Overview

The Symphony No. 14 (Op. 135) by Dmitri Shostakovich was completed in the spring of 1969, and was premiered later that year.

Introduction

The Symphony No. 14 (Op. 135) by Dmitri Shostakovich was completed in the spring of 1969, and was premiered later that year. It is a work for soprano, bass and a small string orchestra with percussion, consisting of eleven linked settings of poems by four authors. Most of the poems deal with the theme of death, particularly that of unjust or early death. They were set in Russian, although two other versions of the work exist with the texts all back-translated from Russian either into their original languages or into German. The symphony is dedicated to Benjamin Britten (who gave the UK premiere the following year).

Instrumentation

Besides the soloists, the symphony is scored for a chamber orchestra consisting only of strings and percussion. The strings consist of ten violins, four violas, three cellos, and two double basses, and the percussion section (three players) includes wood block, castanets, whip, soprano, alto and tenor tom-toms, xylophone, Tubular bells, vibraphone, and celesta. Interestingly, the percussion section does not include common instruments such as timpani, bass drum, cymbals, or triangle.

Movements

The work has eleven linked movements, each a setting of a poem:

Symphony No. 14, Op. 135

Much of the setting is in a quasi-parlando style.

  1. Adagio. "De profundis" (Federico García Lorca)
  2. Allegretto. "Malagueña" (Federico García Lorca)
  3. Allegro molto. "Loreley" (Guillaume Apollinaire)
  4. Adagio. "Le Suicidé" (Guillaume Apollinaire)
  5. Allegretto. "Les Attentives I" (On watch) (Guillaume Apollinaire)
  6. Adagio. "Les Attentives II" (Madam, look!) (Guillaume Apollinaire)
  7. Adagio. "À la Santé" (Guillaume Apollinaire)
  8. Allegro. "Réponse des Cosaques Zaporogues au Sultan de Constantinople" (Guillaume Apollinaire)
  9. Andante. "O, Del'vig, Del'vig!" (Wilhelm Küchelbecker)
  10. Largo. "Der Tod des Dichters" (Rainer Maria Rilke)
  11. Moderato. "Schlußstück" (Rainer Maria Rilke)

Symphony No. 14, Op. 135

The opening bars of the symphony, played by the first violins.

The first movement begins with the violins playing a theme reminiscent of the Dies irae, which plays a prominent role in the history of Russian music. Fragments of the theme are developed in various sections throughout the symphony; it recurs in its entirety in the climactic penultimate movement.

The work shows Shostakovich's willingness to adopt new techniques. All but two of the movements include themes using tone rows, which he uses to convey a sense of the abstract. He also makes dramatic use of tone clusters, such as the fortissimo chord illustrating the lily growing from the suicide's mouth in the fourth movement.

Overview

Composition

The Fourteenth Symphony was a creative response to Modest Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death, which Shostakovich had orchestrated in 1962, as well as to the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia following Alexander Dubček's Prague Spring reforms there.[2] Like Mussorgsky, Shostakovich brings back the subject of death in various images and situations. The Mussorgsky cycle contains only four songs — too few to do justice to Mussorgsky's concept, Shostakovich felt. He proceeded to expand it by selecting 11 poems by Federico Garcia Lorca, Guillaume Apollinaire, Wilhelm Küchelbecker and Rainer Maria Rilke.

Shostakovich attached great importance to this work, commenting in a letter to Glikman: "Everything that I have written until now over these long years has been a preparation for this work."[4] He added that he intended the symphony to prove a counterweight to the positive presentation of death in music:

"In part, I am trying to polemicise with the great classics who touched upon the theme of death in their work.... Remember the death of Boris Godunov. When ... he dies, then a kind of brightening sets in. Remember Verdi's Otello. When the whole tragedy ends, and Desdemona and Otello die, we also experience a beautiful tranquility. Remember Aida. When the tragic demise of the hero and heroine occurs, it is softened with radiant music."

In Mussorgsky's song cycle Shostakovich found a model that spoke out against death; in his symphony, he attempted to expand this protest still further. The composer wrote in his preface to the score:

I want listeners to reflect upon my new symphony ... to realise that they must lead pure and fruitful lives for the glory of their Motherland, their people and the most progressive ideas motivating our socialist society. That is what I was thinking about as I wrote my new work. I want my listeners, as they leave the hall after hearing my symphony, to think that life is truly beautiful.

While Shostakovich's intent may have been to emphasise that life is truly beautiful, he did so by starkly underlining the opposite — that the end of life is ugly and irredeemably negative. Toward this end, Shostakovich's music is sober in nature, and the composer was soon to extend these ideas in his last four string quartets as musical reflections on the themes of suffering and death. As in his orchestration of Songs, his orchestration of the symphony is spare but extremely imaginative. His writing for the voice is in small intervals, with much tonal repetition and attention paid to natural declamation. This practice is taken directly from Mussorgsky.

Premieres

The work received its official premiere in Leningrad on 29 September 1969 by the Moscow Chamber Orchestra under Rudolf Barshai. Four singers were involved in the first presentations of the work: the sopranos Galina Vishnevskaya and Margarita Miroshnikova, and the basses Mark Reshetinru and Yevgeny Vladimirov. An initial performance, preceding the official Moscow and Leningrad premieres, was given by Miroshnikova and Vladimirov, but sources differ as to the vocalists in the official premieres. The official premiere recording on Melodiya was with Miroshnikova and Vladimirov.[10]

The pre-premiere performance was notable for the commotion caused in the audience by Pavel Apostolov, one of the composer's most vicious critics, who suffered a heart attack or stroke. He did not die during the concert, as is often claimed (Shostakovich himself thought this to be the case), but a month or so afterwards.

The UK premiere was held at the Aldeburgh Festival in 1970 and was conducted by the dedicatee, Benjamin Britten.

Criticism

The composer himself was initially unsure what to call the work, eventually designating it a symphony rather than a song cycle to emphasise the unity of the work musically and philosophically: most of the poems deal with the subject of mortality (he rejected the title oratorio because the work lacks a chorus; it is not a choral symphony for the same reason).

Not all the movements are linked; there are a few breaks between movements that effectively divide the work into a "conventional" four-movement structure.

Many at the time (including Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Lev Lebedinsky) criticised the work as too pessimistic; Wilson argues that on the contrary "through careful ordering of the texts [he] conveys a specific message of protest at the arbitrary power exercised by dictators in sending the innocent to their deaths" (p. 411).

Shostakovich reportedly answered his critics in Testimony:

[My critics] read this idea in the Fourteenth Symphony: "death is all-powerful." They wanted the finale to be comforting, to say that death is only the beginning. But it's not a beginning, it's the real end, there will be nothing afterwards, nothing. I feel you must look truth right in the eyes ... To deny death and its power is useless. Deny it or not, you'll die anyway ... It's stupid to protest against death as such, but you can and must protest against violent death. It's bad when people die before their time from disease or poverty, but it's worse when a man is killed by another man.

The absence from the symphony of redemption or transcendence drew protests not only in the Soviet Union but also in the West, where the work was considered both obsessive and limited spiritually. Shostakovich was determined to avoid false consolation. This intent was a prime stimulus in writing the work. Some have found that the work's embracing of human mortality has been expressed with tremendous clarity.[12] Others have found the work bleakly pessimistic and, especially in its opening De Profundis, virtually nihilistic. Regardless of opinion, the Fourteenth in performance is agreed to be a profound and powerful experience.

Lyrics

肖斯塔科维奇《第十四交响曲》歌词
加西亚·洛尔卡、阿波里奈尔、邱赫尔贝克、里尔克 词
邹仲之 译

【说明】俄罗斯作曲家肖斯塔科维奇的《第十四交响曲(Symphony No.14)》(Op.135)作于1969年,由(女高音)、(男低音)和室内乐队演出。作为十一个乐章歌词的十一首诗,前二首作者为西班牙诗人加西亚·洛尔卡(Garcia Lorca,1889-1936),第三至八首作者为法国诗人纪尧姆·阿波里奈尔(Guillaume Apollinaire,1880-1918),第九首作者为俄国诗人威廉·邱赫尔贝克(Wilhelm KÜchelbecker,1797-1846),最后二首作者为奥地利诗人里尔克(Rainer Maria Rilke,1875-1926)。作曲家对部分诗作了删节。此译文曾刊登于2005年第12期三联《爱乐》。

第一乐章 大地深处

(男低音)
一百个相爱的人
在干土地下
长眠。
安达卢西亚有许多⑴
长长的红土路。
在科尔多瓦的绿橄榄树林里⑵
竖起一百副十字架,
纪念他们。
一百个相爱的人
长眠。
 
第二乐章 马拉加尼亚

(女高音)
死神
进进出出
酒馆……
黑色的马
和阴险的人
在吉他的泥泞路上
跋涉。
海洋展现一幅
狂暴松树的图画,
闻得到盐
和血。
死神
进进出出……
……酒馆。
 
第三乐章 罗雷莱
(二重唱)
男人们涌向
金发的女巫
他们爱她
快要发疯
主教传召她
到他的法庭
可是她的美
使他动了仁慈之心
 
罗雷莱,你的眼睛
如此动人
你用什么巫术
使他们走向邪恶
 
让我死,我的主教
我的眼睛该受诅咒
无论谁看到我
就会永远失魂
我的主教,我的眼睛
是可怕的火
你必须谴责我
把我烧死在火刑柱上
 
罗雷莱,当我的心
为你燃烧
我怎能谴责你
 
我的主教
让我脱离痛苦
不要让你的心为我熔化
上帝指定你
宣判我的死刑
我爱的人离开了我
从我面前消失了
他骑马去了异国他乡
从那以后我一直悲伤
我知道我必须死去
我的相貌使我想死
我爱的人离开了我
现在一切空虚
活着没有意义
黑暗笼罩了我
 
于是主教召来
三个忠诚的武士
把这个女人带去修道院
要她在那里忏悔
罗雷莱,作为修女
你会在祈祷中获得宁静
洗去你虚假的
女巫的恶名
 
看,她登上了
陡峭的石头小路
她向严肃的武士们乞求
我想站在悬崖顶上
再一次看看远处
我爱人的城堡
对着它的倒影
最后一次伤心
然后你们带我去修道院
 
她的头发被风吹起
眼睛闪动奇异的光
武士们呼唤罗雷莱返回
在下面的莱茵河上
出现了一条小船
我爱的人就在船上
他向我招手
我的心跳得厉害
我来了,我的爱人
她向前弯下身子
坠入了莱茵河
 
我在河水里看见了
她安详明朗的面容
莱茵河水一般的眼睛
太阳照亮的金发
 
第四乐章 自杀
(女高音)
三支百合,三支高高的百合
我的坟墓没有十字架
耸立着三支百合
风吹袭它们
阵雨从黑暗的天空落下
浇灌它们
庄严美丽
像国王的权杖
一支钻出我的伤口
在落日的余晖里
像染上了血迹
这支恐惧的百合
三支百合,三支高高的百合
我的坟墓没有十字架
耸立着三支百合
风吹袭它们
另一支钻出我的心窝
心在坟墓里忍受煎熬
蛆虫咬啮它
第三支钻出我的口
出现在孤单的坟墓上
三支花寂寞地开放
我相信它们
像我一样被人诅咒
我的坟墓没有十字架
耸立着三支百合
 
第五乐章 凋谢的玫瑰
(女高音)
今夜他将
死在战壕里
这个小兵
他冷漠的眼睛
整天注视
混凝土堡垒
昨夜光荣的战利品
已黯然失色
今夜他将
死在战壕里
这个小兵
我的兄弟,我的爱人
为着他一定死去
我要变得漂亮
我赤裸的乳房
会点燃火把
我的大眼睛
会融化结冰的湖水
我的腿
会变成坟墓
为着他一定死去
在爱情和死亡中
在两种美的仪式中
我要变得漂亮
日落时母牛
吃掉它们的玫瑰
蓝色知更鸟的翅膀
轻盈拍击我
这是爱情
炽热迷狂的时光
这是死亡
和最后许诺的时光
他将死去
像玫瑰凋谢
我的小兵
我的兄弟,我的爱人
 
第六乐章 太太,听我说
(二重唱)
太太,听我说
您掉了什么东西
──不过是我的心
拣起来吧
我把它给出去又收回来了
在那战壕里它做完了一切
在这儿我嘲笑
什么伟大的爱情
死神早把它收走了
 
第七乐章 在桑特监狱
(男低音)
我走进牢房前
不得不脱光衣服
响起邪恶的尖叫
纪尧姆,你成了什么⑷
再见了,鸟儿的歌唱
再见了,啊,我的生活和姑娘
像拉撒路走进坟墓⑸
而不是像他那样走出
我不再感觉无所谓
我成了第11牢房里的15号囚徒
像一头熊落入了陷阱
每天早晨我走着
没完没了地转圈,转圈
忧郁的天空像一条锁链
像一头熊落入了陷阱
每天早晨我走着
我会变成什么
啊,上帝,他知道我的痛苦
你,从他那里来
怜悯我泪水干枯的眼睛
我苍白的脸
怜悯所有这些在监狱里
跳动的不幸的心
随我走入监狱的爱
最为怜悯
我衰颓的理智
绝望会吞噬它
白天过去了
此刻监狱里点燃起一盏灯
在我的牢房里只有我们
亲切的光和我热爱的思想
 
第八乐章 扎波罗什的哥萨克人给君士坦丁堡苏丹王的答复
(男低音)
你比巴拉巴还罪孽深重⑺
你像邪恶的天使头上长角
你堕落到了魔鬼撒旦那里
你是吃垃圾烂泥长大的
安息日我们不会去你那里
你这条萨洛尼卡发臭的鱼⑻
你是可怕黑夜的长锁链
你的眼珠子被长矛挑出来了
你老娘放屁臭气熏天
她肚子疼时生下了你
你是波多里亚爱国者的刽子手⑼
你浑身是伤疤疥疮
长着猪鼻子、驴屁股
背上你的财宝
去买棺材吧
 
第九乐章 啊,德尔维格,德尔维格!
(男低音)
啊,德尔维格,德尔维格⑽!
对于崇高的业绩和诗篇,奖赏是什么?
置身于坏蛋和傻瓜们中间,
天才的欢乐是什么?在哪里?
严厉的尤韦纳利斯手执无情的鞭子⑾,
在坏蛋们头上呼啸,
吓得他们面无血色。
暴君的权威动摇了。
啊,德尔维格,德尔维格,
迫害算得了什么?
鼓舞人心的英雄业绩
和甜蜜的歌唱
必定流芳百世!
我们的同盟不会死亡,
永远骄傲,欢乐,自由!
在幸福中,在悲恸中,坚定的同盟
永远追随永恒的缪斯⑿!
 
第十乐章 诗人之死
(女高音)
他躺着。仰面朝天,
苍白的脸从倾斜的枕头滑下,
世界和他分开了,
他拥有的世间的智慧,
从头脑里溜走了,
他回到了淡漠的年月。
见过他活着的人从不知
他和这一切紧密融为一体;
这一切:山谷,草原
和湖泊是他的脸。
广阔的地平线是他的脸,
即使此刻也依然眷恋着他;
绷紧的脸为死神盘踞,
却温柔坦白,如在风中
腐烂的一颗水果。
 
第十一乐章 终曲
(二重唱)
死神威力无边。
他笑着,
我们属于他。
当我们自以为年富力强,
他竟敢闯入我们中间
哭丧。
 
⑴ 安达卢西亚,西班牙南部的一个自治区,诗作者即出生在这里。
⑵ 科尔多瓦,为安达卢西亚的一个省。
⑶ 马拉加尼亚,为安达卢西亚的港口城市。
⑷ 纪尧姆,此诗作者的名字。
⑸ 拉撒路,《圣经》人物,在人世受尽苦难,死后升入天堂。
⑹ 扎波罗什,为乌克兰的一个州,位于第聂伯河畔;君士坦丁堡,即现今土耳其城市伊斯坦布尔,历史上曾为土耳其首都;苏丹,即国王。在十七世纪,土耳其侵入今乌克兰一带,土耳其苏丹要求居住在扎波罗什的哥萨克人归属于他,但遭到拒绝。俄国画家列宾(1844-1930)创作了和此诗同标题的油画。
⑺ 巴拉巴,《圣经·马太福音》中提到的杀人犯。
⑻ 萨洛尼卡,为希腊的港口城市。
⑼ 波多里亚,为乌克兰的西南区域。
⑽ 德尔维格(Anton Antonovich Delvig,1798-1831),为俄国诗人,与此诗作者邱赫尔贝克同为俄国十二月党人。这个争取民主自由的党遭到了封建沙皇的镇压和迫害。
⑾ 尤韦纳利斯(约55-约130),罗马律师和讽刺作家,写了大量讽刺诗抨击当时的腐败政治,曾被流放到埃及。
⑿ 缪斯,希腊神话中司艺术、诗歌、音乐的女神。

肖斯塔科维奇 - 第14交响曲 Op.135
Info
Composer: Shostakovich 1969
Opus/Catalogue Number:Op. 135
Duration: 0:44:00 ( Average )
Genre :Symphony

Artist

Update Time:2017-12-24 23:51