March of the Soviet Militia
"March of the Soviet Militia" | |
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by Dmitri Shostakovich | |
Shostakovich (center) in 1974 (photograph by Yuri Shcherbinin) | |
Opus | 139 |
Composed | October 1970 |
Dedication | Mikhail Zoshchenko (disputed) |
Published | 1972 |
Publisher | Sovietsky kompozitor [ru] Muzika DSCH Publishers |
Duration | 1 1/2–2 minutes |
Scoring | Military band |
Premiere | |
Date | November 10, 1970 (1970-11-10) |
Location | House of the Unions Moscow, Russian SFSR |
Conductor | Nikolai Zolotaryov |
Performers | Exemplary Orchestra of the Office of the Kremlin Commandant |
The "March of the Soviet Militia" (Russian: Марш советской милиции, romanized: Marsh sovietskoy militsii), Op. 139 is a march for military band composed in 1970 by Dmitri Shostakovich.
History
Shostakovich composed the "March of the Soviet Militia" in October 1970 at the request of Nikolai Shchelokov, then Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR. Sources disagree about whether the work bears a dedication. According to Maxim Shostakovich,[1] Pauline Fairclough,[2] and Derek C. Hulme, Shostakovich dedicated the work to his deceased friend, writer and satirist Mikhail Zoshchenko.[3] The editor for the new collected works edition of the score, however, states that the score has no dedication.[1]
The work was published by Sovietsky kompozitor [ru], Muzika, and DSCH Publishers in 1972, 1978, and 2006 respectively.[3] It is Shostakovich's final ceremonial work for the Soviet government.[2]
Music
The tempo for "March of the Soviet Militia" is marked "Allegretto."[3] The band consists of the following instruments:
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A typical performance takes approximately 1 1/2[3]–2 minutes.[1]
Premiere and reception
The "March of the Soviet Militia" was premiered at the House of the Unions in Moscow on November 10, 1970.[4] It was the featured work at an evening ceremony celebrating Soviet Militia Day. The work was premiered by the Exemplary Orchestra of the Office of the Kremlin Commandant conducted by Nikolai Zolotaryov; they also made its first recording in 1971 for Melodiya.[3] It won first prize at the All-Union Competition for the Best Literary, Artistic, and Musical Work About Internal Affairs Staff.[5]
Shostakovich biographer and researcher Levon Akopyan [ru] listed "March of the Soviet Militia" as one of the composer's "manifestations of conformity" about which it was "better not to remember."[6]
References
- ^ a b c Dmitri Shostakovich (PDF). Hamburg: Sikorski Musikverlage Hamburg. 2011. p. 210. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 2, 2020. Retrieved November 10, 2022.
- ^ a b Fairclough 2008, p. 283.
- ^ a b c d e Hulme 2010, p. 536.
- ^ Fay 2000, p. 270.
- ^ Khentova 1985, p. 619.
- ^ Akopyan 2018, p. 565.
Sources
- Akopyan, Levon (2018). Феномен Дмитрия Шостаковича (in Russian). Saint Petersburg: Издательство Русской христианской гуманитарной академии. ISBN 978-5-88812-851-0.
- Fairclough, Pauline (2008). "Slava! The 'official compositions'". In Fairclough, Pauline; Fanning, David (eds.). The Cambridge Companion to Shostakovich. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-60315-7.
- Fay, Laurel (2000). Shostakovich: A Life. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-513438-9.
- Hulme, Derek C. (2010). Dmitri Shostakovich: The First Hundred Years and Beyond. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810872646.
- Khentova, Sofia (1985). Шостакович. Жизнь и творчество, Т. 2 (in Russian). Moscow: Советский композитор.
External links
- Boosey & Hawkes entry for the score of "March of the Soviet Militia"
- Premiere recording of "March of the Soviet Militia"
- v
- t
- e
- The Nose
- Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District/Katerina Izmailova
- The Big Lightning (unfinished)
- Orango (unfinished)
- The Twelve Chairs (unfinished)
- Katyusha Maslova (unfinished)
- The Gamblers (unfinished)
- Moscow, Cheryomushki
- The Golden Age
- The Bolt
- The Limpid Stream
- No. 1 in F minor
- No. 2 in B major (To October)
- No. 3 in E♭ major (The First of May)
- No. 4 in C minor
- No. 5 in D minor
- No. 6 in B minor
- No. 7 in C major (Leningrad)
- No. 8 in C minor
- No. 9 in E♭ major
- No. 10 in E minor
- No. 11 in G minor (The Year 1905)
- No. 12 in D minor (The Year 1917)
- No. 13 in B♭ minor (Babi Yar)
- No. 14 in G minor
- No. 15 in A major
Piano |
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Violin |
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Cello |
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- Tahiti Trot
- Suite from The Golden Age
- Suite from The Bolt
- Suite from The Limpid Stream
- Five Fragments
- Scherzo (1922)
- Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 1
- Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 2 (orch. McBurney)
- Suite for Variety Orchestra No. 1 (arr. Atovmyan)
- Festive Overture
- Suite from Encounter at the Elbe
- Suite from The Gadfly (arr. Atovmyan)
- Novorossiisk Chimes, the Flame of Eternal Glory
- October
- "Intervision"
- "March of the Soviet Militia"
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- Alone
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- Counterplan
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- The Youth of Maxim
- Girl Friends
- The Return of Maxim
- The Vyborg Side
- Friends
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- Zoya
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- The Young Guard
- Pirogov
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- Meeting on the Elbe
- The Fall of Berlin
- Belinsky
- The Unforgettable Year 1919
- The Gadfly
- Five Days, Five Nights
- Sofiya Perovskaya
- Hamlet
- King Lear
- Gogoliad (unfinished)
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- Song of the Forests
- The Sun Shines Over Our Motherland
- Antiformalist Rayok
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- The Execution of Stepan Razin
- Seven Romances on Poems by Alexander Blok
- Loyalty
- Six Poems by Marina Tsvetayeva
- Suite on Verses of Michelangelo Buonarroti
- Four Verses of Captain Lebyadkin
String quartets |
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Other |
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- Three Fantastic Dances
- 24 Preludes
- Piano Sonata No. 2 in B minor
- Children's Notebook
- 24 Preludes and Fugues
- Galina Shostakovich (daughter)
- Maxim Shostakovich (son)
- Concerto DSCH
- DSCH motif
- Europe Central
- Ian MacDonald
- Muddle Instead of Music
- The Noise of Time
- Shostakovich v. Twentieth Century-Fox
- Solomon Volkov
- Testimony: book
- film
- The War Symphonies: Shostakovich Against Stalin
- Wihuri Sibelius Prize