The Limpid Stream. Op. 39. Ballet. Score. (In two volumes.)

Form:

Comedy Ballet in three acts, four scenes with libretto by Adrian Piotrovsky and Fyodor Lopukhov, choreography by Fyodor Lopukhov, and designs by Mikhail Bobyshov.

Orchestra:

Piccolo, 2 Flauti (Flauto II = Piccolo II), 2 Oboi, Corno inglese, Clarinetto piccolo (Es), 2 Clarinetti (B), Clarinetto basso (B) (= Clarinetto III, B), 2 Fagotti, Contrafagotto (= Fagotto III)
3 Trombe (B), 6 Corni (F), 3 Tromboni, Tuba
Timpani, Triangolo, Legno, Tamburino, Tamburo, Piatti, Cassa, Tam-tam
Campanelli, Silofono, Arpa
BANDA: Cornetto piccolo (Es), 2 Cornetti (B), 2 Trombe (B), 2 Alti (Es), 2 Tenori (B), 2 Baritoni (B), 2 Bassi
Violini I, Violini II, Viole, Violoncelli, Contrabassi

Composed:

1934-1935 at Leningrad

  The score of the ballet The Limpid Stream is being published for the first time.
The author's manuscript of the score did not survive in full. More than 20 pieces in the author's manuscript, which in all likelihood related to the author's original edition of the ballet (for the performance at the Leningrad Maly Opera Theatre), are kept in the Russian State Archives of Literature and Art (RSALA, rec. gr. 2048, inv. 3, f. 32).
  There is also a manuscript copy of the score in the Sheet Music Library of the Mussorgsky Theatre of Opera and Ballet (former Maly Opera Theatre), inv. No. 1866, which corresponds to the first stage edition of the ballet. The orchestral parts of the Moscow performance have also survived (Sheet Music Library of the Russian State Academic Bolshoi Theatre). The score of the Moscow performance has been lost.
  What is more, there are different versions of the piano score: the author's manuscript of the piano score of the author's original variant RSALA, rec. gr. 2048, inv. 1, f. 56; authorized copy of the piano score of the Moscow performance GSCMMC, inv. 32, f. 287; hand-written copy of the piano score of the first stage edition Sheet Music Library of the Mussorgsky Theatre of Opera and Ballet, inv. No. 1570; hand-written copy of the piano score of the Moscow performance Sheet Music Library of the Russian State Academic Bolshoi Theatre, SB code, inv. No. 1789.
  In 1997, the piano score of the ballet The Limpid Stream was published by DSCH Publishers (text and explanatory article prepared by I. Barsova, comments by I. Barsova and M. Iakubov, edited by M. Iakubov).
  As the show was being prepared, numerous and very diverse changes were made to the score: rearrangements, repetitions, and the removal of finished pieces, their complete re-instrumentation, abridgement, or enlargement, and the introduction of new pieces. The changes apparently affected the original version of the libretto that did not survive. Radical changes in the libretto were made when the show was transferred to the USSR Bolshoi Theatre. Correspondingly, the story of the ballet as a whole, as well as of its large parts, was repeatedly changed, the same applied to its breakdown into acts and scenes, and so on.
  The changes, cuts, re-arrangement of certain parts and fragments of the finished pieces “with the help of glue and scissors” are obvious even with superficial acquaintance with the author's manuscripts and hand-written copies of the ballet.

  This edition is based on the score of the ballet kept in the music hire department of DSCH Publishers prepared at the beginning of the 1990s on the basis of the score of the Mussorgsky Theatre of Opera and Ballet in keeping with the first stage edition of the ballet and taking into account all the author's manuscripts and hand-written copies listed above.
  The repetition of short sections of the score designated in the author's manuscript or hand-written copy by reprise signs have, in most cases, been entered in this edition for the convenience of the conductor.