Suite from the Ballet “The Golden Age”. Op. 22a. Score

The suite took its final form while being prepared for publication at Muzgiz. The author’s hand-written
score of the suite from the ballet The Golden Age, designated as Op. 22, is stored in the Glinka All-Union Museum Association of Musical Culture. The work on the manuscript ended, presumably, on the day or shortly before it was allowed for engraving indicated on the cover of this copy: “Engraving permitted. 21/VI 1934”. As already mentioned, the score was published by Muzgiz in 1935. In 1936, the orchestral parts of the suite were put out by the same publishers. This final version of the suite consists of four movements. The names in the manuscript are given in Russian, whereas in the publication they are given in Russian and French.

We are giving them in accordance with the 1935 edition:

No. 1. Introduction.
No. 2. Adagio.
No. 3. Polka.
No. 4. Danse.

In the first movement of the suite, No. 1 and No. 2 of the ballet are combined (they are performed one after the other without a break), while the next movements correspond to Nos. 9, 30 and 11. The titles from the ballet could have been replaced with neutral genre names to avoid reminding people of the unsuccessful politicised libretto. The movements of the suite are arranged by analogy with the classical four-movement cycle: the Adagio, exquisite in its orchestral expressiveness, and the ironical Polka are in the middle, flanked by more energetic movements that are denser in their orchestral texture—the fugue-like Introduction and the Dance in Russian folk style that rounds off the suite.

Orchestra:

Piccolo, Flauto, Oboe, Corno inglese, Clarinetto piccolo (Es), Clarinetto (B), Clarinetto basso (B), Sassofono soprano (B), Fagotto, Contrafagotto
3 Trombe (B), 4 Corni (F), 3 Tromboni, Tuba
Timpani, Triangolo, Legno, Tamburino, Tamburo, Piatti, Cassa, Tam-tam
Silofono
Baritono (B)
Bajan
Violini I, Violini II, Viole, Violoncelli, Contrabassi

Duration:

16 min.

This publication is based on the Suite of The Golden Age (D. Shostakovich, Collected Works, in 42 volumes, Vol. 26, Muzyka Publishers, Moscow, 1987), collated with the author’s manuscript kept at the Glinka All-Union Museum Association of Musical Culture (VMOMK) (rec. gr. 32, f. 39), and with the score of the ballet (D. Shostakovich, New Collected Works, in 150 volumes, Vols. 60a, 60b, DSCH, Moscow, 2011).

In contrast to the ballet, the suite contains a number of author’s changes relating to dynamic nuances, articulation marks, tempos, etc., which are taken into consideration in this edition and printed in accordance with the author’s manuscript and the first edition (Muzgiz, Moscow, 1935). All the discrepancies between the score of the suite and the score of the ballet are specified in the comments.