The Propaganda of the Leningrad Symphony

Shostakovich purportedly claims that he had, quote, other enemies of humanity in mind when he composed the piece. The premiere performance was in Kubechev, on March 5, 1942, just after the long winter had ended and the starving Leningrad citizens were only just taking stock of the grisly toll of the preceding few months. In conjunction with these performances by the NBC Symphony broadcast nationwide, Shostakovich in his fireman's uniform was put on the cover of Time Magazine. It's hard to imagine a piece of classical music doing that nowadays, but it's true.