Intermezzo (Shostakovich)

Dmitri Shostakovich

Dmitri Shostakovich (arr. William L. Cahn)

Subtitle: From the Opera Die Nase, Opus 15 (1927-28)

General Info

Year: 1928 / 1986 / 1994
Duration: c. 3:05
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Honeyrock Publishing
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $22.95

Instrumentation

Full Score
Percussion I-II-III-IV-V, including:

• Bass Drum
• Castanets
• Snare Drum
• Suspended Cymbal
• Tambourine
• Tam-tam
• Tom-tom
• Triangle

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

Famous as one of the first percussion ensemble works to be found in Western Art Music, this arrangement is scored for five percussionists.

- Program Note from publisher

In The Nose, Shostakovich writes an extended solo for percussion ensemble in the form of an Intermezzo. Here, the composer is using the instruments in their traditional roles, but the inclusion of an all-percussion work in the middle of the opera suggests a respect for the percussion instruments as valued tools of musical expression. The Intermezzo from The Nose remains the first stand-alone percussion music in the Western Art Tradition, predating Varese’s Ionisation by a full two years.

- Program Note from Justin Lane Alexander

The Nose, Op. 15, is Dmitri Shostakovich's first opera, a satirical work completed in 1928 based on Nikolai Gogol's 1836 story of the same name.

Shostakovich stated it was a satire on the times of Alexander I. The plot concerns a Saint Petersburg official whose nose leaves his face and develops a life of its own.

- Program Note from Wikipedia

Media

• Audio: Reference recording. Gnesin Percussion Ensemble (Russia) (Mikhail Putkov)

State Ratings

None discovered thus far.

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

• University of South Alabama (Mobile) Wind Ensemble (Matthew Greenwood, conductor) - 4 March 2021

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-1956/1995)
  • 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

• Alexander, Justin Lane. "The Evolution of the Xylophone Through the Symphonies of Dmitri Shostakovich." 2014, p. 32. Florida State University. DMA treatise
• The Nose (opera), Wikipedia Accessed 3 March 2021
• Perusal score
• Shostakovich, D.; Cahn, W. (1986, 1994). Intermezzo : from the opera Die Nase, op. 15 (1927-28) [score]. HoneyRock: Everett, Penn.