Novorossiisk Chimes

The "Funeral and Triumphal Prelude" with the title Novorossiisk Chimes has been subtitled "The Flame of Eternal Glory". This work is based on the first bars of an unsuccessful beginning of a new Russian anthem during a composition contest in 1943. Shostakovich used this material as well as a setting of the hymn "The Flame of Eternal Glory" for this work. In 1960, he composed the work "Novorossiisk Chimes" in memory of the fallen heroes of the "Battle of Stalingrad", commissioned by the city of Novorossiisk. The work was then premiered in Moscow on 27 September 1960 and is still played hourly by the clock above the war memorial in Novorossiisk, a city also known as the gateway to the "Black Sea".