“Intransigence stemming from the uncompromising attitude and exactingness to himself astonished people who knew him but little,” wrote Evgeniy Svetlanov, who thought of Eliasberg as of “a European brought up in the high artistic traditions of Leningrad’s Philharmonic”. Karl Eliasberg was one of the best conductors of his generation, and the best orchestras from both capitals considered it an honour to work with him. And yet, he stayed in the people’s memory as “the conductor of one symphony” – Shostakovich’s Seventh symphony.

Eliasberg was born in Minsk. He moved to Petrograd in 1922 and entered the violin class of Sergey Pavlovich Korguev in the conservatory. He graduated in 1930, and by that time he had already gained vast practical experience: in 1928-1932 Eliasberg was a concertmaster in the Music Comedy Theatre, where he made his conductor’s debut in the operetta “Rose Marie”.

On 5 August 1932 the 25-year-old Karl Eliasberg became the staff conductor of the Leningrad Radio Committee orchestra. In 1936 he was contracted for the position of the chief conductor, yet it was only in 1944 that he became the chief conductor on-staff. Starting from January 1938 Eliasberg commenced performances in the Grand Philharmonic Hall. In May 1940 the Honoured Orchestra of the Republic (the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra) performed on a tour to Moscow, with Evgeniy Mravinskiy, Nikolay Rabinovich and Karl Eliasberg as conductors. Since that time his name was mentioned along the names of the most promising conductors of the country.

Although Karl Il’ych regularly took part in the performances of the Honoured Orchestra of the Republic, and in the three years that separate the day of his first meeting the orchestra from the tragic events of the early years of the Great Patriotic war he found home in the Leningrad Philharmonic, still his main place of work was the Leningrad Radio Committee orchestra where he continuously acted as chief conductor. In 1941, when both opera theatres, philharmonic and conservatory were evacuated from Leningrad, there was only one orchestra left in the city – the Leningrad Radio Committee orchestra conducted by Eliasberg.

What followed can be best described by the laconic words from Karl Eliasberg’s autobiography: “By March 1942 under the siege conditions the orchestra lost over 50% of its staff. With the help of the Gorkom (the Communist party city committee) and the Political Administration of the Leningrad front I managed to replenish the orchestra and revive its activities. Being the only conductor in the besieged city I did the following: conducted 85 symphony orchestra concerts in the Philharmonic Hall, 254 radio concerts, 54 operatic performances, a number of patronage concerts in the hospitals and the Red Army and Navy regiments. Moreover, the orchestra recorded soundtracks to several documentaries and newsreels. On 9 August 1942 under the severe conditions of the siege we gave the first Leningrad performance of the Seventh symphony by Shostakovich”.  These lines reveal the heroic and tragic epic of Artistic Creativeness in the extreme conditions of the blockade reality.

During the siege years Eliasberg’s orchestra – this is how Leningraders called it – performed everything that was created by Leningrad composers. This is yet another important evidence of the conductor’s creative creed: to make the contemporaries hear the musical pulse of the besieged city.

Eliasberg’s archives, now preserved in the St. Petersburg Museum of Music and Theatre, retain numerous evidence – photographs, documents – about the meetings of the orchestra during the siege, and on the Victory day, and on the anniversary day of the Seventh’s performance. A small postcard issued to the 30th Victory anniversary bears the following neatly written greeting: “Dear Karl Il’ych! The team of the “Leningrader” symphony fighters sends warm greetings to our leader…”. In 1975 only 21 people out of 80 taking part in the performance on 9 August 1942 were still living. 18 of them signed the postcard. The text also contains the moving words about Eliasberg’s personal courage which “allowed us to endure, and make a great holiday for all Leningraders, and to impress and astound the whole world!” Thirty years after the event Eliasberg still remained for the orchestra members, as well as for the city of Leningrad, a true tuning fork, the paragon of spiritual strength, courage and intransigence in his service to music.