Symphony No. 8 (Myaskovsky)

• I Andante
• II Allegro con spirito e risoluto
• III Adagio
• IV Allegro deciso

The Symphony in A major op 26 is the eighth symphony the composer Nikolai Yakovlevich Myaskovsky.

Genesis

The Eighth Symphony was the first symphony, Myaskovsky wrote as a member of the ASM ( Association for Contemporary Music ). The sketches of the work had been completed on 18 August 1924. The symphony should have as the theme of the history of Stepan Razin and Myaskovsky used a melody that he had initially thought of as a song about the leader of the revolt against the Tsarist Empire. Later it turned out that the song had a different content and the composer had to rewrite large parts of the symphony again. Thus, the work was delayed on the work and Myaskovsky she could only finish in 1925. With the treatment of a Russian uprising Mjaskowski followed a trend of the 1920s. So M. Triodin had written an opera about the same fabric and K. Trenjow and Andrei Pashchenko deals with the history of the Pugachev uprising. At the time of the Eighth Symphony prevailed in Moscow and particularly at the conservatory among his pupils a real enthusiasm Myaskovsky. This was due to his educational skills and the success of previous symphonies mainly and guaranteed the composer at other performances, the support of the public, under which many of his students were regularly.

Analysis

The monumental Eighth Symphony is only the second major symphony after the sixth symphony, the second longest work Mjaskowskis and after the fifth symphony. Just as with the four-movement also swapped sixth Mjaskowski the block sequence, so that the scherzo comes second and the slow movement third.

The first sentence describes Myaskovsky as follows: " ... epic, narrative, Plains, nature. " We stumbled material is very volksliednah and moves more in F sharp minor than in A major area. The movement follows the sonata form. The images of nature that creates Mjaskowski here form the basis for the history of Stepan Razin.

The scherzo follows the shape of ABA and is in 7/4-Takt. The themes that have all to do with the topic of "Water ", the melodies are there swam a duckling across the sea and O spawns, you little pike, my little fish from Rimsky -Korsakov hundred Russian folk songs, as well as its own melody from his student days. The Scherzo is the scene in which Razin swim boats on the river and he finally raises his mistress, a Persian princess in the Volga.

In the third set to Myaskovsky from the template and creates a lyrical atmosphere. The set also has the form ABA, but it differs from the Scherzo primarily by the fact that the full and partially chaotic orchestral sound gives way to a prudent and sometimes solo instrumentation here. Thus, the main theme is first presented by the English horn. This theme is a baschkirisches folk song that is later changed so that it assumes oriental features. This shows the close Mjaskowskis to classical models that had often turned to the processing of oriental material (eg, Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade in ).

The finale describes the fight Razin and his death. The thematic material is taken by Mjaskowskis own words, including " some Volga Songs". The focus of this Rondos here are the exploits of the combatants, the death Razin is treated only in the coda, each with a excessive final chord.

The Eighth Symphony has a much sharper tone language than the earlier symphonies, even if the lyrical passages are still very present. Mjaskowski here proves his outstanding capabilities of the instrumentation that is " particularly brilliant " in his own words in the final. At Prokofiev, he wrote: " In this symphony I have eagerly tried to see the orchestra as a living thing and Individual and holen> (analogous to Scriabin! )

Reception and criticism

The work was premiered on 23 May 1926, was as complete symphonies of the 20s a success. Especially good was the symphony at the younger audience, because among them were many students of the composer. Mjaskowski reports of the premiere, the Scherzo was an " unimaginable mess'. Like almost all previous symphonies was well known as the eighth on Russia's borders. She was later listed by Frederick Stock in America.