Symphony No. 1 (Shostakovich)

Shostakovich in 1925

The Symphony No. 1 in F minor, Op. 10, by Dmitri Shostakovich was written in 1924–1925, and first performed in Leningrad<ref name="ReferenceA">The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians</ref> by the Leningrad Philharmonic under Nicolai Malko on 12 May 1926.<ref>live-en.shostakovich.ru: Life and creative work :: Chronicle ::1926. Archived version here. Retrieved 23 December 2014</ref> Shostakovich wrote the work as his graduation piece at the Petrograd Conservatory,<ref name="ReferenceA"/> completing it at the age of 19.

Structure

The work has four movements (the last two being played without interruption) and is approximately half an hour in length.

Instrumentation

The work is written for:

Woodwinds

Piccolo (doubling 3rd flute)

2 flutes (with 2nd doubling 2nd piccolo)

2 oboes

2 clarinets

2 bassoons

Brass

4 horns

2 trumpets

Alto trumpet

3 trombones

Tuba

Percussion

Timpani

Bass drum

Snare drum

Tam-tam

Cymbals

Triangle

Glockenspiel

Keyboard

Piano

Strings

1st violins

2nd violins

Violas

Cellos

Double basses

Overview

While Shostakovich wrote this piece as his graduation exercise from Maximilian Steinberg's composition class, some of the material may have dated from considerably earlier. When the composer's aunt, Nadezhda Galli-Shohat, first heard the work at its American premiere by Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra, she recognised in it many fragments she had heard young Mitya play as a child. Some of these fragments were associated with La Fontaine's retelling of Aesop's fable of The Ant and the Grasshopper and Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid.<ref>Steinberg, 539.</ref>

The immediate parallel to the 19-year-old composer presenting his first symphony was Alexander Glazunov, himself a child prodigy who had his First Symphony performed at an even younger age. Glazunov may have recognised in Shostakovich an echo of his younger self. As director of the Petrograd Conservatory, Glazunov had followed Shostakovich's progress since his entrance at age 13.<ref>MacDonald, 22.</ref> He also arranged for the premiere of Shostakovich's symphony,<ref name="mac28">MacDonald, 28.</ref> which took place 44 years after Glazunov's First Symphony had first been presented in the same hall.<ref>Volkov, Saint Petersburg, 355.</ref>

This symphony was a tremendous success from its premiere.Template:Sfn Nicolai Malko, who conducted the symphony's world premiere, said that its maturity was "impossible to deny".Template:Sfn It displays an interesting and characteristic combination of liveliness and wit on the one hand, and drama and tragedy on the other. In some ways it is reminiscent of the works of Igor Stravinsky and Sergei Prokofiev.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The transparent and chamber-like orchestration of the First Symphony is in quite a contrast to the Mahlerian orchestrations found in many of his later symphonies, and the assurance with which the composer imagines, then realises large-scale structure, is as impressive as his vigour and freshness of gesture.<ref name="st540">Steinberg, 540.</ref>

Influences

Because of the traditionalist mindset of the Conservatory, Shostakovich did not discover the music of Igor Stravinsky until his late teens. The effect of hearing this music was instant and radical,<ref name="md29">MacDonald, 29.</ref>Template:Better source needed with Stravinsky's compositions continuing to hold a considerable influence over Shostakovich.<ref name="volkst428">Volkov, St. Petersburg, 428.</ref> Some criticsTemplate:Which have suggested the First Symphony was influenced by Stravinsky's Petrushka, not just due to the prominence of the piano part in its orchestration but also due to the overall tone of satire in the first half of the symphony. Because the plot in Stravinsky's ballet chronicled the doomed antics of an animated puppet, it would have reflected his observations on the mechanical aspects of human behaviour and appealed directly to the satirist in him.<ref name="md29" />Template:Better source needed

Still another musical influence, suggested by the opening clarinet phrase which becomes used considerably in the course of the symphony, is Richard Strauss's tone poem Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks.<ref name="st540" />

References

Sources

• Layton, Robert, ed. Robert Simpson, The Symphony, Volume Two: Mahler to the Present Day (New York: Drake Publishers Inc., 1972).
• MacDonald, Ian, The New Shostakovich (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1990). Template:ISBN.
• Template:Cite book
• Steinberg, Michael, The Symphony (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1995). Template:ISBN.
• Volkov, Solomon, tr. Bouis, Antonina W., Saint Petersburg: A Cultural History (New York: Harper & Row, 1979). Template:ISBN.

External links

• Template:IMSLP
• Full orchestral score from the New York Philharmonic's archives