Suite from the Opera The Nose. Op. 15a. Score. Overture and Finale for Erwin Dressel’s Opera Armer Columbus. Op. 23. Score. Piano score.

Suite from the Opera The Nose

Suites based on earlier compositions occupy an important place in Dmitri Shostakovich’s creative heritage. However, the Suite based on the opera The Nose is a special case in point. Shostakovich began
writing the opera in the summer of 1927 and finished it in the summer of 1928, but even before its completion, by 5 June 1928, he had joined seven fragments of the first and second acts into a Suite for concert performance (Op. 15a), consisting of the following movements:

1. Overture (Introduction to Act One).
2. Kovalyov’s Aria (excerpt from the scene in the newspaper editorial office, Act Two, Scene 5).
3. Entr’acte from Act One (between Scenes 2 and 3).
4. Entr’acte from Act Two (between Scenes 5 and 6).
5. Ivan’s Song (beginning of the scene in Kovalyov’s Apartment, Act Two, Scene 6).
6. Kovalyov’s Monologue (from the same scene).
7. Galop (Act One, instrumental episode between Scenes 3 and 4).

Orchestra:

Flauto (= Flauto piccolo), Oboe (= Corno inglese), Clarinetto (B) (= Clarinetto piccolo—Es, Clarinetto basso—B), Fagotto (= Contrafagotto)
Corno (F), Tromba (B), Trombone
Triangolo, Tamburino, Castagnetti, Tamburo, Tom-tom, Raganella, Piatto sospeso, Piatti, Cassa, Tam-tam
Campanelli, Silofono, Flessatono
Balalaika, 2 Arpe, Piano
Tenore solo, Baritono solo
Violini I, Violini II, Viole, Violoncelli, Contrabassi

This publication is based on the edition of the Suite in Dmitri Shostakovich, Collected Works, Vol. 23, Muzyka Publishers, Moscow, 1986, collated with the author’s manuscript of the Suite kept in Dmitri Shostakovich’s Archive, rec. gr. 1, section 1, f. 20. When necessary, reference is given to the score of the opera in Dmitri Shostakovich, New Collected Works, Vol. 50, DSCH, Moscow, 2015 and the piano score in Dmitri Shostakovich, New Collected Works, Vol. 51, DSCH, Moscow, 2015.

Overture and Finale To Erwin Dressel’s Opera Armer Columbus

The Overture (Entr’acte) and Finale to Erwin Dressel’s opera Armer Columbus (Poor Columbus), Op. 23 (originally Op. 19), was written at the beginning of 1929 at the request of MALEGOT’s music director
Samuel Samosud for the work’s staging.

Orchestra:

Piccolo (= Flauto III), 2 Flauti (II = Piccolo II), 2 Oboi, Corno inglese, Clarinetto piccolo (Es), 2 Clarinetti (B), Clarinetto basso (B), 3 Fagotti, Contrafagotto
4 Corni (F), 4 Trombe (B), 3 Tromboni, Tuba
Timpani, Triangolo, Castagnetti, Tamburino, Tom-tom, Tamburo, Piatti, Cassa, Tam-tam
Flessatono, Silofono
Coro misto
Violini I, Violini II, Viole, Violoncelli, Contrabassi

In the 1970s, Gennady Rozhdestvensky found the author’s manuscript of the Overture, which was thought to be lost, in the archive of MALEGOT (now Mikhailovsky Theatre), and on 3 February 1977 performed it for the first time in Tallinn as a separate concert piece. He also performed both pieces abroad for the first time on 4 April 1979 in London. The concert was broadcast from Royal Festival Hall on BBC.95

The score of the Overture and Finale to Erwin Dressel’s opera Armer Columbus was published in Dmitri
Shostakovich’s Collected Works in 1986 (Vol. 23, Muzyka Publishers, Moscow).

The piano arrangement of the Overture has never been published.

This publication is based on the edition in Dmitri Shostakovich, Collected Works, Vol. 23, Muzyka Publishers, Moscow, 1968, collated with the author’s manuscripts. The author’s manuscript of the score of the Overture is kept in the Literary Drama Sector of Mikhailovsky Theatre in St. Petersburg— inv. No. 1375, while the author’s manuscript of the score of the Finale is kept in the Central Music Library of the State Academic Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg—inv. No. 20165 (a copy is kept in Dmitri Shostakovich’s Archive, rec. gr. 1, section 2, f. 96).

The author’s piano score of the Overture, kept in the same Mikhailovsky Theatre under the same No. 1375, is published in Appendix I. With the rare exception, there are no articulation marks, tempo or dynamic signs in the author’s manuscript of the piano score; inaccuracies are also found in the notation.

For this edition, the piano score has been edited (in keeping with the score) by the present editor.