Memory Score
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Voice from the Orchestra
Zhavdet Aydarov's letters from the besieged city
"Several decades have passed since the extremely difficult years of the Siege and the first performance of Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony. It still astounds me how strong man is! How hardy man is! A participant of the Seventh Symphony performance, I myself cannot believe how, under such inhuman conditions, it was possible to play music, or for a symphony orchestra to peform," said Zhavdet Aydarov (1918-2000) during one of his meetings with students. He was recalling the days of the Siege. It was difficult for him to go back to the topic – the ordeal was beyond description – and yet he considered it his duty to tell about the heroism of the Leningrad artists, about the legendary city-front, about the performance of Dmitry Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony...
The Second World War saw Zhavdet Aydarov as an army musician in the Leningrad Military District's Orchestra. Like all those who remained in the city, he rises to its defense: he builds fortifications, becomes a member of the local anti-aircraft defense, and a messenger. In a letter to his mother on 16 July, 1941 he wrote: "After the declaration of war, we're working as the commandant's team. So far no news about being sent to the front." The question would remain open – he would never be sent to the front lines, he would instead become a "soldier of the musical front". Aydarov's letters to his relatives abound in phrases like "everything's fine", "safe and sound", while in reality the situation was more than critical. Due to postal censorship, in letters from besieged Leningrad we can only find words of encouragement and the most general information about the city. The musician kept silent about many things, and he would tell them only after the war ended.
From Aydarov's letters to his father K.A. Aidarov and mother L.D. Dinmukhametova from the besieged city.
July 16, 1941. After the declaration of war, we're working as the commandant's team. So far no news about being sent to the front.
December 11, 1941. So far I'm being paid ten rubles, which goes to the defense fund. I got your letter, which was delivered in exactly two months and six days. Mom, tell me how it is in Tashkent now. <...> If they admit parcels, then send some more rusks, even burnt ones, and do salt the butter or lard so that they do not spoil.
January 17, 1942. Myself, I'm safe and sound. You may know from the newspapers what kind of situation Leningrad is in.
February 11, 1942. Today we had a joyful day, almost a holiday: today they've added two hundred grams of bread, so now we get six hundred grams in total. I just wanted to share my joy with you. Today I had my breakfast with the extra two hundred grams of bread, stuffed my mouth full of bread and felt it in my mouth. <...> Life is getting better in Leningrad, I think by the first of March Leningrad will be supplied with food quite normally.
May 7, 1942. I am still in my old place, but for a musician I have very little to do with music. I work all the time as a messenger. Now that the streetcars are in work it's easier for my legs: you don't have to walk so much and don't get so tired. <...> Many of my comrades from the conservatory and college are on the front, at advanced positions, and many of them are killed or wounded. Last winter I asked to be sent to the front, but so far I wasn't. It's a shame that all my comrades were on the front while I was in the rear, although Leningrad does feel like a front these days.
In the spring of 1942, a significant event occurred in Aydarov's life. The radio announced that musicians should gather at the Radio Committee to prepare for the premiere of Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony, conductor Karl Eliasberg. Just as his comrades-in-arms from the military orchestra – trombonist V. M. Orlovsky, French horn player P. K. Orekhov and bassoonist G. Z. Eremkin – Aydarov receives a letter of assignment and is placed "at the disposal of the head of the Radio Committee".
There begins the difficult stage of rehearsing the symphony. Aydarov recalled:
"Gathered from the front, young musicians and veterans who still remembered the orchestra pit of the imperial opera, began the long rehearsals interspersed with fighting with "lighters" , fainting from hunger, and death.
Not far from the Radio Committee, in the Astoria Hotel, a hospital was set up for the extremely emaciated and dystrophic. Here Karl Eliasberg, our conductor, was sent with his wife, Nadezhda Bronnikova – a wonderful pianist, concertmaster on the radio. Here in Astoria lived the outstanding pianist Vladimir Sofronitsky.
Punctual Eliasberg made no allowances. Physically exhausted, he remained unyielding and strong in spirit, fierce in his love of music, and still an excellent organizer. The success of our work on the Seventh Symphony owes significantly to the conductor's strict discipline and sternness.
At first the rehearsals were short – we played for 20 or 30 minutes at most, often interrupted by bombardments, but we gradually absorbed ourselves in our work. It was as if the music itself gave us strength. I was the youngest musician among the percussionists, and I was given the drum solo – that terrible rhythm which is the background for the Nazi invasion theme.
I was so nervous my hands were shaking, the drumsticks would touch the drumhead at random. Eliasberg was asking me to repeat each phrase over and over again."
Zhavdet Aydarov was in awe of the outstanding conductor who saved his life at a critical moment. For Aydarov it was perhaps one of the most vivid, dramatic memories the Siege, forever engraved in his memory:
"During one of the rehearsals, hungry and exhausted, I fainted. Apparently, they thought I was dead and carried me to the room next door to the studio, that's where the dead were taken.
Eliasberg was told I was dead, and he went into the room where I lay with no signs of life. Suddenly the conductor's sensitive ear caught a barely audible sound of breathing. "He's alive! - Eliasberg exclaimed. – Do you hear it? He's breathing!"
Aydarov was brought back into the ranks and given an extra slice of bread to revive him a little. He remained part of the orchestra and later he took part in the premiere of the Seventh Symphony...
"Seven PM on August 9, 1942. Besieged Leningrad. Stunning silence. (A little earlier our artillery had suppressed the enemy batteries with fire, carrying out the order of 80 minutes of silence.) The hall was overcrowded. There were soldiers, workers, intellectuals. Famous writers Nikolai Tikhonov, Olga Bergholtz, Vsevolod Vishnevsky and others. Here on the stage come out the musicians: some in uniforms and military clothes, some in woolen jackets – a motley of dress. The last to come is our stern, demanding, surprisingly charming Karl Illich. He is very tall, thin, and seems to be bent over like a question mark. He's raising his hands. His baton is shaking... I played the theme of the invasion, probably with a fierce sense of hatred for fascism. We all played passionately. Finally the symphony's over. An unprecedented silence reigns over the hall. Conductor Eliasberg is standing still. And suddenly, a storm of applause."
Throughout his life, Aydarov served the art of music selflessly, devoting much effort to pedagogical work, and became a well-known cultural figure of the Volga region. He always remained a true intellectual, for whom high moral principles were an integral part of life, an important component of the image of a professional musician – and for a good reason indeed. The years of the Siege hardened his character, formed a scale of values where moral integrity, esprit de corps, kindness, and honesty always came first.
On 9 August 2022, on the 80th anniversary of Dmitry Shostakovich's Leningrad Symphony's premiere in Leningrad, the St. Petersburg Philharmonia will again play the Symphony as part of the "Memory Score" project and hold an exhibition which will feature letters by Zhavdet Aydarov.
Nadim Aydarov
Candidate of Arts
Institute of Theater, Music, and Choreography
at Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia
Zhavdet Aydarov's grandson