On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the lifting of the BLOCKADE in Leningrad...

METRONOME

It's just a rhythm counter-
Metronome.
Sound of the Blockade.
Rhythm of mercy
enters the house.

Sometimes it's scary
Hear a knock.
It's cold.
This is hunger.
The sound of death.

This is a sign that there are living ones.
Sound in the wall.
It's there, they're sick
They believe me.

They believe that they will save you from death
Metronome.
They believe that the trouble is in the envelope
Blowjob house.

They believe that happiness will come
Forever.
Metronome-war participant...
.........

NEVER.

(I never thought
The rhythm is with you.
Even at school
Musical
Beat out the rhythm with your foot
Or they clapped their hands,
So as not to hear the METRONOME).

It stood in the closet as a memory
About the Blockade,
About the Blockade.
Clouds dragged on childhood
Outside the window.

That dawn.
______________

Once again I see that dawn -
Beautiful and innocent, like a bride...
And my mother is only seventeen years old
And all the soldiers of Brest breathe life.

Once again I see that dawn
In the cinema, from the TV screen, in a strict book...
I wasn’t even “in the project” then,
But my life is hidden in this moment.

Once again I see that dawn,
Shot by a bloody vulture.
Oh, how many tormented brides there are in it,
Forever unnamed sacred
the word "MOM"!
***

Why was a metronome needed in besieged Leningrad?
__________________________

Metronome (Greek Μέτρον - measure, Νόμος - law) -
a device capable of producing any quantity
clock fractions of time by ear.
Serves as an auxiliary device for establishing
precise rhythm in a piece of music.
***
In besieged Leningrad, when the radio did not work,
a metronome was pounding on the air: a fast rhythm meant an air raid warning,
slow rhythm - lights out.
In Leningrad, surrounded by fascists, wired broadcasting
continued around the clock. Broadcast of concerts, Sovinformburo reports,
speeches on the radio network of famous citizens,
cultural figures instilled hope and faith in city residents
to inevitable victory over the invaders.

At the end of the programs the metronome sounded -
its knock was called the living beat of the HEART of Leningrad

In 1945, for the heroism and courage shown by the residents of Leningrad during the siege, the city was among the first to be awarded the title of Hero City.

Medal for the Defense of Leningrad
Medal "For the Defense of Leningrad": On front side The medals depict the outlines of the Admiralty and a group of soldiers with rifles at the ready. Along the perimeter is the inscription “FOR THE DEFENSE OF LENINGRAD.” The reverse side of the medal depicts the Hammer and Sickle. Below it is the text in capital letters: “For our Soviet Motherland.”
As of 1985, about 1,470,000 people were awarded the medal “For the Defense of Leningrad.”
Among those awarded are 15 thousand children and teenagers.

***
P.S. I was born in post-war Leningrad, my mother was an eyewitness to the Siege...
I WILL NEVER FORGET her stories about those terrible days...
***

The lights in the hall go out. The curtain is closed. The stage is illuminated by spotlights. Poems by M. Matusovsky.

I would like to forget you
I would like to forget you
Everything just reminds me
I have one thing to say today -
Leningrad blockade,
Leningrad blockade
And, knocking tirelessly,
Leningrad metronome.

There is such silence
There is such silence
The Narva outpost sleeps,
The Summer Garden sleeps under the snow.
The metronome never stops
The metronome never stops
It's like all the hearts of the dead
And today they are knocking on it...

The overture by I. Dunaevsky to the film “Children of Captain Grant” is played. The presenters come out. The overture fades to the background.

Leading:

70 years! How much time has passed since then - a whole human life! Everything is forgotten, but nothing is forgotten! The defenders of our city remember everything, the children of besieged Leningrad tenaciously hold in their memory what happened: they withstood the blockade, heroically, day after day they endured all its hardships and deprivations. But we, who did not survive the horrors of the blockade, do we have the right to forget this? Can we not try as much as possible to learn more about the tragic and heroic days of our city in order to pass this on to future generations? Can we break this chain of memory? Our grief for those who died during the siege is boundless, but it gives rise to fortitude, admiration and pride for the fact that we are Leningraders, St. Petersburgers! And it is our duty to be grateful to the people who defended our city and remember. Poems by V. Shishkin.

Reader:

Unexpected autumn came to Leningrad,
Bad weather rustles withered leaves,
And our Neva remembers again
Rainy September of '41.

The river carries away the wrong waters,
The time of siege has long passed,
But a terrible inscription is knocking on our hearts,
Like a memory of war, like a thunderstorm of shelling!

There are few of them left - gray-haired old men,
War heroes, defense rank and file,
Those who broke through the blockade of the steel ring,
Along Life's road, leading echelons!

The ranks are thinning - we remember them,
The motive of passing moments is sad.
And a crust of bread, and a child's desperate cry -
Let everything be preserved forever in the hearts of generations!

And the knock of the metronome, and the grinding, and the roar in the distance,
And our city is peaceful, and Summer Garden fence,
In all languages, in the lexicons of the earth:
War, Leningrad, forty-first, Siege!

Leading: Our performance is dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the fascist blockade - to all those for whom January 27, 1944 will forever remain Leningrad’s Victory Day.

The overture ends. The curtain opens. On the screen, the screensaver of the performance is replaced by a video about Leningrad, and V. Solovyov-Sedoy’s song “City over the Free Neva” is played.

Leading: This is our native St. Petersburg, Leningrad is the most beautiful city in the world! And fascism raised its hand against him in 1941. The beginning of summer was cold, but on the eve of June 22, the sun came out from behind the clouds and the day was warm, like summer. White night on the Neva! Tenth graders celebrated their graduation from school on the streets, squares and embankments. There were especially many of them at the Bronze Horseman, on the spit of Vasilyevsky Island, on Nevsky Prospekt. We met at the Paddling Pool and Eliseevsky, and sang songs on the Neva embankments. From “Astoria” came cheerful and fashionable melodies in those years: “Cumparsita”, “Splashes of Champagne”, “In Chair Park” and, of course, “Rio Rita”. Life was filled with peace and happiness.

The melody of E. Santeuhini “Rio Rita” sounds. Dance.

Leading: White night over the Neva... The last peaceful night. She divided life into pre-war and war, and people into living and dead.

“Attention, says Moscow. Moscow speaks. Statement by the Soviet Government. On June 22, at four o’clock in the morning, without a declaration of war, German troops attacked our country, attacked our borders in many places and bombed the cities of Zhitomir, Kyiv, Sevastopol, Kaunas ... "

The message is replaced by a video chronicle of the first days of the war with A. Alexandrov’s song to the words of V. Lebedev-Kumach “Holy War”.

Leading: The first, most difficult days of the war. The main attacks of the fascist armies were aimed at Moscow and Leningrad. We are St. Petersburgers, Leningraders, and therefore we take what happened in our city especially close to our hearts. According to Hitler's plans, Leningrad was to be taken in the first month of the war. They were going to raze it to the ground and flood it with the waters of the Baltic Sea. But the answer of the Leningraders sounded to the whole world: “We won’t give it up!”

Chopin's "Revolutionary" Etude plays, the music fades to the background. Poems by A. Prokofiev.

Reader:

The cannonade does not stop in the morning.
So day after day, so many, many days.
The enemies want in the place of Leningrad
Leave behind piles of dust and stones.

Their leaflets talked about this -
Evidence of the enemy's powerlessness.
Pushkin, Nevskaya Dubrovka were burning,
The Nevsky meadows were smoking.

And Leningrad saw these fires,
And the enemy, we are chasing alive with greed,
He pressed on with mortal hatred,
Everything is Russian, everything connected with it!

But we are a wall from earth to sky
Everyone stood up and defended the light,
And Ladoga and distant Onega
We heard a standing voice: “No!”

No, we will not surrender the city of Russian glory
And we will protect you from earth to sky,
Its majestic gardens and parks,
We will not give our shrines to our enemies!

We will not give it up to a soulless evil force
The customs of the people, their light
And we will block her path deep into Russia,
To the immortality of my people!

We will not give up the coming day of victory,
The shine of the sun, the reflections of dawn,
We will not betray the graves of our fathers and grandfathers,
Mounds, where the heroes lie!

We will not give up the endless blue fields,
Where we have won and will win,
We will not give up our beloved Russia,
We won’t give it up, we won’t give it up, we won’t give it up!”

Leading: When plans to capture Leningrad failed, a directive from the high command of the German army appeared.

1. The Fuhrer decided to wipe out the city of St. Petersburg from the face of the earth.

2. It is planned to surround the city with a tight ring and, through shelling with artillery of all calibers and continuous bombing from the air, raze it to the ground.

3. If, due to the situation created in the city, requests for surrender are made, they will be rejected.”

“I will destroy this city! He will never be reborn! He's gone!No! No!"

I. Kornelyuk’s song “The City That Doesn’t Exist” is playing. Vocals Dance.

Leading: Soon after the start of the war, Leningrad became a front-line city: defense lines were built, plants and factories, theater and musical groups were evacuated to the rear. In a sad moment of parting with his hometown, composer V. Solovyov-Sedoy wrote the song “Evening on the Roadstead,” which Leningraders loved very much. During the blockade, at noon, the city radio announced the norm for the distribution of bread. In the winter of 1941-42, this norm was constantly decreasing. There were cruel days when there was nothing to say - there was no food in the city. This was not announced: a metronome and the song “Evening at the Roadstead” were played on the radio.

The song by V. Solovyov-Sedoy, words by A. Churkin “Evening on the roadstead” is played. Vocal group.

Leading: At the end of August, the German army captured the Mga station, interrupting railway communications. And on September 8, Shlisselburg fell and the land road that connected Leningrad with the country was cut. The city found itself surrounded by the enemy. The 900-day siege of Leningrad began.

The overture to the tragedy “Egmont” by L. Beethoven sounds. Exit of the readers.

Leading: Then no one could have imagined how much grief and suffering the blockade would bring. The streets were empty, military patrols appeared in the city, and blackout was introduced. Citizens could be seen queuing at stores and at loudspeakers. With bated breath, they listened to the reports of the Sovinformburo.

“Moscow speaks. Summary of the Red Army High Command for June 22, 1941. At dawn on June 22, 1941, regular troops of the German army..."

The report is interrupted by an air raid signal. The lights go out, the spotlights in the hall, explosions. The lights come on, the bodies of the dead are on the stage, the sound of the metronome.

Leading: Daily raids by enemy aircraft and many hours of artillery shelling of the city became a real disaster for Leningraders. After one of these bombings, the largest food base in the city, the Badayevsky warehouses, was destroyed. There was a shortage of food in the city. And with the November frosts, hunger came to the city, terrible hunger! The war was going on everywhere and people were dying everywhere. But they died of hunger and cold only in Leningrad. They died on the way to work, in line for bread, they died in their cold beds, not having the strength to get up. And so on for 900 days and nights.

The melody of A. Vivaldi sounds. Dance. The music fades to the background. Poems by M. Andronov. Dance.

Reader:

The frost was growing stronger, the sky was smoking,
And the howl of sirens on every barricade,
And death came to our city from all sides...

A sip of water is more valuable than silver,
There is no light, no firewood at the lumber yard.
They transported corpses from every yard...
All this happened, happened in Leningrad!

“I was the only one left alive in the house” -
The girl wrote in a notebook.
“There is no crumb of bread, the stove is cold...”
All this happened, happened in Leningrad!

Trucks walked along the road of Life,
Where the ice cracked when the cannonade was close.
The front-line soldiers fought a fierce battle...
All this happened, happened in Leningrad!

The sound of the metronome, A. Rybnikov’s melody from the film “Zvezda” sounds. A mother and child come out and sit down at the table. The music fades to the background. Mise-en-scene. Poems by B. Melnichenko.

Reader:

In the meager, wavering light,
Taking your grief with you,
For a long, long time children died
Dark blockade winter.

Outside the window, through the dust on the disguise,
Oshalev, from many worries,
The beam beat, drawing tattoos,
In the sky above the tangle of roads.

Little fingers forgot
What fun to play.
Only cold, they put cold
Boy in a cold bed.

“Mom, mom, help!”
Eyes full of submission.
“Mom, remember the holiday?” - closer, closer
Stifling suitable strip.

With one arm around my mother,
And the other is a toy dog
The boy falls asleep, he is calm
He hears other voices.

Cold, cold! “Mom, you fell asleep!”
And your son accidentally left
If you could, you would return him,
But that moment has long passed.

Full sound. Dance.

Leading: People died in entire families, houses, neighborhoods. Children died before the eyes of mothers, babies were left without mothers and, if they were not found, they were doomed. From the recollections of an eyewitness:

Voice-over: “They lay motionless in their cribs: exhausted, eyes wide open. The horror of everything they had suffered froze in them. The skin of the face and hands was impenetrable from dirt. Lice crawled on the emaciated bodies. Many children have not seen any hot food, not even boiling water, for more than a month.”

Leading: On November 20, the norm for bread distribution decreased once again: workers began to receive 250 grams of bread, and everyone else 125 grams of bread. And for the first half of January, the city’s unemployed population and children did not receive any food at all. Here is a terrible chronicle of those blockade days.

Voice-over: “In November, famine claimed 11 thousand human lives, in December - 53 thousand, in January - 72 thousand, in February - 83 thousand, in March - over 110 thousand lives of Leningraders.” With the first warm days of spring 1942, about 13 thousand more corpses were found under the melted snow.”

The melody of E. Mariccone from the film “Professional” is playing, full sound. Dance.

A musical sketch by G. Sviridov, based on Pushkin’s story “The Snowstorm,” is playing. The melody fades to the background. Poems by Yu. Voronov.

Reader:

Our city is buried in snow up to the waist,
And if you look at the city from the rooftops,
The streets look like trenches,
Where death has already visited.

The moon slides across the sky alone,
Like a cold tear running down your cheek.
And dark houses stand without glass,
Like people who have lost their eyes.

But don’t believe that our city has died!
Despair and fear will not bend us!
We know from people struck down by death,
Which means “trampling death by death.”

We know that vows are not easy to say,
But if the enemy breaks into Leningrad,
We'll rip the last of the sheets
Only for bandages, but not for a white flag!

Full sound. Dance.

Leading: But the main victims of this tragedy were children.

“Adagio” “SEKRET GARDEN” sounds. The music fades to the background.

Leading: On the second line of Vasilyevsky Island, in house 13, lived a large Savichev family: five children, their mother Maria Ignatievna, grandmother and two brothers of their early deceased father. The youngest was 11-year-old Tanya - a cheerful, cheerful girl, everyone's favorite. The Savichevs were a very friendly family and when trouble came, they decided not to leave their hometown and be together. In August, they could not imagine what difficult trials awaited their family. Nine leaves from Tanya’s diary have reached us - entries that shocked millions of hearts. The child's hand had difficulty writing words. Exhausted by unbearable suffering, she was incapable of living emotions. Tanya simply recorded the real facts of her life.

Mise-en-scene “The Diary of Tanya Savicheva”. Diary sheets on the screen:

“The Savichevs are dead.”

"Everyone died."

“There’s only Tanya left.”

“Adagio” continues to play in the background.

Leading: Tanya, who had lost consciousness from hunger, was found by members of the sanitary teams who were going around the apartments in search of orphaned children. Life barely glimmered in her. Together with other Leningrad children, she was evacuated along the “Road of Life,” but it was no longer possible to save Tanya: she died on August 1, 1944. The fate of the young Leningrader became the personification of the perseverance and suffering that befell all children of the siege.

Full sound of "Adagio". Dance.

Leading: It’s hard to imagine, but under these conditions, 39 schools continued to operate in the city. Little Leningraders wanted to learn. Poems by Yu. Voronov.

Reader:

The girl extended her hands
And with your head on the edge of the table,
At first they thought she fell asleep,
But it turned out that she died.

Her from school on a stretcher
The guys carried it home.
There are tears in my friends' eyelashes
They either disappeared or grew.

No one said a word
Only hoarsely, through a blizzard groan,
The teacher squeezed out that: “Again,
Lessons - after the funeral."

Reader:

Blockade. Far as this word
From our peaceful days with you.
I say it and see it again
Hungry, dying children.

How entire neighborhoods were deserted,
And how the trams froze on the way,
And mothers who can't.
Take your children to the cemetery.

“Requiem” by W. Mozart is playing. Mise-en-scene.

Leading: Despite inhuman suffering, Leningraders did not give up. Women replaced their fathers and husbands in factories, 13-year-old teenagers fulfilled work standards, and in the evenings they were on duty on the roofs of houses to throw off “lighters” and protect their hometown from fires.

The song by I. Shvarts to the verses of V. Korostylev “But they were Leningraders” sounds. Vocal group.

Leading: The city's water supply and sewerage systems did not work, all city transport was at a standstill, and there was no light or heat in the houses. Furniture, parquet, and books were burned in the “potbelly stoves,” but not a single tree was touched in any of the city’s parks and gardens.

Poems by Y. Voronov and O. Berggolts.

Reader:

In winter they burned everything they had:
Cabinets and doors, chairs and tables.
But their hand did not cut down the trees.
The gardens did not know the voice of the saw.

Reader:

They should make noise and show off over the Neva,
Stepping towards the people of future years.
Trees, bow to the Leningraders,
Buried in coffins and without coffins.

Reader:

The runners creak and creak along the Nevsky.
On children's sleds, narrow and funny
They carry blue water in saucepans,
Firewood and belongings, the dead and the sick...

Leading: Letters in the besieged city - Leningraders needed them no less than bread. No one at the front knew or could even imagine what was happening in Leningrad. A letter with the message “alive and well” could temporarily make you forget about hunger, cold and everything that was happening.

The melody of M. Tariverdiev from the film “Seventeen Moments of Spring” sounds. A mother with children and a soldier appear on stage. The children sit at the table, the mother does the laundry, the soldier writes a letter and then reads it. Preparation of the dance. There's a knock on the door. The postman brings a letter. Mise-en-scene. Poems by E. Asadov.

Soldier:

Mother! I am writing these lines to you,
I send you my filial greetings,
I remember you, so dear,
So good, there are no words!

You read the letter, and you see a boy,
A little lazy and always on time,
Running in the morning with a briefcase under his arm,
Whistling carefree, to the first lesson.

You were sad, if I was a physicist, it happened
The diary was decorated with a stern deuce,
I was proud when I was under the arches of the hall
I eagerly read my poems to the children.

For life, for you, for your native land
I'm walking towards the leaden wind.
And even if there are kilometers between us now -
You are here, you are with me, my dear!

And no matter what the war threatens me on the way,
You know, I won’t give up as long as I’m breathing!
I know you blessed me
And in the morning, without flinching, I go into battle!

Full sound. Dance.

Leading: In the spring of 1942, having survived the worst winter of the siege, Leningraders began to wear a badge on their clothes: a swallow with a letter in its beak. This symbol of the Leningrad blockade was a response to German propaganda claims that not even a bird could fly into the city. Poems by O. Berggolts.

Reader:

A small swallow made of tin
I carried it on my chest myself.
It was a sign of good news
This meant: “Waiting for a letter.”

This sign was invented by the blockade.
We knew that only the plane
Only a bird to us, to Leningrad,
It will come from our dear Motherland.

“It’s frosty, we’re standing at the house on the corner
And there is anxiety in my soul
The lorry broke through to us across the ice
The Ladoga road gave me hope.”

Leading: Despite the difficult situation on all fronts, the country remembered Leningrad and Leningraders. IN as soon as possible A road was built on the ice of Lake Ladoga. Enemy planes constantly circled over it, dropping their deadly cargo, and it was fired upon from guns day and night. Cars went under the ice along with food and those who tried to save Leningraders. Its first name was “Road of Death”, but Leningraders called it “Road of Life”. After all, it was the only way to deliver food to the dying townspeople, and only to take people out of the blockade.

Poems by A. Akhmatova.

Reader:

The birds of death stand at the zenith,
Who will come to the rescue of Leningrad?
Don't make noise around him, he's breathing
He is still alive, he hears everything.

Like on a humid Baltic bottom
His sons groan in their sleep,
As if from the depths of it there were cries: “Bread!”
They reach the seventh heaven.

But this firmament is merciless,
And death looks out from all the windows.

A song by A. Rosenbaum is playing. Video chronicle of besieged Leningrad.

Leading: During the blockade, the city continued to live: libraries were open, excursions were held through the halls of the Hermitage, and the musical comedy theater did not stop operating throughout the blockade. Propaganda teams of artists and schoolchildren went to the front lines and hospitals with concerts. It helped me survive.

Poems by O. Berggolts.

Reader:

In dirt, in darkness, in hunger, in sadness,
Where death, like a shadow, trailed on the heels,
We used to be so happy
We breathed such wild freedom,
That our grandchildren would envy us...

Reader:

I've never been a hero
She did not crave fame or reward.
Breathing in the same breath as Leningrad,
I didn't act like a hero, I lived.

Reader:

The Germans call us “dead city”.
But where, when did the dead need verse?
And here, through the roar of bombs and the bitter cold -
He, glorifying the fallen, calls the living to live.

Leading: These are the lines of the Leningrad poetess Olga Berggolts. Her voice was heard on the radio every day. He gave Leningraders strength. And how they listened to these poems!

From the memoirs of Olga Berggolts:

Voice-over: “I think that never again will people listen to poetry the way the hungry, swollen, barely alive Leningraders listened to them in that terrible winter. This ability, in such a nightmare, amid such physical and moral torment, to respond to poetry and art, will remain a testament to the greatness of their spirit.”

Leading: In besieged Leningrad, the muses were not silent! Composer Dmitry Shostakovich began writing his seventh symphony here. In the fall of 1941, the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra of Leningrad Radio began rehearsing its first three movements. But in December, rehearsals had to be stopped: the musicians fainted from hunger and died right on stage. In March 1942, they resumed, but by that time only 15 weakened musicians remained from the orchestra. But Leningrad was already waiting for this concert; it could not fail to take place. The score of the entire symphony was delivered to the city by plane, and soldier-musicians were recalled from the front to replace the deceased orchestra members.

Now the symphony was called “Leningrad”.

The Leningrad Symphony by D. Shostakovich is playing. The music fades to the background.

Leading: On August 9, 1942, in the Great Hall of the Philharmonic, despite the blackout, all the crystal chandeliers were burning. In the hall sat sailors, infantrymen, air defense soldiers and Leningraders - regulars of the Philharmonic. The performance lasted 80 minutes. During this time, not a single shell fell on the city, not a single bomb exploded. The enemy's guns were silent - they were suppressed by powerful fire from our artillery, which defended the city. Shostakovich's work shocked listeners. Music was able to express what united Leningraders during this difficult time: heroism, love for their city, faith in Victory. From the memoirs of Anna Akhmatova:

Reader:

What music there was!
What music was playing!
When both souls and bodies
The damned war has trampled.

What kind of music is there in everything?
To everyone and for everyone - not by ranking.
We will overcome... we will survive... we will save...
Oh, I don’t care about fat - I wish I was alive...

The soldiers' heads are spinning,
Three-row under the rolling logs
It was more necessary for the dugout,
What Beethoven is for Germany.

And across the whole country there is a string,
The tense trembled
When the damn war
She trampled on both souls and bodies.

Moaned furiously, sobbing
One - one passion for the sake of
At the stop - a disabled person
And Shostakovich is in Leningrad.

Leading: The performance was broadcast on radio. It was heard not only by the residents of the city, but also, through loudspeakers, by the German soldiers besieging the city. They were distraught by what they heard. They believed that in front of them was a dead city, but he lived, he listened to Shostakovich’s symphony!

"Leningrad Symphony" - full sound.

Leading: from the memoirs of a captured German officer:

Leading: And the city survived! Half-dead, hungry and frozen Leningraders worked selflessly. Finally, they simply lived in a besieged city. This alone was already a feat. In January 1943, Leningrad received a connection with the country - a narrow strip of land 10 kilometers wide, which, at the cost of heavy losses, was captured from the enemy by the Soviet army.

The “Hymn to the Great City” by R. Gliere is playing. Video chronicle on the screen.

Leading: Under bombs and shells, food trains entered the city. The blockade was broken, but there was still a whole year left before complete liberation. In January 1944, strong gunfire woke up the Leningraders. The fear of a possible assault on the city had not yet passed, but our guns were firing. The troops of the Leningrad Front went on the offensive and drove the enemy away from the city. On January 27, the liberation of Leningrad from the enemy blockade was completed. It was a celebration with tears in our eyes. There were fireworks in the city!

Poems by Yu. Voronov

Reader:

After volley volley. Fireworks go off
Rockets in hot air
They bloom with variegated flowers,
And the Leningraders are quietly crying.

Don't calm down yet
There is no need to console people,
Their joy is too great -
Fireworks thunder over Leningrad!

Their joy is great, but their pain
She spoke and broke through:
To the fireworks with you
Paul - Leningrad did not rise.

People are crying and singing,
And they don’t hide their crying faces.
There are fireworks in the city today!
Today Leningraders are crying...

The soundtrack by D. Williams for the film “Schindler's List” is playing. The music fades to the background.

Leading: In our city there is the largest cemetery in the world - Piskarevskoye. No, not by area, but by the number of people buried in its mass graves. People come here from morning to evening: in cold and heat, on holidays and weekdays. There are especially many Leningraders and St. Petersburgers here - relatives and friends of those who rest under the hills of mass graves.

Words by O. Berggolts.

Reader:

Leningraders lie here.
Here the townspeople are men, women, children.
Next to them are Red Army soldiers.
With all my life
They protected you, Leningrad,
The cradle of the revolution.

We cannot list their noble names here,
There are so many of them under the eternal protection of granite.
But know, he who listens to these stones,
No one is forgotten and nothing is forgotten.

Enemies were pouring into the city - dressed in armor and iron,
But we stood together with the army -
Workers, schoolchildren, teachers, militias.
And all as one, they said:
“Death would rather be afraid of us than we are of death.”

So let it be before your immortal life,
On this sad and solemn field.
The grateful people forever bow their banners,
Motherland - mother and city - hero Leningrad.

Leading: This memorial is a symbol of the perseverance, courage and fortitude of the Soviet people, a symbol of the incalculable suffering that the war brought to the world. A lot of time has passed since then, a lot has changed. Generations grew up who did not know war and blockade. But no time frame can diminish the greatness of the feat of the Leningraders - a feat that history knows no equal to. It is impossible to fully comprehend their unparalleled courage, to know its terrible price, without seeing the Piskarevsky cemetery, without hearing its heart-piercing silence.

D. Williams' melody sounds louder. Dance.

Reader:

Here we go again - after so many years!
This woman on Victory Day,
Not a wreath, not flowers, but bread
I brought it to my grandfather's grave.

Reader:

The spaciousness and haze of music... you are silent.
You crush your cold palms until they crunch -
The land around is so densely sown.
That it’s chilly from where you’re standing.

“Adagio” by T. Albinoni sounds. The sound fades to the background.

Leading: Few Leningraders lived to see the day of liberation from the siege: thousands died under bombs and shells during the daily shelling of the city. Tens and hundreds of thousands died of hunger and cold. We owe our lives to them, who remained forever in our hometown; their memory is with us for centuries. This memory is gratitude for their pain and suffering. And it depends only on us whether we can maintain this MEMORY.

The vocalise of “Adagio” by T. Albinoni sounds. Poems by R. Rozhdestvensky.

Reader:

Remember! Through centuries, through years - remember!
Remember about those who will never come again!
Do not Cry! Hold back the moans in your throat, the bitter moans.
Be worthy of the memory of the fallen! Eternally worthy!
With bread and song, dream and poetry,
Spacious life, every second,
Be worthy with every breath!
People! As long as hearts are knocking. - remember!
At what price is happiness won - please remember!
Remember your song as you send it into flight!
About those who will never sing again - remember!
Tell your children about them so that they remember!
Tell your children’s children about them so that they remember them too!
At all times of the immortal earth, remember!
To the twinkling stars, leading ships, remember the dead!
Welcome the vibrant spring, people of the Earth!
Kill the war, curse the war, people of the Earth!
Carry your dream through the years and fill it with life!
But for those who will never come again, I conjure - remember!

Dance “Remember” to the music of T. Albinoni . Dance of the Angel, vocals to music by T. Albinoni.

"Ballad of Memory" sounds. Video chronicle on the screen.

Leading:

Human memory, what can you do?
With those who laid down their lives for you?
With those who will never return to their loved ones,
To the Motherland, who shouted: “Wait!”

Vocalist:

How many years have passed since that time of war?
That Victory flashed in 45.
But the bitterness of guilt burns my heart
To those who died in the blockade hell!

Group:

Human grief, human pain,

Leading:

Human tears, how can I dry you?
By the wind of the fields that remember the battles?
Maybe the grief of a graying mother,
Waiting, calling her son from the war.

Vocalist:

When a soldier dies, it’s understandable
He fulfilled his duty on the battlefield.
But we will never justify war,
Reading the diary pages of the girl Tanya.

Group:

Human grief, human pain,
Gravestones for the souls of the living.
In marble, bronze, granite and thoughts
We cannot imagine you as anyone else.

Leading:

History does not tolerate vanity,
Her folk path is difficult.
Its pages are written in blood,
You can't love with crazy love,
But you can’t love without MEMORY!

Leading: There is a moment in our lives when we remember something that has never happened to us, we remember something that we know only from the stories of our relatives, from books and films. Then we are mentally transported to many years ago and feel nearby the breath of our family and friends, whom we saw only in old photographs. At this moment we are also thinking about strangers who died defending our Fatherland, defending us.

This MINUTE OF SILENCE.

Schumann's "Dreams" sound. All participants in the performance go on stage.

Leading: MINUTE OF SILENCE. The longest minute of the holiday. It does not contain 60 seconds, it contains 900 terrible days of the siege, it contains forever hundreds of thousands of heroic defenders and civilians of Leningrad.

Leading: MINUTE OF SILENCE. It is consecrated by the fire of battles and fireworks. The quietest minute of the holiday, the saddest minute of the holiday, but the proudest minute of the holiday.

Leading: MINUTE OF SILENCE. There are fewer and fewer defenders of Leningrad left, but the children of the siege are alive. There have never been and, God willing, there will never be any more children on earth who will have to endure what these children experienced.

Leading: MINUTE OF SILENCE. Siege survivors will remember their relatives and friends who rest in the mass graves of Piskarevsky, Serafimovsky, Bogoslovsky and other cemeteries in the city. And in us, together with our hearts, may the Leningrad metronome always knock and its sound be heard by everyone future generations. A MINUTE OF SILENCE...

METRONOME sounds. MINUTE OF SILENCE. Fragment of the suite “MEMORY”.

Final song by A. Pugacheva, poems by I. Mandelstam “Leningrad”. Dance.

To the question Metronome during the blockade. Why was he needed? given by the author Andrey Vink the best answer is Everything is much simpler than one might think.
In besieged Leningrad, the MPVO was in force, prohibiting turning off loudspeakers in the homes of Leningraders. Alerts about air or artillery raids were transmitted by radio.
At the moment when there was no broadcasting, a metronome signal was transmitted, which confirmed that the radio point was turned on and the radio network was working.

Answer from 2 answers[guru]

Hello! Here is a selection of topics with answers to your question: Metronome during the blockade. Why was he needed?

Answer from Conficker[guru]
Even in the first months of the blockade, 1,500 loudspeakers were installed on the streets of Leningrad. The radio network carried information to the population about raids and air raid warnings. The famous metronome, which went down in the history of the siege of Leningrad as a cultural monument of the population’s resistance, was broadcast during the raids through this network. A fast rhythm meant air raid warning, a slow rhythm meant lights out.
In besieged Leningrad, when the radio was not working, a metronome beat on the air: a fast rhythm meant an air raid warning, a slow rhythm meant lights out.
In Leningrad, surrounded by fascists, wire broadcasting continued around the clock. Broadcasts of concerts, reports from the Sovinformburo, and speeches on the radio network by famous citizens and cultural figures instilled hope and faith in the city's residents in the inevitable victory over the invaders. At the end of the broadcasts, a metronome sounded - its beat was called the living heartbeat of Leningrad.

Answer from Grace[guru]
Its pace measured the chances of surviving during bombings and shelling... Only its rhythm sounded under bombs and shells: fast meant an air raid alarm, slow meant a clear out... A remarkable person who worked for many years at Leningrad Radio, journalist, teacher, Taisiya Mikhailovna Suvorova collected in the archives of Lenradio and transferred “Voices of Siege Leningrad” to Cherepovets; . Let them sound here, the true sounds of the Voice of life in the city of death, let them speak for themselves... In the first months of the blockade, 1,500 loudspeakers were installed on the streets of Leningrad, almost 450 thousand radio points worked in apartments and institutions

Answer from Nikolai Luzhnikov[guru]
In a city that finds itself in a state of siege without heat, light, or food products. doomed to the slow extinction of its inhabitants, the only means of communication between people. many of whom were dying of hunger and cold in their communal apartments, radio became available. A radio that notified residents of shelling and air raids. The radio, which brought information bureau reports to them, Supporting hope and faith in people with its short broadcasts. And in between, so that the radio would not be silent, a metronome would work. A metronome counting down the seconds of blockade time.
While the metronome sounded, people knew that the city was alive and resisting.

In the first months of the blockade, 1,500 loudspeakers were installed on the streets of Leningrad. The radio network carried information to the population about raids and air raid warnings. The famous metronome, which went down in the history of the siege of Leningrad as a cultural monument of the population’s resistance, was broadcast during the raids through this network. A fast rhythm meant an air raid warning, a slow rhythm meant a clear out. Announcer Mikhail Melaned also announced the alarm.

Worsening situation in the city

In November 1941, the situation for the townspeople worsened sharply. Deaths from hunger became widespread. Special funeral services daily picked up about a hundred corpses from the streets alone.

There are countless stories of people collapsing and dying - at home or at work, in shops or on the streets. A resident of the besieged city, Elena Skryabina, wrote in her diary:

Now they die so simply: first they stop being interested in anything, then they go to bed and never get up again.

Death rules the city. People die and die. Today, when I walked down the street, a man walked in front of me. He could barely move his legs. Overtaking him, I involuntarily drew attention to the eerie blue face. I thought to myself: he will probably die soon. Here one could really say that the stamp of death lay on the man’s face. After a few steps, I turned around, stopped, and watched him. He sank onto the cabinet, his eyes rolled back, then he slowly began to slide to the ground. When I approached him, he was already dead. People are so weak from hunger that they cannot resist death. They die as if they were falling asleep. And the half-dead people around them do not pay any attention to them. Death has become a phenomenon observed at every step. They got used to it, complete indifference appeared: after all, not today - tomorrow such a fate awaits everyone. When you leave the house in the morning, you come across corpses lying in the gateway on the street. The corpses lie there for a long time because there is no one to clean them up.

D.V. Pavlov, the State Defense Committee’s authorized representative for food supply for Leningrad and the Leningrad Front, writes:

The period from mid-November 1941 to the end of January 1942 was the most difficult during the siege. Internal resources by this time they were completely exhausted, and imports through Lake Ladoga were carried out in insignificant quantities. People pinned all their hopes and aspirations on the winter road.

Despite low temperatures in the city, part of the water supply network was working, so dozens of water pumps were opened, from which residents of surrounding houses could take water. Most of Vodokanal workers were transferred to a barracks position, but residents also had to take water from damaged pipes and ice holes.

The number of famine victims grew rapidly - more than 4,000 people died every day in Leningrad, which was a hundred times higher than the mortality rate in peacetime. There were days when 6-7 thousand people died. In December alone, 52,881 people died, while losses in January-February were 199,187 people. Male mortality significantly exceeded female mortality - for every 100 deaths there were an average of 63 men and 37 women. By the end of the war, women made up the bulk of the urban population.

On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the lifting of the BLOCKADE in Leningrad...

METRONOME

It's just a rhythm counter-
Metronome.
Sound of the Blockade.
Rhythm of mercy
enters the house.

Sometimes it's scary
Hear a knock.
It's cold.
This is hunger.
The sound of death.

This is a sign that there are living ones.
Sound in the wall.
It's there, they're sick
They believe me.

They believe that they will save you from death
Metronome.
They believe that the trouble is in the envelope
Blowjob house.

They believe that happiness will come
Forever.
Metronome-war participant...
.........

NEVER.

(I never thought
The rhythm is with you.
Even at school
Musical
Beat out the rhythm with your foot
Or they clapped their hands,
So as not to hear the METRONOME).

It stood in the closet as a memory
About the Blockade,
About the Blockade.
Clouds dragged on childhood
Outside the window.

That dawn.
______________

Once again I see that dawn -
Beautiful and innocent, like a bride...
And my mother is only seventeen years old
And all the soldiers of Brest breathe life.

Once again I see that dawn
In the cinema, from the TV screen, in a strict book...
I wasn’t even “in the project” then,
But my life is hidden in this moment.

Once again I see that dawn,
Shot by a bloody vulture.
Oh, how many tormented brides there are in it,
Forever unnamed sacred
the word "MOM"!
***

Why was a metronome needed in besieged Leningrad?
__________________________

Metronome (Greek Μέτρον - measure, Νόμος - law) -
a device capable of producing any quantity
clock fractions of time by ear.
Serves as an auxiliary device for establishing
precise rhythm in a piece of music.
***
In besieged Leningrad, when the radio did not work,
a metronome was pounding on the air: a fast rhythm meant an air raid warning,
slow rhythm - lights out.
In Leningrad, surrounded by fascists, wired broadcasting
continued around the clock. Broadcast of concerts, Sovinformburo reports,
speeches on the radio network of famous citizens,
cultural figures instilled hope and faith in city residents
to inevitable victory over the invaders.

At the end of the programs the metronome sounded -
its knock was called the living beat of the HEART of Leningrad

In 1945, for the heroism and courage shown by the residents of Leningrad during the siege, the city was among the first to be awarded the title of Hero City.

Medal for the Defense of Leningrad
Medal “For the Defense of Leningrad”: The obverse of the medal depicts the outline of the Admiralty and a group of soldiers with rifles at the ready. Along the perimeter is the inscription “FOR THE DEFENSE OF LENINGRAD.” The reverse side of the medal depicts the Hammer and Sickle. Below it is the text in capital letters: “For our Soviet Motherland.”
As of 1985, about 1,470,000 people were awarded the medal “For the Defense of Leningrad.”
Among those awarded are 15 thousand children and teenagers.

***
P.S. I was born in post-war Leningrad, my mother was an eyewitness to the Siege...
I WILL NEVER FORGET her stories about those terrible days...
***