Symphony n° 5 of Chostakovitch

The Symphony nº 5 in minor D , COp 47, of Dmitri Chostakovitch was written in three months in 1937, and was created on November 21st of the same year with Leningrad under the direction of Evgeni Mravinski.

The symphony is divided into four movements:

Moderato
Allegretto
Largo
Allegro not troppo

Data sheet

Title: Symphony n° 5 in minor D, COp 47
Composition: 1937
Creation: November 21st 1937 by the Philharmonic orchestra of Leningrad under the direction of Evgeni Mravinski
Lasted: 45 minutes

Orchestration

3 flutes, 3 oboes, 4 clarinets, 2 bassoons; 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, 1 tuba
drinking cups, percussions, xylophone, piano/celesta, toothing-stone
cords

History

Composition

A long time, it was used as tool of propaganda for the Soviet public , then international. According to certain musicographes, dires of Chostakovitch according to which the symphony is one answer practices of a Soviet artist to right criticisms , or that the type-setter was not content with his Fourth Symphony and made a point of being included/understood greater number - All was not of equal value in my preceding works. There were failures. In my Fifth Symphony , I made an effort so that the Soviet listener feels in my music an effort in direction of intelligibility and simplicity - are only allegations of active biographers. For others, reality would make more these remarks: The majority of my symphonies are monuments. Too many people, on our premises, perished one does not know where. And no one does not know where they are buried. Even their close relations do not know it. Where can one set up a monument to them? Only the music can do it. I thus dedicate all my music to them .

Creation and reception

At all events, with the opus 47, Chostakovitch joins again with the tradition which goes from Moussorgski to Miaskovski, while passing by Borodine and, especially, Tchaïkovski. But it is also an autobiographical work which the drama lived and overcome by the type-setter crosses, and who concludes himself by the final cry from victory or challenge. In full period of the Stalinist purgings , when the collective anguish was with its apogee, the emotional tension of the symphony was perceived by the audience with an exceptional acuity. A quasi delirious enthusiasm accommodated the creation of this work, in 1937, at the time of the twentieth birthday of the Révolution. The Soviet leaders found there a glare in conformity with the esthetics of the Party and the people there lute the message of despair and loneliness which the type-setter had wanted to transmit.

Analyzes

All in this symphony speaks about the drama: imposing architecture of the topics, powerful tension of the cords in unison, tearing pain of the melodies.

Moderato

The initial Moderato starts with a gun shredded and sinister in the cords, which forms the base of the whole movement.

Allegretto

Only note of color and humor, the second movement, the Allegretto , is a grotesque dance which does not bring any relief, but scoffs itself.

Largo

The Largo which follows is the major movement of work. Pathetic meditation, emanation sincere and personal of musical emotion which left the public of the first in tears, says one.

Allegro not troppo

The final movement is trompeusement glorious. It was in the center many discussions: concession with the political pressure or irony of a triumphal walk of the dictatorship on the oppressed people? Of a triumphing mood, it deviates with dark and the disaster to obviously finish on a character “large-finish”.

Selective discography

References

See too

Dmitri Chostakovitch
List of works of Dmitri Chostakovitch

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