Symphony V, Movement Two (Shostakovich)

Dmitri Shostakovich

Dmitri Shostakovich (arr. Roger Smith)

General Info

Year: 1945
Duration: c. 4:00
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: G. Schirmer
Cost: Score and Parts – Out of print.

Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
D-flat Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Cornet I-II-III
E-flat Horn I-II-III-IV
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Piano (optional)
Timpani
Percussion, including:

• Crash Cymbals
• Snare Drum
• Xylophone

Errata

• Timpani and Percussion: Though listed on the first system of the part, there is no bass drum in this movement.
• Snare Drum, 5 & 6 m. after reh. 5: In the orchestral part, these two measures are tacet, which matches the similar passage at reh. 14.
• Xylophone, 7 m. after reh. 13: Change the rhythm to read: quarter note (F-sharp), eighth rest, eighth note (G-sharp), quarter rest.
  

Program Notes

Dmitri Shostakovich struggled famously under the yoke of Josef Stalin and the Soviet cultural apparatus. His symphonies, still immensely popular in today’s concert halls, display his ability to communicate in his own voice while managing the expectations of the regime.

Shostakovich employed a traditional four-movement format with his Fifth Symphony, perhaps seeking to avoid the harsh criticism and threats received by his more modernist works. Premièred in 1937 by the Leningrad Philharmonic, the symphony was an immediate success, its struggle and tragedy connecting with audiences across Russia during an era of Stalinist purging. After three movements of darkness, the finale opens with a militaristic flourish and bone-chilling percussion. Yet, the symphony does not conclude without hope; as Shostakovich revealed later in life: “I wanted to convey in the symphony how, through a series of tragic conflicts of great inner spiritual turmoil, optimism asserts itself as a world view.”

- Program Note from U.S. Marine Band concert program, 7 July 2016

Completed in 1937, this symphony is commonly subtitled A Soviet artist’s reply to just criticism after Stalin’s denouncement of Shostakovich’s opera Lady Macbeth of Mtensk for its degenerate and modernist tendencies. Any kind of adventurous music was banned. Shostakovich became a marked man and his Mahleresque Fourth Symphony was withdrawn not long after its premiere.

The Fifth Symphony follows the outline of a traditional symphony, providing safe music, following old formulas. It was a rousing success. Shostakovich reportedly said, “The idea behind my symphony is the making of a man. I saw him, with all his experience, at the centre of the work, which is lyrical from beginning to end. The Finale brings an optimistic solution to the tragic parts of the first movement.”

In his memoirs, smuggled from Russia after his death, he wrote: "What exultation could there be? I think it is clear to everyone what happens in the Fifth. The rejoicing is forced, created under threat...It’s as if someone were beating you with a stick and saying, ‘Your business is rejoicing, your business is rejoicing,’ and you rise, shaky, and go marching off, muttering, ‘Our business is rejoicing, our business is rejoicing.’ What kind of apotheosis is that? You have to be a complete oaf not to hear that."

- Program Note by William V. Johnson for the San Luis Obispo Wind Orchestra concert program, 15 May 2010

The second movement, officially designated Allegretto but often called Scherzo, opens with a waltz-like scherzo motif as a variation of the first theme in the first movement; other variations can be detected throughout the movement. The music remains witty, satirical, raucous while also nervous.

- Program Note from Wikipedia

Media

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State Ratings

• Arkansas: IV
• Louisiana: V
• Maryland: V
• Tennessee: V

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

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

• Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music. "Dmitri Shostakovich." Accessed 9 October 2022.
• Shostakovich, D.; Smith, R. (1944). Scherzo from Symphony No. 5 [score]. G. Schirmer: [New York]
• Symphony No. 5 (Shostakovich), Wikipedia Accessed 16 September 2016