Music Text
Yevgeni Dolmatovsky (R)
Abbreviations (PDF)
Publisher
VAAP
Territory
This work is available from Boosey & Hawkes
/ Sikorski for the UK, British Commonwealth (excluding Canada), Republic of Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey, Israel.
Availability
Repertoire Note
<ALIGN=LEFT>In 1943 a competition was held to choose a new Soviet national anthem. On 2 July, in the middle of sketching the opening of his forthcoming 8th Symphony, Shostakovich composed this stirring choral and orchestral march in G major to words by the official poet, Yevgeny Dolmatovsky. The music is entirely apt, with more than a hint of ‘God save the Queen’ and Glinka’s ‘Slava’. It did not win the competition.
Note by Gerard McBurney