Song of the Forests
Encyclopedia
Dmitri Shostakovich
composed his oratorio
The Song of the Forests, Op. 81, in the summer of 1949. It was written to celebrate the forestation of the Russian steppes following the end of World War II
. Premiered by the Leningrad Philharmonic under Yevgeny Mravinsky on 15 December 1949, the work was well-received by the government, earning the composer a Stalin Prize the following year.
The oratorio is notorious for lines praising Joseph Stalin
as the "great gardener", although its later performances have normally omitted them.
s:
. Simplistic and overtly accessible compositions was exactly what the Party demanded. Shostakovich was not the only one writing "safe" pieces at this time. Prokofiev composed his oratorio On Guard for Peace and Myaskovsky wrote his 27th Symphony. Even so, Soviet attacks on composers were both arbitrary and unpredictable, due in no small part to vagueness surrounding the theory of socialist realism
in music and how it should be applied. Marina Frolova-Walker stated the situation this way:
For Shostakovich the story of 1936 was repeated, only this time he was not alone. Most of his works were banned, he was forced to publicly repent, and his family had privileges withdrawn. Yuri Lyubimov
says that at this time "he waited for his arrest at night out on the landing by the lift, so that at least his family wouldn't be disturbed". In the next few years Shostakovich divided his compositions into film music to pay the rent, official works aimed at securing official rehabilitation
, and serious works "for the desk drawer". The latter included the Violin Concerto No. 1
and the song cycle From Jewish Folk Poetry
. The cycle was written at a time when the post-war anti-Semitic campaign was already under way, and Shostakovich had close ties with some of those affected.
Shostakovich creates an arc from the opening evocation of vastness of the Russian steppes with a dark, almost Mussorgskian
recollection of the devastation of the war just past, to a closing fugue
of vigor and affirmation. In between these two points are a series of choral songs engouraging the planting of trees. While composing this piece, Shostakovich read an article in his daughter's school newspaper about groups of "Pioneers"—the Soviet youth movement—becoming involved in the planting project. He asked Dolmantovsky to supply additional lines for children's chorus to represent the Pioneers' efforts. A lyrical movement just before the finale is reminiscent of the recently castigated Eighth Symphony
, though more "accessible" to avoid censure. The final fugue, Shostakovich felt, was a risk since fugues were considered formalistic
. By using a Russian folk song as the basis for the movement and the potential of citing Glinka
as a model, he felt he reduced the risk factor substantially.
. Reminiscences of the boys' chorus from Tchaikovsky
's Pique Dame
rub shoulders with Glinka and even Mussorgsky. There is additionally a direct influence of Mahler
's Das Lied von der Erde
, especially the introspective third and fourth movements. Shostakovich hints at this in the similarity of titles between the two compositions. The propaganda value of The Song of the Forests may have been purely superficial, but it was enough to satisfy Party ideologues.
Ironically, the work glorified Stalin least of all. The fierce battles of World War II
had deforested huge tracts of the Soviet Union
and the concern for replacing and increasing forest land became a major issue in the immediate post-war years. This appeal for forestation was the core musical idea in the oratorio, with Stalin getting only a few pro forma phrases. These acknowledgements proved totally superfluous and were easily jettisoned after Stalin's death. Nevertheless, heightening the irony was Shostakovich's receiving a Stalin Prize for the work.
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
composed his oratorio
Oratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
The Song of the Forests, Op. 81, in the summer of 1949. It was written to celebrate the forestation of the Russian steppes following the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Premiered by the Leningrad Philharmonic under Yevgeny Mravinsky on 15 December 1949, the work was well-received by the government, earning the composer a Stalin Prize the following year.
The oratorio is notorious for lines praising Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
as the "great gardener", although its later performances have normally omitted them.
Structure
The oratorio lasts around 40 minutes and is written in seven movementMovement (music)
A movement is a self-contained part of a musical composition or musical form. While individual or selected movements from a composition are sometimes performed separately, a performance of the complete work requires all the movements to be performed in succession...
s:
- When the War Was Over
- The Call Rings Throughout the Land
- Memory of the Past
- The Pioneers Plant the Forests
- The fighters of Stalingrad Forge Onward
- A Walk Into the Future
- Glory
In the shadow of the Zhdanov decree
Compared to most of Shostakovich's other output, especially several of his symphonies, it is all too easy to consider The Song of the Forests a simplistic and overtly accessible "official" piece without remembering the context of the time in which it was written. In 1948 Shostakovich, along with many other composers, was again denounced for formalism in the Zhdanov decreeZhdanov Doctrine
The Zhdanov Doctrine was a Soviet cultural doctrine developed by the Central Committee secretary Andrei Zhdanov in 1946. It proposed that the world was divided into two camps: the imperialistic, headed by the United States; and democratic, headed by the Soviet Union...
. Simplistic and overtly accessible compositions was exactly what the Party demanded. Shostakovich was not the only one writing "safe" pieces at this time. Prokofiev composed his oratorio On Guard for Peace and Myaskovsky wrote his 27th Symphony. Even so, Soviet attacks on composers were both arbitrary and unpredictable, due in no small part to vagueness surrounding the theory of socialist realism
Socialist realism
Socialist realism is a style of realistic art which was developed in the Soviet Union and became a dominant style in other communist countries. Socialist realism is a teleologically-oriented style having its purpose the furtherance of the goals of socialism and communism...
in music and how it should be applied. Marina Frolova-Walker stated the situation this way:
For Shostakovich the story of 1936 was repeated, only this time he was not alone. Most of his works were banned, he was forced to publicly repent, and his family had privileges withdrawn. Yuri Lyubimov
Yuri Lyubimov
Yuri Petrovich Lyubimov is a Soviet and Russian stage actor and director associated with the internationally-renowned Taganka Theatre which he founded ,...
says that at this time "he waited for his arrest at night out on the landing by the lift, so that at least his family wouldn't be disturbed". In the next few years Shostakovich divided his compositions into film music to pay the rent, official works aimed at securing official rehabilitation
Rehabilitation (Soviet)
Rehabilitation in the context of the former Soviet Union, and the Post-Soviet states, was the restoration of a person who was criminally prosecuted without due basis, to the state of acquittal...
, and serious works "for the desk drawer". The latter included the Violin Concerto No. 1
Violin Concerto No. 1 (Shostakovich)
The Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Opus 99, was originally written by Dmitri Shostakovich in 1947-48. He was still working on the piece at the time of the Zhdanov decree, and in the period following the composer's denunciation the work could not be performed...
and the song cycle From Jewish Folk Poetry
From Jewish Folk Poetry
From Jewish Folk Poetry is a song cycle for soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor and piano by Dmitri Shostakovich. It uses texts taken from archives of Jewish folk music compiled and translated by Moyshe Beregovsky and Y. M. Sokolov....
. The cycle was written at a time when the post-war anti-Semitic campaign was already under way, and Shostakovich had close ties with some of those affected.
Composition
For practical reasons (not to mention those of personal survival), Shostakovich began using two distinct musical idioms in which to compose. The first was more simplified and accessible to comply with Party guidelines. The second was more complex and abstract to fulfill himself artistically. The Song of the Forests belongs in the first category. In his "official" style he set a text by Evgeny Dolmantovsky, a poet high in Party favor. Dolmantovsky had seen the then-new forest plantations and shared his experiences with the composer.Shostakovich creates an arc from the opening evocation of vastness of the Russian steppes with a dark, almost Mussorgskian
Modest Mussorgsky
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky was a Russian composer, one of the group known as 'The Five'. He was an innovator of Russian music in the romantic period...
recollection of the devastation of the war just past, to a closing fugue
Fugue
In music, a fugue is a compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject that is introduced at the beginning in imitation and recurs frequently in the course of the composition....
of vigor and affirmation. In between these two points are a series of choral songs engouraging the planting of trees. While composing this piece, Shostakovich read an article in his daughter's school newspaper about groups of "Pioneers"—the Soviet youth movement—becoming involved in the planting project. He asked Dolmantovsky to supply additional lines for children's chorus to represent the Pioneers' efforts. A lyrical movement just before the finale is reminiscent of the recently castigated Eighth Symphony
Symphony No. 8 (Shostakovich)
The Symphony No. 8 in C minor by Dmitri Shostakovich was written in the summer of 1943, and first performed on November 4 of that year by the USSR Symphony Orchestra under Yevgeny Mravinsky, to whom the work is dedicated....
, though more "accessible" to avoid censure. The final fugue, Shostakovich felt, was a risk since fugues were considered formalistic
Formalism
The term formalism describes an emphasis on form over content or meaning in the arts, literature, or philosophy. A practitioner of formalism is called a formalist. A formalist, with respect to some discipline, holds that there is no transcendent meaning to that discipline other than the literal...
. By using a Russian folk song as the basis for the movement and the potential of citing Glinka
Mikhail Glinka
Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka , was the first Russian composer to gain wide recognition within his own country, and is often regarded as the father of Russian classical music...
as a model, he felt he reduced the risk factor substantially.
Instrumentation
- WoodwindWoodwind instrumentA woodwind instrument is a musical instrument which produces sound when the player blows air against a sharp edge or through a reed, causing the air within its resonator to vibrate...
: 3 flutes (3rd doubling piccoloPiccoloThe piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written...
), 3 oboeOboeThe oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
s (3rd doubling english hornCor anglaisThe cor anglais , or English horn , is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family....
), 3 clarinetClarinetThe clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
s, 2 bassoonBassoonThe bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...
s - BrassBrass instrumentA brass instrument is a musical instrument whose sound is produced by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips...
: 4 horns, 3 trumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
s, 3 tromboneTromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
s, tubaTubaThe tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the... - PercussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
:- timpaniTimpaniTimpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...
- triangleTriangle (instrument)The triangle is an idiophone type of musical instrument in the percussion family. It is a bar of metal, usually steel but sometimes other metals like beryllium copper, bent into a triangle shape. The instrument is usually held by a loop of some form of thread or wire at the top curve...
, snare drumSnare drumThe snare drum or side drum is a melodic percussion instrument with strands of snares made of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or gut cords stretched across the drumhead, typically the bottom. Pipe and tabor and some military snare drums often have a second set of snares on the bottom...
, cymbalCymbalCymbals are a common percussion instrument. Cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys; see cymbal making for a discussion of their manufacture. The greater majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sound a...
s, glockenspielGlockenspielA glockenspiel is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone; however, the xylophone's bars are made of wood, while the glockenspiel's are metal plates or tubes, and making it a metallophone...
- timpani
- Other: celestaCelestaThe celesta or celeste is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. Its appearance is similar to that of an upright piano or of a large wooden music box . The keys are connected to hammers which strike a graduated set of metal plates suspended over wooden resonators...
, 2 harpHarpThe harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
s, stringsString orchestraA string orchestra is an orchestra composed solely or primarily of instruments from the string family. These instruments are the violin, the viola, the cello, the double bass , the piano, the harp, and sometimes percussion... - Brass bandBrass bandA brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting entirely of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands , but are usually more correctly termed military bands, concert...
: 6 trumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
s, 6 tromboneTromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
s
Continued popularity
While Song of the Forest has been considered neither the best nor the most popular of Shostakovich's ouvre, it continues to be performed and recorded because it is an attractive musical pastichePastiche
A pastiche is a literary or other artistic genre or technique that is a "hodge-podge" or imitation. The word is also a linguistic term used to describe an early stage in the development of a pidgin language.-Hodge-podge:...
. Reminiscences of the boys' chorus from Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
's Pique Dame
The Queen of Spades (opera)
The Queen of Spades, Op. 68 is an opera in 3 acts by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to a Russian libretto by the composer's brother Modest Tchaikovsky, based on a short story of the same name by Alexander Pushkin. The premiere took place in 1890 in St...
rub shoulders with Glinka and even Mussorgsky. There is additionally a direct influence of Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
's Das Lied von der Erde
Das Lied von der Erde
Das Lied von der Erde is a large-scale work for two vocal soloists and orchestra by the Austrian composer Gustav Mahler...
, especially the introspective third and fourth movements. Shostakovich hints at this in the similarity of titles between the two compositions. The propaganda value of The Song of the Forests may have been purely superficial, but it was enough to satisfy Party ideologues.
Nods to officialdom
Nevertheless, the composer considered this oratorio a shameful work. Before the work's premiere, a friend of Shostakovich said to him, "It would be so good if instead of Stalin you had, say, the queen of the Netherlands—she's a big fan of reforestation. The composer replied, "That would be wonderful! I take responsibility for the music, but as for the words...."Ironically, the work glorified Stalin least of all. The fierce battles of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
had deforested huge tracts of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and the concern for replacing and increasing forest land became a major issue in the immediate post-war years. This appeal for forestation was the core musical idea in the oratorio, with Stalin getting only a few pro forma phrases. These acknowledgements proved totally superfluous and were easily jettisoned after Stalin's death. Nevertheless, heightening the irony was Shostakovich's receiving a Stalin Prize for the work.
External links
- Mori no Uta "Song of the Forests" played by Japanese amateur.