Symphony No. 5 (Shostakovich)
The Symphony No. 5 in D minor (Opus 47) by Dmitri Shostakovich was written between April and July of 1937 and first performed in Leningrad by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra under Yevgeny Mravinsky, on 21 November that year. The work was a huge success, and is said to have received an ovation of half an hour (or a whole hour, according to Mstislav Rostropovich[citation needed]). It is still one of his most popular works.
Orchestration
The work is written for:
- Brass
- 4 F French horns
- 3 Trumpets
- 2 tenor trombones
- Bass trombone
- Bb Tuba
Movements
The work is approximately 45 minutes in length, and has four movements:
The first movement begins with slow alternating sections of restlessness and serenity. Shostakovich's refined compositional abilities are shown through the build up to the climactic sections, becoming increasingly intense through the tight development of reiterated musical motifs. The movement starts out with a battle between the high strings and the low strings, and is rather light until about halfway through, where low-pitched piano octaves (the only time the piano is featured in this movement) supported by brass, marks the transition point for it becoming more tense and dramatic, emphasising the heavy Mahlerian influences.
The second movement is a lively waltz whose melody is frequently ornamented with playful grace notes. The movement progresses from a light dance in the bassoon and low strings to a majestic triumph in the brass, with a violin solo and a flute solo shortly afterwards. The melody from the beginning between the bassoon and strings is then repeated with pizzicato violins supported by the bassoon. It ends with the brass playing.
The third movement is very long, slow and mostly quiet. While it has its tense moments in the beginning, it becomes very beautiful towards the end. This movement is one of the better examples of Shostakovich's most emotive writings. Its sedate themes, colors, and mood provide good contrast for the upcoming fourth and final movement.
The fourth movement starts out with loud beating timpani and a brass melody that is enhanced by the strings and flutes. The strings then come in with a fun and exciting melody with little snippets of the opening. This reaches a spectacular climax early on, beginning with an enormous tam-tam crash and timpani pounding on two drums at once. A tense conclusion leads into the quieter section of the piece. The solo horn passage seems to exhibit the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, before a straining string melody takes over. The autobiographical tenets can only be speculated. This section ends and the short snare drum and timpani solo introduces the beginning of the conclusion of the movement. The fullness of the orchestra is felt throughout the last few minutes of the piece, and ends in an ostensibly triumphant, majestic, and tense climactic ending (see "Reception," below). The last two measures are a percussion solo featuring the timpani and the bass drum.
Reception
A journalist gave the work the subtitle A Soviet Artist’s Reply to Just Criticism, a reference to the denunciation of the composer in 1936[1]. It was officially interpreted as a Bildungsroman describing "the making of a man"[citation needed], with an appropriately optimistic conclusion. Alexei Tolstoy wrote that, "the personality... begins to resonate with the epoch... Our audience responds enthusiastically to all that is bright, clear, joyous, optimistic, life-affirming".[2]
However, this final movement, often being criticized for sounding shrill, is declared in Testimony to be a parody of shrillness, representing "forced rejoicing". In the words of the composer: "There is a feeling of rejoicing, but it is one of forced rejoicing. It is as if someone is beating you with a stick and telling you 'You're celebrating!' over and over again. Eventually, you walk away muttering 'Yes, I'm celebrating.'" This is symbolised by the repeated "A"'s at the end of the final movement in the violin and upper woodwind sections[citation needed]. It includes a quotation from the composer's song "Rebirth", accompanying the words "A barbarian painter" who "blackens the genius's painting".[3] In the song, the barbarian's paint falls away and the original painting is reborn. It has been suggested that the barbarian and the genius are Stalin and Shostakovich respectively[citation needed]. The work is largely sombre despite the composer's official claim that he wished to write a positive work.
References
- ^ Volkov, Solomon (2004) Shostakovich and Stalin: The Extraordinary Relationship Between the Great Composer and the Brutal Dictator, p.183. Little, Brown. ISBN 0-316-86141-3.
- ^ Quoted in Richard Taruskin, Interpreting Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony, p. 32. In Fanning (ed) Shostakovich Studies.
- ^ Wilson, Elizabeth (1994) p. 127. Shostakovich: A Life Remembered. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-04465-1.
External links
- Information on Shostakovich's fifth symphony
- Sample recordings of the first and second movements by the New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein conducting.