Dmitri
Shostakovich

The Collected Works of 1979-1987 significantly expanded the idea of the scope of Shostakovich’s compositional heritage. It included previously unknown compositions: an unfinished comical opera The Great Lightning, music to the cartoon film The Story of the Silly Baby Mouse, Op. 56, Two Romances to Verses by Mikhail Lermontov, Op. 84, the romance “Spring, Spring...,” words by Alexander Pushkin, Op. 128, Greek songs (1952¬1953), and much more.

Nevertheless, for various reasons of both a practical and ideological nature, the first collection of Shostakovich’s works proved very incomplete. It did not include the extensive ballet scores of the end of the 1920s-first half of the 1930s, which the publishers did not have at their disposal, such major works as “Five Interludes from the Opera Katerina Izmailova”, Op. 114(a); and Eight British and American Folk Songs. Moreover, due to time restrictions, such works as Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (first version) or “Anti¬Formalist Rayok” could not be published.

The publication was subjected to censorship distortions, in particular, the author’s dedications to outstanding Russian musicians Mstislav Rostropovich (cello concertos) and Galina Vishnevskaya (“Satires” and Seven Poems by Alexander Blok), to artist Peter Williams (Quartet No. 4), to composer Mikhail Kvadri, who was sentenced to death by firing squad in 1929 (Symphony No. 1), and to conductor and pianist Maxim Shostakovich (Concertino for Two Pianos, Piano Concerto No. 2) were removed. The author’s will was grossly violated during publication of Symphony No. 13, in the first part of which was printed the text of a poem changed after the premiere and rejected by the composer.

The arbitrariness of the editors was reflected in the contents of the introductory articles (“Editor’s Note”), from which, in particular, the names of the first performers were struck out, who were living abroad at that time and declared by Soviet propaganda to be “ideological turncoats”, “renegades” and “non¬repatriates”: Kirill Kondrashin, Rudolf Barshai, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, and others. Nor were the names of the authors of the introductory articles published for censorship reasons. During the publication process, the members of its editorial commission were changed, in particular, the composer’s son Maxim Shostakovich, who had left the Soviet Union, was excluded from it.

New Collected Works, which began being published a quarter of a century after Shostakovich’s death, fundamentally differs from Shostakovich’s Collected Works in 42 volumes primarily in its full embrace of the composer’s creative work. It includes all his works known today, as well as most of Shostakovich’s instrumented compositions by other authors, adaptations, arrangements, etc.

Among the compositions of different genres published, which are not included in the earlier Collected Works, are Eight British and American Folk Songs, “Anti¬Formalist Rayok”, “Poem of the Motherland,” Op. 74, Two Pieces (1. Elegy, and 2. Polka) for string quartet, Moderate for cello and piano, marches for wind orchestra of the 1940s¬1960s, adaptation of Russian folk songs “The Cudgel” and “Hey, Let’s Bang!”, survived fragments of the youth opera The Gypsies on the poem by Alexander Pushkin, and children’s compositions for the piano.

The scores of the opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (first version, Op. 29, 1932) and ballets The Golden Age, Op. 22, The Bolt, Op. 27 and The Limpid Stream, Op. 39 are being published for the first time. Five Interludes from the Opera Katerina Izmailova, Suite for Variety Symphony Orchestra in eight movements, the author’s version of Six Romances on Verses by British Poets for bass soloist and big symphony orchestra, Op. 62(a), and a fragment of Adagio from an incomplete symphony of 1934 are also being published for the first time. This publication also included previously unknown chamber works, for example, fugues of the 1930s for piano, Allegretto for string quartet, the piano version of Scherzo (Op. 1) and Themes with Variations in B flat major, Op. 3. New Collected Works also includes unpublished parts of incidental and film music, author’s piano arrangements of symphonies and other orchestral compositions, as well as two string quartets; the instrumentation of works by Domenico Scarlatti, Ludwig van Beethoven, Gioacchino Rossini, Jean Weckerlin, Georges Bizet, Ruggiero Leoncavallo, Gaetano Braga, Johann Strauss, Vincent Youmans, Robert Schumann, Alexei Verstovsky, Alexander Gurilyov, Alexander Dargomyzhsky, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky¬Korsakov, Semyon Gulak¬Artemovsky, Mikhail Ippolitov¬Ivanov, Alexander Davidenko, Matvei Blanter, Isaak Dunayevsky, Veniamin Fleishchman, Boris Tishchenko, the piano transcriptions of symphonies by Igor Stravinsky and Artur Honegger, and many more.

The New Collected Works of Dmitri Shostakovich also includes works found in archives after preparation and publication of the draft edition: Suite from the Opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District in three movements, Op. 29(a), compiled by the composer in 1932 immediately after completion of the opera, two parts of the authentic score for the stage revue Hypothetically Murdered, Op. 31 (1931): No. 1. Overture and No. 2. Destruction of the City; Seven Adaptations of Finnish Folk Songs (Suites on Finnish Themes, 1939), Suite No. 2 for Jazz Orchestra in three movements (1938), Interlude from the Opera Katerina Izmailova (between scenes 6 and 7) instrumented for a symphony orchestra without a band (1970s), Unfinished Opera Orango, Recently found in the archives of the city of Moscow previously unknown "Impromptu" for viola and piano.

The entire publication is divided into 15 series according to genre:

Series I. Symphonies (Vols. 1-15—scores; Vols. 16-30—arrangements for piano four hands and for two pianos four hands).

Series II. Orchestral Compositions.

Series III. Instrumental Concertos.

Series IV. Compositions for the Stage.

Series V. Suites from Operas and Ballets.

Series VI. Compositions for Choir and Orchestra.

Series VII. Unaccompanied Choral Compositions. Arrangements of Russian Folk Songs.

Series VIII. Compositions for Solo Voice(s) with Orchestra.

Series IX. Chamber Compositions for Voice.

Series X. Chamber Instrumental Ensembles.

Series XI. Instrumental Sonatas.

Series XII. Piano Compositions.

Series XIII. Incidental Music.

Series XIV. Film Music.

Series XV. Instrumentations of Works by Other Composers.

Each volume is accompanied by scientific textological comments and articles containing detailed factual information about how the composition came about, the composer’s impressions, information on the concert or stage life of the works, the first performers, dedications, sources of the published text, the whereabouts of the author’s manuscripts, the first edition, as well as arrangements that have become particularly popular, etc.

Facsimiles of the preserved author’s manuscripts of Shostakovich’s numerous outlines and rough drafts, which are of immense value for studying his creative work, as well as the musical interpretation of these author’s manuscripts, are being published in New Collected Works for the first time. The interpretation principles used are explained in special articles.

Shostakovich’s New Collected Works is being published in two languages—Russian and English. The English names of the compositions used in the publication are based on those that are generally accepted and already reinforced in international practice. The texts of vocal compositions are printed in Russian and accompanied by a Latin transliteration.

The conception of New Collected Works was drawn up by the first editor-in-chief of DSCH Publishers, M.A. Iakubov.

During preparation of New Collected Works, the author’s manuscripts and authorized copies, proof sheets and printed copies of works with the author’s corrections, lifetime editions, as well as texts from Collected Works in 42 volumes are used. Obvious mistakes in the manuscript and printed sources are corrected without specification. More complicated, disputed and dubious differences among various sources are stipulated in the comments to each volume. Editorial additions are given in square brackets.

Some features of the music text of Shostakovich’s works require special explanation, primarily, his scores. After assimilating several different writing styles at an early age, which were characteristic of the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, the composer retained them throughout his creative life. For example, for the author’s manuscripts of his scores, the trumpet parts are usually located higher than the French horn groups; he always indicated 4/4 metre with the letter C, and alla breve, only with a crossed-out letter ₵; he wrote tremolo for the percussion instruments as a trill, inserting the tr sign above each note, etc.

In addition, Shostakovich did not always keep to the standard order of instrument arrangement in the percussion group; he indicated several specific techniques for the percussion instruments only in Russian (“with a timpani stick”, “one against the other”, etc.); the composer also resorted to Russian terminology when introducing instruments not typical of the symphony orchestra into the score: “Siren” (in Symphony No. 2), “small domras”, “alto domras” (in the opera The Nose), “bass balalaika” (in the opera The Gamblers), and so on. Finally, for many years, when changing the metre, Shostakovich carefully inserted indications such as quarter = quarter, eighth = eighth, etc. into his compositions.

Some features of the author’s unique writing style have been retained in most of the lifetime editions of Shostakovich’s works, but in the first Collected Works, an attempt was made to unify all the details of the music text in keeping with contemporary notational norms. New Collected Works largely follows Shostakovich’s author’s text, retaining all its specific features, except in those cases when this could prevent an understanding of the author’s intentions.