5th symphony (Mjaskowski)
| 5th symphony | |
|---|---|
| key | D major |
| opus | 18th |
| Sentence names |
|
| Total duration | about 45 minutes |
| Composed | 1918 |
| occupation | Symphony orchestra |
| dedication | "For Viktor Mikhailovich Belyayev " |
| premiere | On August 18, 1920 in Moscow under the direction of Nikolai Andrejewitsch Malko |
The Symphony in D major Op. 18 is the fifth symphony by the composer Nikolai Jakowlewitsch Mjaskowski .
History of origin
The first mention of the fifth symphony can be found in a note from 1914. After the completion of the third symphony, Mjaskowski noted plans for two new works, a “silent” symphony and a “grandiose”. The First World War prevented these plans from being carried out, but Mjaskowski later resorted to ideas for the “silent” symphony in the fifth symphony. After Myaskovsky was transferred to St. Petersburg during the war, he devoted himself to composing the fourth and fifth symphonies. The two works were finished around the same time in April 1918.
analysis
Although the fifth symphony was written at the same time as the fourth, it has fundamentally different soundscapes. Mjaskowski processed his war experiences in both works, but in two different ways. On the surface, the fourth symphony embodies horror and suffering, while the fifth represents victory and heroism. Mjaskowski had always admired the soldiers, so much so that he later devoted himself to the genre of brass music . The brighter timbre of the fifth symphony leads to a novelty in Mjaskowski's symphonic oeuvre: for the first time, he created a symphony in four movements and composed a scherzo , a movement that would have had no place in the earlier character of the symphonies. The fifth is also the first symphony, which is in major and the key of D major is not chosen by chance: Despite the critical assessment of the key character , the key was used by other romantic composers for radiant, luminous music (Die color synesthetes Rimski-Korsakow and Scriabin had associated yellow or gold colors with D major), and this is the mood Myaskovsky wanted to achieve in the work.
The first movement begins with the main lyric theme performed by the clarinet . The theme is repeated in different variations by all instrument groups in the orchestra. The contrasting second theme is reminiscent of Old Russian chants and has a heavy character. The two topics are processed in such a way that a tension builds up like that of a fight, which is discharged in a loud repetition of the second topic. The passage as a whole is reminiscent of Borodin's so-called Heroes Symphony . After this musical climax of the first movement, the melody of the first theme sounds again. One can therefore speak of a sonata form in which the themes appear in reverse order in the recapitulation.
The core message of the second movement is also the contrast between war and peace: a lullaby initially creates a calm and peaceful atmosphere that is supposed to represent undisturbed life. But appearances are deceptive and calamity is soon to come: A second, nervous topic disrupts this life and thus symbolizes war and death. The contrapuntal combination of the two themes creates a gloomy and oppressive sound, which finally culminates in loud, fanfare-like chords before it disappears again and gives way to the lullaby of the beginning. This sentence represents the situation and feelings that many people and of course Myaskovsky himself associated with the war.
The last two sentences no longer focus on the contrast between war and peace, but on victory and the heroism that goes with it. The third movement, the Scherzo, consists of three themes, one of which is an original Ukrainian kolyadka melody. Koljadka or Koljada is a Christmas carol , the singing of which at the Ukrainian Christmas festival is supposed to bring luck and success. The character of the movement, which is very short at around four minutes, is partly heroic and partly popular, reminiscent of Glinkas Kamarinskaja . Myaskovsky interprets the military victory as the victory of the common people. In the finale, song-like passages alternate with fanfares, before the secondary theme of the first movement sounds again in the orchestral tutti and thus represents the final victory. Myaskovsky said of the ending that it was a “ chorale-like hymn ”.
Reception and criticism
The symphony premiered on August 18, 1920 in Moscow with great success. The work helped Myaskovsky to achieve his final breakthrough and made him known nationally and internationally. The score was published shortly after this performance, so that other performances could soon follow. In 1924 it was heard in the Bolshoi Theater under the direction of Emil Cooper , and later it was also performed in Madrid , Prague and Vienna . Friedrich August Stock performed the symphony in Chicago , Leopold Stokowski conducted in Philadelphia and on January 5, 1926 in New York .
Mjaskowski, who had always been very critical of his works, later had a few complaints about the fifth symphony. He only called the second movement his "beloved Andante". In a letter to Prokofiev from 1926, he remarked that the symphony had many influences from Glazunov and "absurd sound formations", and that the instrumentation was not successful. He even called the subject of the first sentence "simply hideous". Still, he refused to change anything about the piece.
After the success of the premiere, in which the Scherzo even had to be repeated, critics also reported positively of the other performances. According to the Viennese music critic Paul Amadeus Pisk , the listeners had received the work with "enthusiastic approval", and Prokofiev wrote of the New York performance that the symphony had success with the audience and that Szigeti could report the same thing about the performance in Philadelphia. Myaskovsky was dissatisfied with the interpretation at the Bolshoi Theater: he disliked the tempos that Cooper had chosen, the first movement, according to him, became an "obstacle race" and the andante became a "boring junk."
Prokofiev criticized the symphony, although he was also enthusiastic about it, many things in personal letters to Myaskovsky. He criticized the "sometimes outrageous pupilism of the compositional technique", the lengths of the piece and the end of the finale. For the beginning of the second movement, he recommended a “giant fog of rustling and whispering noises, unspoken and allusions”. However, Mjaskowski did not implement any of these suggestions on the grounds that they were "completely out of place against the background of the character of the other sound formations (..)".
The pianist AA Aljawdina later wrote a piano version of the Scherzo, which many well-known pianists, including Heinrich Neuhaus , added to their repertoire.
The two symphonies, which were written immediately after the First World War, were considered to be the birth of Soviet symphonies in Russia.
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
Web links
- kith.org
- wanadoo.nl ( Memento from May 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- myaskovsky.ru