The Song of the Forests, op. 81

The Song of the Forests (Песнь о лесах), Op. 81, is an oratorio by Dmitri Shostakovich composed in the summer of 1949. It was written to celebrate the forestation of the Russian steppes (Great Plan for the Transformation of Nature) following the end of World War II. The composition originally included texts by Yevgeny Dolmatovsky praising Joseph Stalin as the "great gardener"; these references were eliminated after his death. Premiered by the Leningrad Philharmonic under Yevgeny Mravinsky on 15 November 1949, the work was well received by the government, earning the composer a Stalin Prize the following year.