The première of the Sixth Symphony, which took place under Yevgeny Mravinsky on 5 November 1939, was a tremendous success. The Finale was encored, a rare event in first performances of symphonies. But the electric fervour that had gripped the hall at the first performance of the Fifth Symphony was not repeated; that occasion had been 'sui generis'. It seemed then as though it could never be repeated; however, in the Seventh, Eighth and Fourteenth Symphonies, Shostakovich wrote works of comparable inspirational power.