Symphony No. 6. Op. 54. Score.

Form:

1. Largo
2. Allegro
3. Presto

Instrumentation:

Piccolo, 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, Cor Anglais, E flat Clarinet, (= B flat Clarinet III), 2 B flat Clarinets, Bass Clarinet, 2 Bassoons, Contrabassoon (= bassoon III)

4 Horns, 3 Trumpets, 3 Trombones, Tuba

Timpani, Triangle, Tambourine, Side drum, Cymbals, Bass drum, Gong

Xylophone, Celesta, Harp

Strings

Duration:

Approx. 30 min. 

Composed:

Late January to mid-October 1939.

The original text of all the editions of the score of the Sixth Symphony is not the author’s manuscript, but a hand-written copy of the score with the author’s notes which is kept in Dmitri Shostakovich’s private depository in the Russian State Archives of Literature and Art (rec. gr. 2048, inv. 1, f. 7). The score of the Sixth Symphony was published three times during the composer’s lifetime: in 1941 (Muzgiz Publishers, Moscow), 1962 (Muzyka Publishers, Moscow) and 1968 (Muzyka Publishers, Moscow). In 1980, the first posthumous edition of the score was published in Volume 3 of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Collected Works (Muzyka Publishers, Moscow) using the authorised hand-written copy and the 1941 and 1962 editions, but without reference to the 1968 edition.

This edition is based on the score published in the Collected Works, but also takes into account the 1968 edition. We have removed any editing corrections we feel are superfluous. Obvious errors in the text are corrected without comment. Clarifications by the editor are given in square brackets.

The editor of the first posthumous edition of the score in Volume 3 of the Collected Works (1980), who did not take into account the 1968 edition, apparently considered the 1962 edition the last edition published during Shostakovich’s lifetime and thus an expression of the author’s final will. In this edition, we are restoring the metronome marks of hand-written copy, which also appear in the first and last editions of the score published during the composer’s lifetime.