Symphony No. 9. Op. 70, Symphony Fragment of 1945 Sans Op. Score.

Symphony No 9

Form:

1. Allegro
2. Moderato
3. Presto attacca
4. Largo attacca
5. Allegretto

Instrumentation:

Piccolo, 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets (B flat and A), 2 Bassoons

4 Horns, 2 Trumpets, 3 Trombones, Tuba

Timpani, Triangle, Tambourine, Side drum, Cymbals, Bass drum

1st Violins (16–20), 2nd Violins (14–18), Violas (12–16), Cellos (12–16), Double-basses (10–14).

Duration:

Approx. 22 min.

Composed:

Dmitri Shostakovich precisely recorded the total time taken to finish the score of the Ninth Symphony in his manuscript, in which he entered the date when work on the first movement began and the dates when all the movements were completed. He began the first movement on 2 August and finished it on 5 August in Moscow, then composed the next three movements at the Composers’ House in Ivanovo, whereby he finished the second movement on 12 August, the third on 20 August, and the fourth on 21 August. The last page of the author’s manuscript of the score bears the inscription: “D. Shostakovich 30 VIII 1945 Moscow.” Thus, it took Shostakovich about one month to write the score for his shortest symphony.

The following sources were used in preparing this edition: the author’s manuscript of the score kept in Dmitri Shostakovich’s private archive in the Russian State Archives of Literature and Art (rec. gr. 2048, inv. 1, f. 12); proof sheet of an edition of the score with the author’s corrections, dated 1946, kept in Dmitri Shostakovich’s private archive in the Glinka State Central Museum of Musical Culture (rec. gr. 32, f. 12), all the editions of the score printed during Shostakovich’s lifetime in the Soviet Union, and the edition included in the first posthumous Collected Works of Dmitri Shostakovich (Vol. 5, Muzyka Publishers, Moscow, 1979).

The Symphony Fragment of 1945

The composition for symphony orchestra, published herewith, was discovered by the author of these lines at the end of 2003, amidst unidentified manuscripts in Dmitri Shostakovich’s Archive. The manuscript consists of an orchestra score made up as follows:

2 Piccolo, 2 Flauti, 3 Oboi, Corno inglese, Clarinetto piccolo (Es), 3 Clarinetti (B), Clarinetto basso, 3 Fagotti, Contrafagotto
4 Trombe, 4 Corni, 4 Tromboni, 2 Tube
Timpani, Tamburo, Piatti, Silofono
Violini I-II, Viole, Violoncelli, Contrabassi

Externally, it amounts to six double, folded one inside the other, large format score sheets (paper “PASSANTINO BRANDS No. 30-30 Staves; printed in the U.S.A.”; 46.5 х 31.8), written in Shostakovich’s hand, with the author’s pagination 1-24. The author’s manuscript contains 322 bars (one crossed out) of note text, written in black (the first 192 bars) and blue ink; the bar-lines are done in pencil. On the first sheet, Shostakovich indicates the tempo: Allegro non troppo; the key of the work—E flat major, the time-signature—4/4. There are rehearsal numbers from 1-16 (further on they are absent). The note text breaks off at the end of page 24; thus, the rest was either lost or, which is more likely, never written down.

The sheets were folded in the author’s manuscript of the piano score of the opera The Gamblers, which is dated late 1942–early 1943. The external similarity of both manuscripts (black and blue ink, handwriting, paper) indicated without any doubt that they belong to the same period of time. A search for Shostakovich’s unrealized symphonic ideas that were closest in terms of time to the period in question led to the Ninth Symphony, which as is well known was written in more than one stage, and made it possible to identify the manuscript as the first unfinished version of this Symphony.

The Symphony Fragment of 1945 is being published in accordance with the author’s manuscript kept in Dmitri Shostakovich’s Archive, rec. gr. 1, sec. 1, f. 295.