Shostakovich: Stage Works
View all works by Shostakovich in the main appExplore the complete catalog of Stage compositions by Shostakovich. This curated list includes composition years, historical Wikipedia context, and interactive audio to add specific tracks directly to your listening queue.
| Title | Year | Actions |
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| Alone, op. 26 |
Dmitri Shostakovich typically catalogued his compositions and occasionally his arrangements of other composers' music with opus numbers. He began this practice with the early Scherzo in F-sharp minor and continued until the end of his life. Nevertheless, most of his juvenilia, unfinished works from his artistic maturity (such as the operas Orango and The Gamblers), and numerous completed works were left unnumbered. There were also instances when Shostakovich took an opus number assigned to one work, then gave it to another, or was undecided about the numbering of a finished composition. Further complicating the matter was an error he committed in compiling his own music in the 1930s. This led to his soundtracks for The Youth of Maxim and Girl Friends sharing the same opus number. |
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| Antiformal Rayok, for 4 basses, speaker, chorus and piano | ||
| Conditionally Killed, music hall revue |
The following events occurred in November 1937: |
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| Counterplan, op. 33 |
Dmitri Shostakovich typically catalogued his compositions and occasionally his arrangements of other composers' music with opus numbers. He began this practice with the early Scherzo in F-sharp minor and continued until the end of his life. Nevertheless, most of his juvenilia, unfinished works from his artistic maturity (such as the operas Orango and The Gamblers), and numerous completed works were left unnumbered. There were also instances when Shostakovich took an opus number assigned to one work, then gave it to another, or was undecided about the numbering of a finished composition. Further complicating the matter was an error he committed in compiling his own music in the 1930s. This led to his soundtracks for The Youth of Maxim and Girl Friends sharing the same opus number. |
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| Encounter at the Elbe, op. 80 |
Dmitri Shostakovich typically catalogued his compositions and occasionally his arrangements of other composers' music with opus numbers. He began this practice with the early Scherzo in F-sharp minor and continued until the end of his life. Nevertheless, most of his juvenilia, unfinished works from his artistic maturity (such as the operas Orango and The Gamblers), and numerous completed works were left unnumbered. There were also instances when Shostakovich took an opus number assigned to one work, then gave it to another, or was undecided about the numbering of a finished composition. Further complicating the matter was an error he committed in compiling his own music in the 1930s. This led to his soundtracks for The Youth of Maxim and Girl Friends sharing the same opus number. |
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| Five Days - Five Nights, op. 111 |
Dmitri Shostakovich typically catalogued his compositions and occasionally his arrangements of other composers' music with opus numbers. He began this practice with the early Scherzo in F-sharp minor and continued until the end of his life. Nevertheless, most of his juvenilia, unfinished works from his artistic maturity (such as the operas Orango and The Gamblers), and numerous completed works were left unnumbered. There were also instances when Shostakovich took an opus number assigned to one work, then gave it to another, or was undecided about the numbering of a finished composition. Further complicating the matter was an error he committed in compiling his own music in the 1930s. This led to his soundtracks for The Youth of Maxim and Girl Friends sharing the same opus number. |
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| Hamlet, op. 116 |
Dmitri Shostakovich typically catalogued his compositions and occasionally his arrangements of other composers' music with opus numbers. He began this practice with the early Scherzo in F-sharp minor and continued until the end of his life. Nevertheless, most of his juvenilia, unfinished works from his artistic maturity (such as the operas Orango and The Gamblers), and numerous completed works were left unnumbered. There were also instances when Shostakovich took an opus number assigned to one work, then gave it to another, or was undecided about the numbering of a finished composition. Further complicating the matter was an error he committed in compiling his own music in the 1930s. This led to his soundtracks for The Youth of Maxim and Girl Friends sharing the same opus number. |
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| Katerina Izmaylova, op. 114 |
This is a list of audio and video recordings (discography) of Dimitri Shostakovich's opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. The work was premiered as Op. 29 on 22 January 1934 at Leningrad's Malïy Opernïy Teatr. The opera was essentially banned in 1936, and Shostakovich later revised it in a toned-down version with the title Katerina Ismailova (or Katerina Izmaylova), Op. 114, which was first performed 8 January 1963 at Moscow's Stanislavsky–Nemirovich-Danchenko Music Theatre. |
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| King Lear, film score, op. 137 |
King Lear (Russian: Король Лир, romanized: Korol Lir), Op. 137, is a film score composed by Dmitri Shostakovich for the 1971 film King Lear by Grigori Kozintsev, based on Shakespeare's tragedy. It is Shostakovich's last completed film score. Kozintsev and Shostakovich had collaborated on films since The New Babylon in 1929. The director had begun pre-production for King Lear in late 1965 and wanted to work with Shostakovich again, who had scored his previous film, Hamlet. Issues stemming from that film's use of music and Shostakovich's own declining health, which included a 40-day hospitalization for medical treatment at the clinic of Gavriil Ilizarov in Kurgan, delayed progress on his score for King Lear until 1970. Further delays resulting from chronic health problems, as well as concurrent work on Loyalty and his Thirteenth String Quartet, led to the composer twice suggesting to the director that he be replaced. By May 1970, Kozintsev informed Shostakovich that it was too late to find a replacement, at which time the composer began concentrated work on the score. Of the seventy cues composed for King Lear, fewer than half were utilized in the final cut. The last cue Shostakovich composed was for a cappella chorus; the score was completed on July 27, 1970. The soundtrack was recorded by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Dzhemal-Eddin Dalgat and Nikolai Rabinovich. King Lear premiered on February 4, 1972; it was screened in the West later that year. Audiences and critics praised Shostakovich's music, which Kozintsev described to Ronald Hayman as the "real voice of Shakespeare". |
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| Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, op. 29 |
Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Op. 29 (Russian: Леди Макбет Мценского уезда, romanized: Ledi Makbet Mtsenskogo uyezda, lit. 'Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District') is an opera in four acts and nine scenes by Dmitri Shostakovich. The libretto, jointly written by Alexander Preys and the composer, is based on the novella Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District by Nikolai Leskov. Dedicated by Shostakovich to his first wife, physicist Nina Varzar, the roughly 160-minute opera was first performed on 22 January 1934 at the Leningrad Maly Operny, and two days later in Moscow. It incorporates elements of expressionism and verismo, telling the story of a lonely woman in 19th-century Russia who falls in love with one of her husband's workers and is driven to murder. |
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| Michurin, op. 78, "Life in Bloom" | ||
| Moscow, Cheryomushki, op. 105 |
Moscow, Cheryomushki (Russian: Москва, Черёмушки; Moskva, Cheryómushki) is an operetta in three acts by Dmitri Shostakovich, his Op. 105. It is sometimes referred to as simply Cheryomushki. Cheryomushki is a district in Moscow full of cheap subsidized housing built in 1956, and the word is also commonly used for such housing projects in general. The libretto was written by the experienced team of Vladimir Mass and Mikhail Chervinsky, leading Soviet humorists of the day. The satirical plot dealt with a topical theme geared to one of the most pressing concerns of urban Russians, the chronic housing shortages and the difficulties of securing liveable conditions. 'Cheryomushki' translates to “bird-cherry trees” and the operetta was named after a real housing estate in south-west Moscow. The work was completed in 1958 and was premiered in Moscow on 24 January 1959. The operetta is reminiscent of Shostakovich's popular music of the period, yet at the same time it engages a satirical assessment of the housing redevelopments in Moscow. |
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| New Babylon, film score for live performance with silent film, op. 18 |
Sergei Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kijé (Russian: Поручик Киже, Poruchik Kizhe) music was originally written to accompany the film of the same name, produced by the Belgoskino film studios in Leningrad in 1933–34 and released in March 1934. It was Prokofiev's first attempt at film music, and his first commission. In the early days of sound cinema, among the various distinguished composers ready to try their hand at film music, Prokofiev was not an obvious choice for the commission. Based in Paris for almost a decade, he had a reputation for experimentation and dissonance, characteristics at odds with the cultural norms of the Soviet Union. By early 1933, however, Prokofiev was anxious to return to his homeland, and saw the film commission as an opportunity to write music in a more popular and accessible style. After the film's successful release, the five-movement Kijé suite was first performed in December 1934, and quickly became part of the international concert repertoire. It has remained one of the composer's best-known and most frequently recorded works. Elements of the suite's score have been used in several later films, and in two popular songs of the Cold War era. |
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| Pirogov, op. 76 |
Dmitri Shostakovich typically catalogued his compositions and occasionally his arrangements of other composers' music with opus numbers. He began this practice with the early Scherzo in F-sharp minor and continued until the end of his life. Nevertheless, most of his juvenilia, unfinished works from his artistic maturity (such as the operas Orango and The Gamblers), and numerous completed works were left unnumbered. There were also instances when Shostakovich took an opus number assigned to one work, then gave it to another, or was undecided about the numbering of a finished composition. Further complicating the matter was an error he committed in compiling his own music in the 1930s. This led to his soundtracks for The Youth of Maxim and Girl Friends sharing the same opus number. |
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| Prologue to Orango |
Orango is an unfinished satirical opera sketched in 1932 by Dmitri Shostakovich. The manuscript was found by Olga Digonskaya, a Russian musicologist, in the Glinka Museum, Moscow in 2004. The plan was for a prologue and three acts but only about a quarter of the Prologue was sketched. The libretto was written by Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy and Alexander Osipovich Starchakov. Since Orango is the protagonist of the opera, half-ape and half-man, one of the sources of inspiration for the libretto was the work of Russian biologist, Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov who attempted hybridization of humans and other primates. According to Gerard McBurney, the word suggests orangutan. Shostakovich had visited Ivanov's primate research station in Sukhumi and "recommended it as a sight worth seeing." The Prologue was first performed in an orchestration by Gerard McBurney on 2 December 2011 in Los Angeles by the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen and staged by Peter Sellars. The piece was also performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra on 24 August 2015 at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the 2015 BBC Proms, again conducted by Salonen. Irina Brown was stage director. |
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| Sofia Perovskaya, op. 132 |
Dmitri Shostakovich typically catalogued his compositions and occasionally his arrangements of other composers' music with opus numbers. He began this practice with the early Scherzo in F-sharp minor and continued until the end of his life. Nevertheless, most of his juvenilia, unfinished works from his artistic maturity (such as the operas Orango and The Gamblers), and numerous completed works were left unnumbered. There were also instances when Shostakovich took an opus number assigned to one work, then gave it to another, or was undecided about the numbering of a finished composition. Further complicating the matter was an error he committed in compiling his own music in the 1930s. This led to his soundtracks for The Youth of Maxim and Girl Friends sharing the same opus number. |
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| Song of the Great Rivers, op. 95 |
Dmitri Shostakovich typically catalogued his compositions and occasionally his arrangements of other composers' music with opus numbers. He began this practice with the early Scherzo in F-sharp minor and continued until the end of his life. Nevertheless, most of his juvenilia, unfinished works from his artistic maturity (such as the operas Orango and The Gamblers), and numerous completed works were left unnumbered. There were also instances when Shostakovich took an opus number assigned to one work, then gave it to another, or was undecided about the numbering of a finished composition. Further complicating the matter was an error he committed in compiling his own music in the 1930s. This led to his soundtracks for The Youth of Maxim and Girl Friends sharing the same opus number. |
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| The Age of Gold, op.22 |
The Golden Age or The Age of Gold (Russian: Золотой век, Zolotoi vek), Op. 22, is a ballet in three acts and six scenes by Dmitri Shostakovich to a libretto by Alexander Ivanovsky. Choreographed by Vasili Vainonen (first act), Leonid Jacobson (second act), and V. Chesnakov (third act), it premiered on 26 October 1930 at the Kirov Theatre. The work was performed eighteen times and was initially censored due to its inclusion of modern European dance styles. |
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| The Big Lightning |
The Big Lightning (also sometimes The Great Lightning, Russian: Большая молния, Bolshaya molniya) is an unfinished opera sketched in 1932 by Dmitri Shostakovich. The manuscript was found by Olga Digonskaya. Some of the musical material was borrowed from the earlier composition, Hypothetically Murdered, Op. 31. The music for the Big Lightning was eventually scrapped and reworked into Orango, because of his lack of confidence in the libretto. Shostakovich only managed to write the overture and eight following pieces, which lasts about 17 minutes. The original title may have been Nail in the Powder. The opera contains parodies of Glière's The Red Poppy, and Beethoven's Rage Over a Lost Penny. The work was commissioned by the Maly Theatre, and the libretto was written Nikolai Aseev, and was about a team of Soviet specialists on a visit to America. It premiered 11 February 1981, Leningrad, Large Philharmonic Hall, conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky, who also made the premiere recording. |
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| The Bolt, op. 27 |
The Bolt (Russian: Болт), Op. 27, is a ballet music score written by Dmitri Shostakovich between 1930 and 1931 to a libretto by Victor Smirnov. The humorous and satirical full-length ballet in three acts and seven scenes was choreographed by Fyodor Lopukhov and premiered on 8 April 1931 at the State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Leningrad. It was not performed again until 2005, when a two-act choreography by Alexei Ratmansky was performed at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. |
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| The Fall of Berlin, op. 82 |
Dmitri Shostakovich typically catalogued his compositions and occasionally his arrangements of other composers' music with opus numbers. He began this practice with the early Scherzo in F-sharp minor and continued until the end of his life. Nevertheless, most of his juvenilia, unfinished works from his artistic maturity (such as the operas Orango and The Gamblers), and numerous completed works were left unnumbered. There were also instances when Shostakovich took an opus number assigned to one work, then gave it to another, or was undecided about the numbering of a finished composition. Further complicating the matter was an error he committed in compiling his own music in the 1930s. This led to his soundtracks for The Youth of Maxim and Girl Friends sharing the same opus number. |
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| The First Echelon, op. 99 |
Dmitri Shostakovich typically catalogued his compositions and occasionally his arrangements of other composers' music with opus numbers. He began this practice with the early Scherzo in F-sharp minor and continued until the end of his life. Nevertheless, most of his juvenilia, unfinished works from his artistic maturity (such as the operas Orango and The Gamblers), and numerous completed works were left unnumbered. There were also instances when Shostakovich took an opus number assigned to one work, then gave it to another, or was undecided about the numbering of a finished composition. Further complicating the matter was an error he committed in compiling his own music in the 1930s. This led to his soundtracks for The Youth of Maxim and Girl Friends sharing the same opus number. |
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| The First Train |
Galina Dmitrievna Shostakovich (Russian: Галина Дмитриевна Шостакович; born in Leningrad on 30 May 1936) is a Russian trained pianist and biologist. |
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| The Gadfly, op. 97 |
In music, Op. 97 stands for Opus number 97. Compositions that are assigned this number include: Beethoven – Piano Trio, Op. 97 Dvořák – String Quintet No. 3 Schumann – Symphony No. 3 Shostakovich/Atovmyan – The Gadfly Suite |
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| The Gamblers, for 6 male voices and orchestra |
Dmitri Shostakovich typically catalogued his compositions and occasionally his arrangements of other composers' music with opus numbers. He began this practice with the early Scherzo in F-sharp minor and continued until the end of his life. Nevertheless, most of his juvenilia, unfinished works from his artistic maturity (such as the operas Orango and The Gamblers), and numerous completed works were left unnumbered. There were also instances when Shostakovich took an opus number assigned to one work, then gave it to another, or was undecided about the numbering of a finished composition. Further complicating the matter was an error he committed in compiling his own music in the 1930s. This led to his soundtracks for The Youth of Maxim and Girl Friends sharing the same opus number. |
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| The Girl Friends, for trumpet, string quartet and piano, op. 41ii | ||
| The Golden Hills, op. 30 |
This is a list of some notable composers who wrote symphonic poems. |
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| The Great Citizen, Part 2, op. 55 |
Dmitri Shostakovich typically catalogued his compositions and occasionally his arrangements of other composers' music with opus numbers. He began this practice with the early Scherzo in F-sharp minor and continued until the end of his life. Nevertheless, most of his juvenilia, unfinished works from his artistic maturity (such as the operas Orango and The Gamblers), and numerous completed works were left unnumbered. There were also instances when Shostakovich took an opus number assigned to one work, then gave it to another, or was undecided about the numbering of a finished composition. Further complicating the matter was an error he committed in compiling his own music in the 1930s. This led to his soundtracks for The Youth of Maxim and Girl Friends sharing the same opus number. |
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| The Limpid Stream, op. 39 |
The Limpid Stream (Russian: Светлый ручей, also translated as The Bright Stream), Op. 39, is a ballet in 3 acts, 4 scenes, composed by Dmitri Shostakovich on the libretto by Adrian Piotrovsky and Fyodor Lopukhov, with choreography by Fyodor Lopukhov. It premiered in Leningrad's Mikhaylovsky Theatre in 1935. |
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| The Man with a Gun, op. 53 |
Dmitri Shostakovich typically catalogued his compositions and occasionally his arrangements of other composers' music with opus numbers. He began this practice with the early Scherzo in F-sharp minor and continued until the end of his life. Nevertheless, most of his juvenilia, unfinished works from his artistic maturity (such as the operas Orango and The Gamblers), and numerous completed works were left unnumbered. There were also instances when Shostakovich took an opus number assigned to one work, then gave it to another, or was undecided about the numbering of a finished composition. Further complicating the matter was an error he committed in compiling his own music in the 1930s. This led to his soundtracks for The Youth of Maxim and Girl Friends sharing the same opus number. |
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| The Nose Op.15 |
In music, Op. 15 stands for Opus number 15. Compositions that are assigned this number include: Alkan – Trois morceaux dans le genre pathétique Bartók – Five Songs, Op. 15 Beethoven - Piano Concerto No. 1 Brahms – Piano Concerto No. 1 Britten – Violin Concerto Chopin – Nocturnes, Op. 15 Dvořák – Ballade Elgar – Chanson de Nuit Fauré – Piano Quartet No. 1 Gál – Die heilige Ente Gottschalk – The Banjo Madetoja – Kullervo, symphonic poem for orchestra (1913) Myaskovsky – Symphony No. 3 Berlioz – Grande symphonie funèbre et triomphale Saint-Saëns – Serenade in E-flat major Schoenberg – The Book of the Hanging Gardens Schubert – Wanderer Fantasy Schumann – Kinderszenen Shostakovich – The Nose Sibelius – The Wood Nymph (Skogsrået), tone poem for orchestra (1895) Somov – Winternacht Strauss – Sträußchen Szymanowski – Symphony No. 1 Weill – Der Protagonist |
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| The Return of Maxim, op. 45 |
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (25 September [O.S. 12 September] 1906 – 9 August 1975) was a Soviet composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and thereafter was regarded as a major composer. Shostakovich achieved early fame in the Soviet Union, but had a complex relationship with its government. His 1934 opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk was initially a success but later condemned by the Soviet government, putting his career at risk. In 1948, his work was denounced under the Zhdanov Doctrine, with professional consequences lasting several years. Even after his censure was rescinded in 1956, performances of his music were occasionally subject to state interventions, as with his Thirteenth Symphony (1962). Nevertheless, Shostakovich was a member of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR (1947) and the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union (from 1962 until his death), as well as chairman of the RSFSR Union of Composers (1960–1968). Over the course of his career, he earned several important awards, including the Order of Lenin, from the Soviet government. Shostakovich combined various musical techniques in his works. His music is characterized by sharp contrasts, elements of the grotesque, and ambivalent tonality; he was also heavily influenced by neoclassicism and by the music of Gustav Mahler. His orchestral works include 15 symphonies and six concerti (two each for piano, violin, and cello). His chamber works include 15 string quartets, a piano quintet, and two piano trios. His solo piano works include two sonatas, an early set of 24 preludes, and a later set of 24 preludes and fugues. Stage works include three completed operas and three ballets. Shostakovich also wrote several song cycles and a substantial quantity of music for theatre and film. Shostakovich's reputation has continued to grow after his death. Scholarly interest has increased significantly since the late 20th century, including considerable debate about the relationship between his music and his attitudes toward the Soviet government. |
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| The Silly Little Mouse, op. 56 |
Dmitri Shostakovich typically catalogued his compositions and occasionally his arrangements of other composers' music with opus numbers. He began this practice with the early Scherzo in F-sharp minor and continued until the end of his life. Nevertheless, most of his juvenilia, unfinished works from his artistic maturity (such as the operas Orango and The Gamblers), and numerous completed works were left unnumbered. There were also instances when Shostakovich took an opus number assigned to one work, then gave it to another, or was undecided about the numbering of a finished composition. Further complicating the matter was an error he committed in compiling his own music in the 1930s. This led to his soundtracks for The Youth of Maxim and Girl Friends sharing the same opus number. |
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| The Tale of the Priest and His Servant Balda, op. 36 |
Dmitri Shostakovich typically catalogued his compositions and occasionally his arrangements of other composers' music with opus numbers. He began this practice with the early Scherzo in F-sharp minor and continued until the end of his life. Nevertheless, most of his juvenilia, unfinished works from his artistic maturity (such as the operas Orango and The Gamblers), and numerous completed works were left unnumbered. There were also instances when Shostakovich took an opus number assigned to one work, then gave it to another, or was undecided about the numbering of a finished composition. Further complicating the matter was an error he committed in compiling his own music in the 1930s. This led to his soundtracks for The Youth of Maxim and Girl Friends sharing the same opus number. |
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| The Vyborg District, op. 50 |
Dmitri Shostakovich typically catalogued his compositions and occasionally his arrangements of other composers' music with opus numbers. He began this practice with the early Scherzo in F-sharp minor and continued until the end of his life. Nevertheless, most of his juvenilia, unfinished works from his artistic maturity (such as the operas Orango and The Gamblers), and numerous completed works were left unnumbered. There were also instances when Shostakovich took an opus number assigned to one work, then gave it to another, or was undecided about the numbering of a finished composition. Further complicating the matter was an error he committed in compiling his own music in the 1930s. This led to his soundtracks for The Youth of Maxim and Girl Friends sharing the same opus number. |
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| The Youth of Maxim, op. 41i | ||
| Volochayevka Days, op. 48 | ||
| Zoya |
Dmitri Shostakovich typically catalogued his compositions and occasionally his arrangements of other composers' music with opus numbers. He began this practice with the early Scherzo in F-sharp minor and continued until the end of his life. Nevertheless, most of his juvenilia, unfinished works from his artistic maturity (such as the operas Orango and The Gamblers), and numerous completed works were left unnumbered. There were also instances when Shostakovich took an opus number assigned to one work, then gave it to another, or was undecided about the numbering of a finished composition. Further complicating the matter was an error he committed in compiling his own music in the 1930s. This led to his soundtracks for The Youth of Maxim and Girl Friends sharing the same opus number. |