7th Symphony (Mjaskowski)

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7th symphony
key B minor
opus 24
Sentence names
  • I Andante sostenuto, calmo
  • II Andante. Allegro scherzando e tenebroso
Total duration approx. 24 minutes
Composed 1922
occupation Symphony orchestra ( 3333/4231 / Pk / Schl / Hrf / Str )
premiere On February 8, 1925 in Moscow under
the direction of Konstantin Saradschew
dedication "For Pavel Alexandrovich Lamm "

The Symphony in B minor, Op. 24 is the seventh symphony by the composer Nikolai Jakowlewitsch Mjaskowski .

History of origin

Myaskovsky wrote the seventh symphony at the same time as the sixth . It served him, so to speak, as "relaxation". The long and difficult work on the sixth symphony had cost him great effort, and so he created a small and manageable symphony on the side. The first sketches of the work were made in early 1921, when he had largely completed the sketches of the sixth. With the completion of the sixth symphony, work on the seventh was also finished. In 1924 Mjaskowski joined the ASM (Association for Contemporary Music), which changed his tonal language away from romanticism and towards modernity. The sixth and seventh symphonies represent a transition phase.

analysis

This symphony, which is comparatively short with a performance of only 24 minutes, is a stark contrast to the sixth symphony. It lacks any explosiveness and is a return to the romantic symphonies of the pre-war years. Her character can best be described as a "romantic poem ", even if the increasing sharpness of the tonal language of the 1920s can already be recognized. Mjaskowski's impressions of nature and landscape that he had gained on long walks and trips into the countryside served as inspiration. What is striking about the work is that Mjaskowski no longer uses any images of fight or death. Reasons for this could be a sufficient processing in the earlier symphonies or simply that he was looking for distraction from his traumatic experiences. The symphony consists of two movements, the second combining the slow part and the scherzo . In the introduction to the first movement, a shepherd sounds that Myaskovsky heard in Batow in 1912.

Reception and criticism

The first performance of the symphony took place on February 8, 1925. The symphonies that Mjaskowski wrote in his second creative phase were all successes, even if none reached the quality and popularity of the sixth. Boris Assafjew wrote of these works: “Your 'sixth', 'seventh', ' eighth' , ' ninth' and ' tenth' are steps of impressive height ... Today there is probably no one in the world except you who is so mighty Sound structures erected ... “. With the new tonal language, which is already being announced in the Seventh Symphony, Mjaskowski fully met the ideas of the ASM and the composers of the time. Interestingly, Mjaskowski was particularly satisfied with this symphony, which was rather insignificant in terms of music history. In a letter to Prokofiev he wrote that he had "certainly succeeded in some passages [...] in the implementation of the first movement and the entire second movement". His statement that he wanted to start the numbering of his symphonies again with the seventh, but he later revoked again because the fourth and fifth had become very popular. After the world premiere, Myaskovsky fundamentally reworked the symphony and added 50 new pages of the score. The work was finally published in this form by the Universal-Verlag in Vienna and the composer was glad that the version of the world premiere had not been played often. Before it was published, Sergei Alexandrowitsch Kussewizki asked for the sheet music for a performance in Paris in 1926, the conductor Hermann Scherchen performed the symphony in Winterthur in the same year and Leopold Stokowski was interested in an American performance.

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