Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (Russian: Дмитрий Дмитриевич Шостакович , tr. Dmitrij Dmitrievič Šostakovič) (25 September [O.S. September 12] 1906 – 9 August 1975) was a Russian composer of the Soviet period and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century composed his Symphony No. 4 in C minor, Opus 43, between September 1935 and May 1936, after abandoning some preliminary sketch material. In January 1936, halfway through this period, Pravda Pravda (Russian: Правда, "Truth", pronunciation ) was a leading newspaper of the Soviet Union and an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1912 and 1991—under direct orders from Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953. In the years following Lenin's death in 1924, he rose to become the leader of the Soviet Union[1]—published the infamous editorial 'Chaos Instead of Music' that denounced the composer and specifically targeted his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Despite this attack, and despite the , Shostakovich not only completed the symphony but also planned for its premiere, scheduled for December 1936 in Leningrad. At some point during rehearsals he changed his mind and withdrew the work. It was finally premiered on December 30, 1961 by the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra led by Kirill Kondrashin.

Contents

Form

The work is in three movements A movement is a self-contained part of a musical composition or musical form. While individual or selected movements from a composition are sometimes performed separately, a performance of the complete work requires all the movements to be performed in succession and lasts approximately one hour. The outer movements each last 25 minutes or more, while the middle movement only takes some eight or nine minutes. This very unusual proportional design represents only one of the larger challenges that face any listener who casually attempts to penetrate the surface of the work and perceive its inner workings.

  1. Allegretto In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. It is a crucial element of composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece, poco moderato In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. It is a crucial element of composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece - Presto In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. It is a crucial element of composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece - Tempo 1°
    If the first movement of a symphony succeeds as a musical statement only by following the rules of traditional sonata form Sonata form is a musical form that has been used widely since the early Classical period. While it is typically used in the first movement of multimovement pieces, it is sometimes employed in subsequent movements as well. Study of the sonata form in music theory rests on a standard definition and a series of hypotheses about the underlying reasons fairly closely, then the Fourth Symphony’s opening movement initially comes across as a colossal failure. Closer examination reveals what has been described as "a hide and seek relationship with sonata form." Even more detailed study shows that Shostakovich is using his favored version of sonata form, wherein the recapitulation presents the material from the exposition in reverse order. The composer’s very effective obscuring of this approach makes understanding the movement’s structure quite difficult compared to most of his other symphonies. The following table lays out some points to consider:
Sonata-form elements Shostakovich's obscuration techniques
Two contrasting main themes Main themes surrounded by significant secondary material
Themes go through developmental processes and eventually re-appear in something akin to original forms Secondary material receives much more attention than customary
Tonic key anchors opening and closing Themes reappear in recapitulation in reverse order & opposite orchestration
Second theme initially appears in a contrasting key First appearances of main themes in exposition separated by much intervening music
Recapitulation begins with same introductory music as exposition Contrasts of tonality not often used to distinguish thematic or structural areas
First theme area and second theme area approximately the same size Recapitulation much shorter than other main sections
Substantial thematic "development" takes place within exposition section.
Because of the many elements that conceal, the movement seems to be little more than a free fantasia The fantasia is a musical composition with its roots in the art of improvisation. Because of this, it seldom approximates the textbook rules of any strict musical form (as with the impromptu) consisting of almost nothing except development In European classical music, musical development is a process by which a musical idea is communicated in the course of a composition. It refers to the transformation and restatement of initial material, and is often contrasted with musical variation, which is a slightly different means to the same end. Development is carried out upon portions of, making the true arrival of the second theme and the development section especially difficult to ascertain. The crazed, high-speed fugato In music, a fugue is a contrapuntal composition in two or more voices, built on a subject (theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation and recurs frequently in the course of the composition. In addition to this broad general contrapuntal design, certain formal characteristics are well established. A fugue usually has three sections: an for the strings that appears partway through the development section is probably the most extreme example in the movement of thematic development seemingly unrelated to the main material, even though it actually has its roots in the first theme.
  1. Moderato In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. It is a crucial element of composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece, con moto
    This movement is a Mahler-like ländler/intermezzo in rondo Rondo, and its French equivalent rondeau, is a word that has been used in music in a number of ways, most often in reference to a musical form, but also to a character-type that is distinct from the form. Although now called rondo form, the form started off in the Baroque period as the ritornello, from the Italian word ritornare meaning "to form where two contrasting themes appear in alternation, both being imaginatively transformed and recombined upon their variant returns. At times the movement recalls the scherzi from Mahler's Second The Symphony No. 2 in C minor by Gustav Mahler, known as the Resurrection, was written between 1888 and 1894, and first performed in 1895. Apart from the Eighth Symphony, this symphony was Mahler's most popular and successful work during his lifetime. It is his first major work that would eventually mark his lifelong view of the beauty of and Seventh Gustav Mahler's Seventh Symphony was written in 1904-05 . It is sometimes referred to by the title Song of the Night (German: Lied der Nacht), though this does not derive from Mahler and was not approved by him symphonies, even down to details of scoring or melodic shape. The movement ends with the final statement of the first theme accompanied by a remarkable “ticking” passage for castanets, wood block, and snare drum.[2]
  2. Largo In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. It is a crucial element of composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece - Allegro In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. It is a crucial element of composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece
    The answers to most structural questions in the first movement become reasonably evident after sustained investigation, while such questions hardly exist in the second movement. The third movement, although comparable in scope to the first, superficially appears to offer fewer problems to the listener. Yet serious study, far from providing ready answers or even any confirmation of hunches, often serves only to heighten perplexity. Does the movement have four reasonably self-contained sections? Five? Is there some other general architectural plan in place? How self-contained are the sections? Just where do sections begin and end? What differentiates sections? How do sections relate to one another? The questions persist and do not get completely resolved even after one has settled upon a provisional structure—which may well not match another person’s resolution.
    The shadow of Mahler Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer, he acted as a bridge between the 19th century Austro-German tradition and the modernism of the early 20th century. While in his lifetime his status as a conductor was established beyond question, his own music gained wide looms large behind the entire symphony, nowhere more so than in the opening minutes of the finale. This formidable and occasionally somewhat bitter funeral march ultimately leads into a lengthy series of fast-moving episodes frequently dominated by a feeling of the waltz. These episodes cover a wide range of styles, now light-hearted, now pensive, now ironically silly, now ambiguous—and they often combine more than one of these at a time—but all suggest dance rhythms in one way or another. The last section of the movement, appearing after all sense of the dance has evaporated, recalls aspects of the opening funeral march but reverses it (by beginning loud and ultimately dying away) and gives it an emotional intensity nearly unrivalled in Shostakovich’s output.
    The range of expression to be found here represents another confounding element. This has led some to see the final movement operating at a far deeper level than the preceding two, not only in range and complexity of feeling but also in quality of imagination,[3] while others have not been so convinced by the apparent hodgepodge of styles. Hugh Ottaway, for example, called the close "a magnificent non sequitur A non sequitur is a conversational and literary device, often used for comedic purposes. It is a comment that, because of its apparent lack of meaning relative to what it follows, seems absurd to the point of being humorous or confusing, as in the following exchange:".[2]

Orchestration

Shostakovich uses an immense orchestra in this work, numbering well over one hundred musicians. This, combined with the extreme technical and emotional demands placed on the performers, makes the Symphony No. 4 among his least-performed scores, yet it ranks as one of his most important and personal works.

It is scored for the following instruments[4]:

Woodwind A woodwind instrument is a musical instrument which produces sound when the player blows air against a sharp edge or through a reed, causing the air within its resonator to vibrate. Most of these instruments are made of wood, but can be made of other materials, such as metals or plastics
2 Piccolos The piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written. This gave rise to the name "ottavino," the name by which the instrument is referred to in the
4 Flutes The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening. According to the instrument classification of Hornbostel-Sachs, flutes are categorized as Edge-blown aerophones
4 Oboes The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois", "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca. 1770 from the Italian oboè, a transliteration in that language's orthography of the 17th-century (4th doubling on Cor anglais The cor anglais, or English horn, is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family)
1 E-flat clarinet The E-flat clarinet is a member of the clarinet family. It is usually classed as a soprano clarinet, although some authors describe it as a "sopranino" or even "piccolo" clarinet. Smaller in size and higher in pitch than the more common B♭ clarinet, it is a transposing instrument in E♭, playing a minor third higher than the
4 Clarinets The clarinet is a musical instrument that is a part of the woodwind family. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino (meaning a type of trumpet), as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed. In jazz contexts, it
1 Bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B♭ clarinet, it is usually pitched in B♭ , but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B♭ clarinet. Bass clarinets in other keys, notably C and A, also exist, but are very rare. Bass clarinets regularly perform in symphony orchestras, wind
3 Bassoons The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 1800s, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band, and chamber music literature. The bassoon is a non-transposing instrument known for its
1 Contrabassoon The contrabassoon, also known as the double bassoon or double-bassoon, is a larger version of the bassoon, sounding an octave lower. Its technique is similar to its smaller cousin, with a few notable differences
Strings A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones. The most common string instruments in the string family are guitar, violin, viola, cello, double bass, banjo, mandolin, ukulele, and
2 Harps A harp is a stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicular to the soundboard. It is classified as a chordophone by the Harvard Dictionary of Music and only types of harps are in that class of instruments with plucked strings. All harps have a neck, resonator, and strings. Some, known as frame harps, also have a
16-20 1st Violins The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello. The double bass is often described as a member of the violin family, though its tuning and other characteristics share much with the viol
14-18 2nd Violins The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello. The double bass is often described as a member of the violin family, though its tuning and other characteristics share much with the viol
12-16 Violas The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello
12-16 Violoncellos The cello is a bowed string instrument. The word derives from the Italian violoncello. A person who plays a cello is called a cellist. The cello is used as a solo instrument, in chamber music, and as a member of the string section of an orchestra. It is the second largest bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, the double bass
10-14 Double basses The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, bass violin or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra. The double bass is a standard member of the string section of the symphony orchestra and smaller string ensembles in Western classical music. In addition, it is used in
Keyboard A keyboard instrument is any musical instrument played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include various types of organs as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments. In common language, it is mostly used to refer to keyboard-style synthesizers
Celesta The celesta or celeste (pronounced /sɨˈlɛst/) is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. Its appearance is similar to that of an upright piano (four- or five-octave) or of a large wooden music box (three-octave). The keys are connected to hammers which strike a graduated set of metal (usually steel) plates suspended over wooden resonators
Brass A brass instrument is a musical instrument whose sound is produced by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips. Brass instruments are also called labrosones, literally meaning "lip-vibrated instruments"
8 Horns The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about 12–13 feet of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player (or less frequently, a hornist)
4 Trumpets The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are constructed of brass tubing bent twice into an oblong shape, and are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a
3 Trombones The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate. The trombone is usually characterised by a telescopic slide with which the player varies the length of the tube to change pitches, although the valve
2 Tubas The tuba is the largest and lowest pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the ophicleide. Tuba is Latin for trumpet or horn. The
Percussion A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement, shaken, rubbed, scraped, or by any other action which sets the object into vibration. The term usually applies to an object used in a rhythmic context or with musical intent
6 Timpani Timpani are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper, and more recently, constructed of more lightweight fiberglass. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet. Unlike (two players)
Bass drum A bass drum is a relatively large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The bass drums are of variable sizes and are used in several musical genres (see usage below). Three major types of bass drums can be distinguished: the large orchestral bass drum, the smaller 'kick' drum, and the pitched bass drums. The type usually
Snare drum The snare drum is a drum with strands of snares made of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or gut cords stretched across the drumhead, typically the bottom. Pipe and tabor and some military snare drums often have a second set of snares on the bottom side of the top (batter) head to make a "brighter" sound, and the Brazilian
Cymbals Cymbals are a common percussion instrument. Cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys; see cymbal making for a discussion of their manufacture. The greater majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sound a definite note . Cymbals are used in many ensembles (crash and suspended)
Triangle The triangle is an idiophone type of musical instrument in the percussion family. It is a bar of metal, usually steel in modern instruments, bent into a triangle shape. The instrument is usually held by a loop of some form of thread or wire at the top curve
Wood block A woodblock is essentially a small piece of slit drum made from a single piece of wood and used as a percussion instrument. It is struck with a stick, making a characteristically percussive sound
Castanets
Tam-tam
Xylophone
Glockenspiel

Historical overview

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