Hope, belief, and despair are not simply moods. They change our physical performance. They alter how quickly we react, how hard we fight, how quick we are to give up.- Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad

M.T. Anderson
About This Quote

Hope, belief, and despair are not simply moods. They change our physical performance. They alter how quickly we react, how hard we fight, how quick we are to give up.- Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad is a symphony written by Dmitri Shostakovich in 1942 about the heroic struggle of the people of Leningrad during World War II. The music is intended to inspire hope, to provide strength during despair, and to demonstrate that even in times of total hopelessness humans can still be true heroes.

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  5. It meant different things to different people, but somehow it meant them all intensely. Shostakovich's words just confuse the issue. His symphony itself is what remains. Listen to it. It is your symphony to write with him.

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