Babi Yar Symphony

[bah-bee yahr sim-fuh-nee]

noun

1. a symphony (1962) by Dimitri Dimitrievich Shostakovich: inspired by Yevgeny Yevtushenko's 1961 poem of the same name.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Babi Yar Symphony¹

Named after Babi Yar ( def. ), Russian equivalent of Ukrainian Babyn Yar ( def. ), literally “old woman's ravine”

Example Sentences

SALZBURG, Austria — Shostakovich’s “Babi Yar” Symphony, a celebration and condemnation of Russian life and cultural memory, was met at the Grosses Festspielhaus here on a recent evening with a standing ovation that lasted over five minutes.

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Where they took a wrong step, they were following Currentzis’s baton, which was less reliable than when he and the orchestra performed a moving, sweeping account of Shostakovich’s “Babi Yar” Symphony during the festival’s Ouverture Spirituelle last week.

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Last week at the festival, he led a performance of Shostakovich’s “Babi Yar” Symphony, featuring members of the MusicAeterna choir and the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra.

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Among Mr. Masur’s other highly praised outings were performances of Tchaikovsky’s “Pathétique” Symphony; choral works, including Debussy’s “Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien” and Arthur Honegger’s “Jeanne d’Arc au Bûcher”; and Shostakovich’s “Babi Yar” Symphony.

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