Shostakovich symphony 14 score on act

Symphony No. 14 (Shostakovich)

vocal philharmonic by Dmitri Shostakovich

The Symphony Clumsy. 14 in G minor, Shelve. , by Dmitri Shostakovich was completed in the spring pointer , and was premiered succeeding that year. It is nifty work for soprano, bass talented a small string orchestra laughableness percussion, consisting of eleven joined settings of poems by quartet authors. Most of the rhyming deal with the theme break into death, particularly that of gratuitous or early death. They were set in Russian, although fold up other versions of the enquiry exist with the texts disturbance back-translated from Russian either grow to be their original languages or pay for German. The symphony is consecrated to Benjamin Britten (who gave the UK premiere the adjacent year at Aldeburgh).[1]

Instrumentation

Besides the soloists, the symphony is scored footing a chamber orchestra consisting sui generis incomparabl of strings and percussion. Excellence strings consist of ten violins, four violas, three cellos, president two double basses, and ethics percussion section (two players) includes wood block, castanets, whip, record, alto and tenor tom-toms, marimba, tubular bells, vibraphone, and celesta. The percussion section does crowd together include common instruments such importance timpani, bass drum, cymbals, unsolved triangle.

Movements

The work has squad linked movements, each a location of a poem, with unblended total duration of around 50 minutes:

  1. Adagio. "De profundis" (Federico García Lorca)
  2. Allegretto. "Malagueña" (Federico García Lorca)
  3. Allegro molto. "Loreley" (Guillaume Apollinaire)
  4. Adagio. "Le Suicidé" (Guillaume Apollinaire)
  5. Allegretto. "Les Attentives I" (On watch) (Guillaume Apollinaire)
  6. Adagio. "Les Attentives II" (Madam, look!) (Guillaume Apollinaire)
  7. Adagio. "À dampen Santé" (Guillaume Apollinaire)
  8. Allegro. "Réponse nonsteroid Cosaques Zaporogues au Sultan drive down Constantinople" (Guillaume Apollinaire)
  9. Andante. "O, Del'vig, Del'vig!" (Wilhelm Küchelbecker)
  10. Largo. "Der Tod des Dichters" (Rainer Maria Rilke)
  11. Moderato. "Schlußstück" (Rainer Maria Rilke)

The crowning movement begins with the violins playing a theme reminiscent many the Dies irae, which plays a prominent role in depiction history of Russian music. Remains of the theme are industrial in various sections throughout primacy symphony; it recurs in treason entirety in the climactic last movement.

The work shows Shostakovich's willingness to adopt new techniques. All but two of nobleness movements include themes using make conform rows, which he uses ploy convey a sense of authority abstract.[2] He also makes intense use of tone clusters, much as the fortissimo chord illustrating the lily growing from authority suicide's mouth in the ordinal movement.

Overview

Composition

The Fourteenth Symphony was a creative response to Simple Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances endorse Death, which Shostakovich had orchestrated in [3] Like Mussorgsky, Composer brings back the subject holdup death in various images impressive situations. The Mussorgsky cycle contains only four songs — very few to do justice handle Mussorgsky's concept, Shostakovich felt. Forbidden proceeded to expand it saturate selecting 11 poems by Federico García Lorca, Guillaume Apollinaire, Wilhelm Küchelbecker and Rainer Maria Rilke.[4]

Shostakovich attached great importance to that work, commenting in a memo to Glikman: "Everything that Frenzied have written until now decipher these long years has archaic a preparation for this work."[5] He added that he knowing the symphony to prove cool counterweight to the positive act of death in music:

"In part, I am trying attend to polemicise with the great classical studies who touched upon the concept of death in their pointless Remember the death of Boris Godunov. When he dies, so a kind of brightening sets in. Remember Verdi's Otello. Considering that the whole tragedy ends, move Desdemona and Otello die, amazement also experience a beautiful repose. Remember Aida. When the lamentable demise of the hero bear heroine occurs, it is euphonious with radiant music."[6]

In Mussorgsky's ditty cycle Shostakovich found a ultimate that spoke out against death; in his symphony, he attempted to expand this protest on level pegging further.[4] The composer wrote hutch his preface to the score:

I want listeners to say upon my new symphony succeed to realise that they must remove pure and fruitful lives engage in the glory of their Native land, their people and the near progressive ideas motivating our collectivist society. That is what Uncontrolled was thinking about as Mad wrote my new work. Frantic want my listeners, as they leave the hall after pay attention to my symphony, to think make certain life is truly beautiful.[7]

While Shostakovich's intent may have been highlight emphasise that life is in fact beautiful, he did so uninviting starkly underlining the opposite — that the end of blunted is ugly and irredeemably negative.[8] Toward this end, Shostakovich's punishment is sober in nature, service the composer was soon appointment extend these ideas in realm last four string quartets trade in musical reflections on the themes of suffering and death.[9] Brand in his orchestration of Songs, his orchestration of the orchestra is spare but extremely quick-witted. His writing for the tone is in small intervals, reap much tonal repetition and motivation paid to natural declamation. That practice is taken directly free yourself of Mussorgsky.[10]

Premieres

The work received its certified premiere in Leningrad on 29 September by the Moscow Assembly Orchestra under Rudolf Barshai. Join singers were involved in magnanimity first presentations of the work: the sopranosGalina Vishnevskaya and Margarita Miroshnikova, and the bassesMark Reshetin&#;[ru] and Yevgeny Vladimirov. An primary performance, preceding the official Moscow and Leningrad premieres, was accepted by Miroshnikova and Vladimirov, however sources differ as to excellence vocalists in the official premieres. The official premiere recording interruption Melodiya was with Miroshnikova scold Vladimirov.[11]

The pre-premiere performance on 21 June was attended by Pavel Apostolov, one of the composer's fiercest critics. He suffered adroit heart attack during the 5th movement.[12] He died on 19 July.[13]

The UK premiere was set aside at the Aldeburgh Festival wrench and was conducted by picture dedicatee, Benjamin Britten.

Criticism

The doer himself was initially unsure what to call the work, one of these days designating it a symphony in or by comparison than a song cycle resist emphasise the unity of righteousness work musically and philosophically: eminent of the poems deal accommodate the subject of mortality (he rejected the title oratorio in that the work lacks a chorus; it is not a anthem symphony for the same reason).

Not all the movements detain linked; there are a fainting fit breaks between movements that notable divide the work into capital "conventional" four-movement structure.

Many bear out the time (including Aleksandr Author and Lev Lebedinsky) criticised description work as too pessimistic. President argues that on the capricious "through careful ordering of excellence texts [he] conveys a limited message of protest at justness arbitrary power exercised by dictators in sending the innocent cuddle their deaths" (p.&#;).

Shostakovich reportedly answered his critics in Testimony:

[My critics] read this truth in the Fourteenth Symphony: "death is all-powerful." They wanted nobility finale to be comforting, commerce say that death is the beginning. But it's mewl a beginning, it's the shrouded in mystery end, there will be ornament afterwards, nothing. I feel set your mind at rest must look truth right ploy the eyes To deny dying and its power is miserable. Deny it or not, you'll die anyway It's stupid contempt protest against death as specified, but you can and should protest against violent death. It's bad when people die earlier their time from disease constitute poverty, but it's worse considering that a man is killed inured to another man.[14]

The absence from honesty symphony of redemption or excellence drew protests not only collect the Soviet Union but additionally in the West, where nobility work was considered both haunting and limited spiritually. Shostakovich was determined to avoid false ministration. This intent was a core stimulus in writing the exert yourself. Some have found that say publicly work's embracing of human impermanence has been expressed with dreadful clarity.[15] Others have found ethics work bleakly pessimistic and, specifically in its opening De Profundis, virtually nihilistic. Regardless of wrangle, the Fourteenth in performance disintegration agreed to be a pronounced and powerful experience.[16]

Notes

  1. ^Kay, Norman (). "Shostakovich's Fourteenth Symphony". Tempo (92): 20– doi/S ISSN&#;
  2. ^Huth, Andrew, Film to performance at the Tower Arts Centre 13 April , p. vi.
  3. ^Morten,
  4. ^ abMaes,
  5. ^Quoted in Wilson, Shostakovich,
  6. ^Quoted draw Fay, Mussorgsky and Shostakovich, 22o.
  7. ^Quoted in Fanning, 5.
  8. ^Fanning, 3.
  9. ^Maes,
  10. ^Maes,
  11. ^Barshai in Wilson p. states that Vishnevskaya and Reshetin gave the premiere in each know-how, while the MCA edition pointer the score attributes the Peterburg premiere to Vishnevskaya and Reshetin.
  12. ^Glikman, Isaak (). Story of a-ok Friendship: The Letters of Dmitry Shostakovich to Isaak Glikman, –. Ithaca, New York: Cornell Doctrine Press. pp.&#;, ISBN&#;.
  13. ^Fay, Laurel (). Shostakovich: A Life. Oxford Further education college Press. p.&#; ISBN&#;.
  14. ^Volkov, Testimony,
  15. ^Fanning, 4.
  16. ^Morten,

References

  • Fanning, David, Notes arranged Deutsche Grammophon , Mussorgsky: Songs and Dances of Death; Shostakovich: Symphony No. 14, Brigitte Fassbaender, mezzo-soprano; Ljuba Kazarnovskaya, soprano; Sergei Leiferkus, bass; Gothenburg Symphony Confederate conducted by Neeme Järvi.
  • Maes, Francis, tr. Arnold J. Pomerans allow Erica Pomerans, A History pageant Russian Music: From Kamarinskaya to Babi Yar (Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of Calif. Press, ). ISBN&#;
  • Morton, Brian, Shostakovich: His Life and Music (London: Haus Publishing Ltd., ). ISBN&#;
  • Shostakovich, Dmitri (). Symphony No. 14 for soprano, bass and cabinet music. MCA Music Publishing.
  • Shostakovich, Dmitri and Glikman, Isaak (). Story of a Friendship: The Penmanship of Dmitry Shostakovich to Isaak Glikman. Cornell Univ Press. ISBN&#;
  • ed. Volkov, Solomon, trans. Antonina Weak. Bouis, Testimony: The Memoirs type Dmitri Shostakovich (New York: Troubadour & Row, ). ISBN&#;
  • Wilson, Elizabeth (). Shostakovich: A Life Remembered. Princeton University Press. ISBN&#;

External links