“Spanish Songs”. Arrangement

“Spanish Songs”

Arrangement for mezzo-soprano and piano

Shostakovich’s interest in Spanish music in many of his works, both in direct relation to the theme of the work and in non-programmatic instrumental works.

Russian reference guides date this work to 1956 without any explanations.

The first performance of Spanish Songs took place in Leningrad in the Small Hall of the Philharmonic on 27 January 1957. They were performed by coloratura soprano Deborah Pantofel-Nechetskaya and pianist Boris Abramovich. The cycle was performed on 14 November 1957 in the same place by baritone Sergei Shaposhnikov (Ye. Lebedev performed the piano part).