Leningrad-Sinfonia Venäjän Patriotismin Sanansaattajana

Abstract

Patriotism as an ideology has strengthened in Russia, since Putin's 3rd term (2012–). Consequently, Russian cultural policy discourse has become more conservative, reinforcing patriotic events in state concert institutions. This article aims to describe how classical music programming in St. Petersburg and Moscow State Philharmonics, Mariinsky and Bolshoi Theaters are used to foster patriotism in citizens (2012–2025). The research uses a new theoretical field, sociopolitical musical semiotics, which reveals conscious concert programming´s role in evoking patriotism in audiences. In the article, the major annual patriotic event Victory Day and one of the most performed classical music work linked to it, Dmitri Shostakovich's “Leningrad Symphony”, are subjected to sociopolitical semiotic analysis and, thus address the main conundrum.