Five Interludes from the Opera “Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District”/”Katerina Izmailova”

Five Interludes from the Opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District /Katerina Izmailova

Op. 29/114(a)

The new suite from the opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District/Katerina Izmailova, Op. 29/114(a), appeared in the form of an independent orchestral composition after a new version of the opera was prepared in 1956. It is possible that in order to distinguish this work from the Suite in ternary form of 1932 and from the attempts of other composers, the composer called the cycle “interludes” rather than “suite”.

When preparing Five Interludes as an independent orchestral work, Shostakovich introduced many changes into the score relating to new combinations of the interludes, not within the framework of the opera performance, but within a single symphonic cycle, as well as to the way they sounded on the stage of the concert hall, and not in the orchestra pit.