“Murzilka” for Piano

“Murzilka”

For piano

The holograph does not give the date of composition or the opus number of this piano piece. The approximate time of writing can only be determined from indirect indications, such as testimonials by the composer’s relatives, the character and genre, as well as an analysis of the paper and ink used. Furthermore, Shostakovich rarely composed children’s pieces, so it can also be presumed that Murzilka was written at the same time as the pieces for A Child’s Exercise Book in 1944-1945.

The composition was published for the first time in 1983 in Volume 39 of Collected Works without indication of the opus number.

The first recording in the Soviet Union came out in the 1980s performed by Viktoria Postnikova, while the first foreign recording was done in London in 1989 by Martin Jones.