concert took place on 19 April, but in the building of the Navy House. (On the same day the Pushkin Theatre hosted the concert of the Red Army Song and Dance Ensemble of the Leningrad front political administration headed by Alexander Ivanovich Anisimov. It is this concert that was entered into the book). The fourth concert took place in the Pushkin Theatre again, and the concert programme was identical to the previous one: Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Rossini, Bizet, Strauss, Liszt.
Only the fifth concert of the Radio Committee orchestra took place in the Grand Philharmonic Hall. The renewal of the orchestra activities was obviously timed to coincide with the May Day festivities. Let us look in the Philharmonic book: the posters and concert bills were published, there were announcements made on the radio. (One of the widely published photos from spring 1942 shows the sale of the tickets for the opening Philharmonic concert in Nevsky prospect. On the wall there is a big poster with the details of the concerts in the Grand Philharmonic Hall on 1 and 2 May. The concert programme consisted exclusively of Tchaikovsky‘s works: the suite from the Swan Lake, arias from the operas Iolanta and Mazeppa, and the Fifth symphony. The performers were: the symphony orchestra, conductor – Karl Eliasberg, soloist – Valentin Legkov, presenter - David Bekker. The small number of people in the audience is surprising – 142. The note in the last column explains it: “The permission for the concert from the Arts Committee arrived only on 29 April”. Be it as it may, but 1 May 1942 can be justly considered a second birth for the Philharmonic Hall, alongside 12 June 1921, when it was opened and hosted its first concert. It is symbolic that both dates are connected with the name of P.I. Tchaikovsky: on both occasions the concerts consisted entirely of his works.
The siege book of the Philharmonic concerts comes to the end on 1 May 1944 in Leningrad completely free from the Nazi siege. The book keeps records of the performances of the Leningrad artists – the notable place is taken by K.I. Eliasberg, who was the only conductor of the only orchestra in the besieged city. It keeps the names of the renown musicians who came to Leningrad by air after the siege was broken on 18 January 1943. Among them are Maria Yudina, Jacob Zak, David Oistrakh, Pavel Serebryakov, Emil Gilels, Lev Oborin, and even Sviatoslav Richter, who gave only one concert in the besieged city in January 1944, several weeks before the siege was completely lifted. Yet without doubt, the most legendary page of the book, as well as of the Philharmonic history during the siege on the whole, is the page describing the Leningrad premiere of Shostakovich’s Seventh symphony on 9 August 1942. The information about this event is contained on page 29, and it is very laconic and almost unemotional: before the concert the billposter sized 1.5, placards and concert bills were published, there were announcements on the radio. The performers are: Radio Committee symphony orchestra. The conductor is K. Eliasberg. Shostakovich, the Seventh symphony. Total revenue – 8205 roubles. The house is full – 1046 people.
Evgeny Petrovsky, Deputy Artistic Director, the D. Shostakovich St. Petersburg Academic Philharmonic Hall