Ein Volksfest

Dmitri Shostakovich

Dmitri Shostakovich (arr. Ernst Rembach)

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Ein Volksfest translates from the German as Folk Festival

General Info

Year: 1955 / 1995
Duration: c. 2:30
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Orchestra
Publisher: Concert Music
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - €75.00

Instrumentation

(Needed - please join the WRP if you can help.)

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

Earning money as a piano player for silent films, Shostakovich had a love for movies and frequently composed soundtracks in addition to his major symphonies, concertos, and chamber works. The music for The Gadfly was completed and released in 1955, a year after Festive Overture. Often described as “Festive Light,” this movement from the orchestral suite features Shostakovich’s notorious hybrid of lyrical, flowing melodies overlapped with technical flourishes in the winds.

- Program Note by the Clear Creek High School Wind Ensemble concert program, 20 December 2013

The Gadfly (1955) was a highly successful film inside the Soviet Union, a sugary and entertaining drama based on a popular historical novel by the English writer Ethel Voynich. Published in 1897, it is set in 1840s Italy under the dominance of Austria, a time of tumult, revolt and uprisings. The story centers on the life of Arthur Burton. A tragic relationship between Arthur and his love, Gemma, simultaneously runs through the story. It is a story of faith, disillusionment, revolution, romance, and heroism. Folk Festival, from the orchestral suite, features Shostakovich’s notorious combination of lyrical, flowing melodies with technical flourishes in the winds.

- Program Note by the San Jose Wind Symphony concert program, 9 March 2014

In 1956, Levon Atovmyan arranged portions of Shostakovich’s Gadfly music into an orchestral suite. Folk Festival, from the orchestral suite, features Shostakovich’s notorious combination of lyrical, flowing melodies with technical flourishes in the winds. Listeners familiar with Stravinsky’s Petrushka know the madcap, frenetic activity of a Russian fair. Here, Shostakovich presents a Neapolitan carnival scene with a Russian/Soviet accent.

- Program Note from University of North Texas Concert Band concert program, 5 October 2016

Media

Audio: Reference recording. Wichita (Kan.) Wind Ensemble (John Taylor, conductor)
Audio CD: U.S. Navy Band (George N. Thompson, conductor) - 2007

State Ratings

None discovered thus far.

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

Oahu (Hi.) Band Director's Association High School Select Wind Ensemble (Anthony J. Maiello, conductor( – 2010
United States Navy Band (Washington, D.C.) (George N. Thompson, conductor) – 19 December 2007 (2007 Midwest Clinic)

Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music

Waltz No. 2 (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Brown) (post 1956/2021)

All Wind Works

Allegro from "Symphony No. 10" (tr. Fisher) (1954/2010)
Ballet Suite #4 (arr. Pappajohn) (1953)
Batterie from "The Nose" (arr. Schaefer) (1928/1978)
Concertino (orch. Singleton) (1953/)
Dance I. See: Jazz Suite No. 2
Ein Volksfest (arr. Rembach) (1955/1995)
Ein Volksfest. See: Folk Festival
Excerpts from "Symphony No. 5" Finale (arr. Longfield) (1937/2007)
Festive Overture (arr. Frost) (1954/2016)
Festive Overture (tr. Hunsberger) (1954/1965)
Festive Overture (tr. Martin) (1954/2016?)
Festive Overture (tr. Patterson) (1954/)
Festive Overture (tr. Takahashi) (1954/1998)
The Fire of Eternal Glory (tr. Timothy Rhea) (1960/2011)
Fire of Eternal Glory (arr. Curnow) (1960/2011)
Folk Dances (tr. Reynolds) (1942/1979)
Folk Dances (arr. Erickson) (1942/1979)
Folk Dances (arr. Curnow) (1942/2000)
Folk Festival (tr. Hunsberger) (1955/1971)
Folk Festival. See also: Ein Volksfest
Fortinbras March from "Hamlet" (tr. Suchoff) (1932/1967)
The Gadfly (1955/)
The Gadfly (tr. Patterson) (1955/)
Galop (tr. Hunsberger) (1959/1971)
Galop (from "The Limpid Stream") (tr. Miller) (1935)
Hamlet Suite (tr. Suchoff) (1964/1975)
Intermezzo (arr. Cahn) (1928/1986/1994)
Jazz Suite No. 1 (1934)
Jazz Suite No. 2 (arr. de Meij) (post-1956/1994)
- March (arr. de Meij) (post-1956/1994)
- Lyric Waltz (arr. de Meij) (post-1956/1994)
- Dance I (arr. de Meij) (post-1956/1994)
- Dance II (arr. de Meij) (post-1956/1994)
- Waltz No. 2 (arr. de Meij) (post-1956/1994)
- Finale (arr. de Meij) (post-1956/1994)
March (arr. Curnow) (2014)
March (arr. de Meij). See: Jazz Suite No. 2
March of the Soviet Militia (ed. Iakubov) (1970/2006)
October, Op 131 (arr. Mitchell) (1967)
Overture on Russian and Kirg (arr. Janssen)
Overture on Russian and Kirghiz Folk Songs (tr. Duker) (1963/1989)
Overture to "The Gadfly" (arr. Geert Flik) (1955/2006)
Piano Concerto No 2 (tr. Pontini) (1957/2012)
Piano Concerto No 2 in F Major (arr. Bamonte)
Piano Trio No. 2 (arr. Graham)
Priest and His Servant Balda, The (1934)
Prelude, Op. 34, No. 14 (arr. Reynolds) (1988)
Prelude 21 and Fugue 1 (arr. McCullough) (1952/)
Prelude (Variations) from "Ballet Suite No. 4" (arr. Blankenship) (1953/)
Romance (arr. Peel) (1955/1985)
Spanish Dance from "The Gadfly" (arr. Curnow)
Suite for Jazz Orchestra no. 1. See: Jazz Suite No. 1
Symphony No. 1 (tr. Scarbrough) (1924-25)
Symphony No. 5, Mvmt I (tr. Schaeffer)
Symphony No. 5, Mvmt II (tr. Smith) (1937/1944)
Symphony No. 5: Finale (tr. Righter) (1937/1947)
Symphony No. 5, Mvmt IV (tr. Rogers) (1937/2003)
Symphony No. 5, Mvmt IV (tr. Bocook) (1937/2005)
Symphony No. 9 (arr. Mertens and Suykerbuyk) (1945/1986)
Symphony No. 9 (tr. Schaefer) (1945/1976)
Symphony No. 10, Mvt. II (tr. Fisher) (tr. Fisher) (1954/2010)
Symphony No. 10, Mvmt II (tr. O'Brien) (1954)
Symphony No. 11: Second Movement Excerpts (arr. Daehn) (1957/1989)
Tahiti Trot (tr. Brubaker) (1927/2009)
Three Symphonic Preludes (arr. Reed)
Two Scarlatti Pieces (1928)
Waltz No. 2 (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Brown) (post 1956/2021)
Waltz No. 2 (arr. Connery) (post 1956/1996)
Waltz No. 2 (arr. Curnow) (post 1956/2010)
Waltz No. 2 (arr. De Meij). See: Jazz Suite No. 2

Resources

Perusal score