13th Symphony (Shostakovich)
The Symphony no. 13 in b-Moll op. 113 "Babi Jar" is a symphony of Shostakovich in five sets for bass , male chorus and orchestra . The symphony was composed in 1961–62. The text is by Yevgeny Yevtushenko .
Since his third symphony , Shostakovich had renounced the inclusion of the human voice, which now presents Yevgeny Yevtushenko's critical texts with the vocal soloist and the predominantly unanimous choir. In the weighty first sentence he turns against anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union and also deals with other events of hostility towards Jews since the exodus from Egypt .
Work history
Shostakovich composed his 13th Symphony on the basis of the poem Babi Yar by Yevgeny Yevtushenko , which appeared in the Soviet newspaper Literaturnaja Gazeta in September 1961 . This represented the new voice of Soviet culture, openly criticizing Soviet society. The poem is a statement against anti-Semitism in the USSR, which was reflected in an officially applied strategy of denial, by means of which one repeatedly blocked all plans to erect a memorial on the site of the German massacre of Babiy Yar (1941). Of the thousands murdered in the ravine just outside Kiev during the Nazi occupation , most were Ukrainian Jews . Anti-Semitism was deeply anchored in Soviet culture, and after a brief post-war amnesty that coincided with Joseph Stalin's official recognition of the new state of Israel , it reappeared as resentment and outrage at any suggestion that the Jews should have suffered more than during the war the "native" Russians and Ukrainians .
Shostakovich was probably the most important composer in the Soviet Union in 1961 and therefore also its most important national and international cultural representative. He traveled to the USA as a member of official and cultural delegations , although he had only joined the CPSU a year earlier due to intense pressure . Even if this official rank brought advantages, it was a disadvantage for Shostakovich, since membership weakened his reputation, especially among the younger generation of Soviet artists. Although he had campaigned behind the scenes during and after the Stalin era for people who were imprisoned or lived in difficult circumstances, he was viewed as a figure of authority.
Because of this uncomfortable situation in Shostakovich's life, some of his greatest works were created. It is noteworthy that he is the younger generation, such as. B. Yevtushenko represented, shook hands and again in the sixties, as already proved in the thirties and forties during the Stalinist purges and the war as an eloquent spokesman. His 13th symphony was able to assert itself more permanently than any other work from this period. At that time, when a major technical operation was about to fill the gorge, Shostakovich was immediately drawn to the humanitarian ethos of the poem Бабий Яр .
Khrushchev's administration wanted to remove all evidence of the massacre at all costs, so that a road was eventually built over it. With the first line: “There is no memorial over Babiy Yar” (Над Бабьим Яром памятников нет, Nad Babim Yarom pamjatnikow net ), the prosecutor's finger points directly at those responsible, since there was no memorial until 1966 and a permanent one only in 1991 was built. After the publication of Babiy Yar , which triggered a hate campaign against him , Yevtushenko was accused of inciting racial hatred. The sensitivity to the subject almost led to the cancellation of the premiere, regardless of the composer's party membership. The first in a series of setbacks came when the conductor Yevgeny Mrawinsky , who has already premiered Shostakovich's last eight symphonies, refused to conduct the new work. The bass soloist could not be found at the final rehearsal, so Vitali Gromadski had to step in. Even in this late phase, the Soviet cultural officials tried to persuade the musicians to cancel the premiere, but they refused. In addition, no advertising was carried out during efforts to conceal the upcoming premiere.
The sentences
- Бабий Яр (Babij Yar): Adagio
- Юмор ( humor ): Allegretto
- В магазине (In the shop): Adagio
- Страхи (fears): Largo
- Карьера (A career): Allegretto
Originally, Shostakovich only wanted to set Babi Yar to music, but when Yevtushenko gave him one of his poetry books, he selected the three of the four other works Humor , In the Store and A Career . Fear was written by the poet especially for Shostakovich, who felt drawn to the message of the text, even if he found it "quite long and a little too verbose".
The first set is about the massacre of Babi Yar outside and circled the suffering of the Jews in a thematically wide arc from the Exodus from Egypt , the Dreyfus affair , the pogrom of Białystok in 1906 until the fate of Anne Frank .
The other poems present their own aspects of Soviet life: Fears warns of complacency and reminds us of the time under Stalin, In the shop there is an awe-inspiring tribute to the Soviet women, humor and A career have satirical content because it becomes the power of joke over the authority is described and those who try to ingratiate themselves with it are mocked.
The performance lasts around 60–70 minutes.
The premiere and its consequences
Despite everything, the world premiere , which took place on December 18, 1962 under the direction of Kirill Kondrashin with bass Vitaly Gromadski in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory , was received with a huge ovation. After the second performance of the 13th Symphony (on December 20 at the same location), Shostakovich and Yevtushenko were forced to make text changes in Babiy Yar. On the one hand, the suffering of the Jews should be shifted to the entire Russian people and, on the other hand, the references to the massacre towards the end of the poem should be completely deleted. If Shostakovich had not agreed with these revisions, further performances of the work would have been banned.
The score with the restored original text was not published until 1970.
The second concert on December 20, 1962 was recorded and was released on CD in 1993 by Russian Disc. Since 2014 it has been available from Praga Digitals.