September 8 1941: the ring closed on Leningrad. The German plan was arithmetic, not storm: starve the city out. Hitler set August 9 1942 for a victory banquet at the Astoria; invitations printed. Leningrad did not come to dinner.
The siege lasted 872 days. Bread fell to 125 grams, stretched with sawdust. A million died, most of hunger. Still the city kept working: roofless factories, a radio never silent.
In the silences it broadcast a metronome, ticking, so the city heard it was alive.
Shostakovich wrote the first movements on fire-watch breaks, finished in evacuation; the score flew back. The premiere was set for August 9 1942.
August 9 1942: the night Hitler had set for the banquet. The city played its symphony.
Artillery pounded the German guns silent so the music could carry. Musicians came from the front, too weak to hold their instruments. Loudspeakers carried it toward the German lines: we are still here.
The siege lifted January 27 1944. The Astoria banquet was never served.