1st Symphony (Mjaskowski)

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1st symphony
key C minor
opus 3
Sentence names
  • I Lento, ma non troppo
  • II Larghetto, quasi andante
  • III Allegro assai e molto risoluto
Total duration about 40 minutes
Composed 1908, revised in 1921
occupation small symphony orchestra
premiere On June 2, 1914 in Pavlovsk under
the direction of AP Aslanov

The Symphony in C minor Op. 3 is the first symphony by the composer Nikolai Jakowlewitsch Mjaskowski (1881–1950).

History of origin

The first sketches for the symphony were made while Mjaskowski was studying in Saint Petersburg in February 1908. He initially used the following summer to work on the piano, so that on July 1st, 9th and 27th the movements were finished in the piano version. The orchestration was completed in September. Mjaskowski recognized his talent and enthusiasm for the genre of the symphony at this early stage, but did not dare to submit the work to his composition teacher Anatoly Lyadow for assessment. Instead, he and his friend and fellow student Prokofiev went to see Alexander Glasunov , who immediately made funds available to him. In 1921, Myaskovsky revised the symphony. He published this version in 1929, and in 1931 a version for piano four hands was published.

analysis

The tonal language and mood of this early symphony is dominated by the great Russian romantics such as Tchaikovsky , Glasunow and Taneyev. At the same time, Myaskovsky also tried to devote himself to the modern currents of music, even if the music is not so 'modern' that contemporary Russian composers would have regarded him as one of their own, which was also due to the symphony's emphasis on melody and voice guidance is just as he had learned from Rimsky-Korsakov . The first symphony already shows features that later became typical of Mjaskowski's music: the extensive presentation and variation of the themes, the use of polyphony and counterpoint and of course the preference for minor keys and the sonata form . The corner movements of the symphony stand and end in C minor, the second slow movement in A flat major .

Reception and criticism

When Myaskovsky Prokofiev showed his drafts for the first symphony, Prokofiev expressed his horror about some of the passages. At one point in the finale, in which Myaskovsky tied up four topics, Prokofiev asked why he had done this: "But not for Lyadov's counterpoint lessons?" In the revised version from 1921, Myaskovsky deleted this passage. Other changes are in the length of the corner clauses and the instrumentation. The completion of the symphony had an immediate negative effect on Mjaskowski: He subsequently suffered from depression and took a long time to compose another symphonic work, the symphonic poem "Das Schweigen". Boris Asafiev remarked to this symphony, they'd rather be at Mussorgsky's song cycle Sunless remember. The first performance took place under the direction of AP Aslanov and the conductor was so enthusiastic about Myaskovsky's music that he later asked for the score of the third symphony . The Polish conductor Grzegorz Fitelberg was also interested in the score of the first symphony in 1914, news that Mjaskowski , who was fighting in the First World War , was particularly happy.

literature

  • CD supplement Warner Music France 2564 69689-8 (Miaskovsky: Intégrale des Symphonies, Evgeny Svetlanov (cond.))
  • Soja Gulinskaja: Nikolai Jakowlewitsch Mjaskowski. Moscow 1981, German Berlin 1985
  • Matthias Falke: Nikolai Miaskowsky: First Symphony. (Symphonic Monograph Volume 3) Norderstedt 2010. ISBN 978-3-8391-4307-0

Web links