Moscow, Cheryomushki. Op. 105. Operetta. Score.

Form:

Musical Comedy (or Operetta) in three acts of five scenes (Overture-Prologue and 39 numbers), for full orchestra, 19 singing parts and S.A.T.B. chorus, to libretto by Vladimir Mass and Mikhail Chervinsky.

Orchestra:

2 Piccolo, 2 Flutes, 3 Oboes, 3 Clarinets (A and B flat), 2 Bassoons
4 Horns, 3 Trumpets, 3 Trombones, Tuba
Timpani, Triangle, Castanets, Tambourine, Side drum, Cymbals, Bass drum, Gong
Glockenspiel, Harp
Strings

Composed:

Was written in 1957-1958 for the Moscow Operetta Theatre.

Duration:

Musical Comedy: c.1 hr 45 mins—2 hrs 22 mins (recordings);
2 hrs 40 mins (staged).

  We do not know the whereabouts of the author’s manuscript of the score of the music comedy Moscow, Cheryomushki.
  This publication is based on the score published in Volume 24 of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Collected Works (Muzyka Publishers, Moscow, 1986).
  This publication, which is the only one of its kind to date, was based on the handwritten copy of the Production Combine of the USSR Music Foundation. Collation of the score with the published piano score (Sovetsky kompositor Publishers, Moscow, 1959) showed that seven items are missing in the copy (Nos. 9, 23, 24, 34, 35, 37, and 39). They are all, as can be seen from the piano score, repeats (often in abridged form) of earlier items.
 The scores of these items were restored in keeping with the piano score by the editor of the volume, K. Titarenko (he also removed several discrepancies in the accompaniment harmonies between the score and the piano score and stipulated these clarifications in his comments).
  The entire score of the music comedy in the 1986 edition was based on the structure and literary text of the piano score. But in addition to the absence of the indicated items, there were various types of other significant discrepancies between the handwritten copy of the score and the piano score, in particular, cuts or, vice versa, additions (repetitions of certain fragments), and so on. When the final text of the score was ascertained in the 1986 edition, preference was usually given to versions of the piano score as the lifetime edition printed under the author’s supervision. Nevertheless, the hasty preparation of the piano score for publication was most likely carried out alongside preparations for the premiere. Its editing was finished by the end of April; beginning of May, and on 12 May 1959, the piano score had already been submitted to the Production Combine. The edition is full of mistakes: the list of errors appended to the edition fills an entire page and is far from exhaustive.
  The handwritten copy of the score apparently reflected a later stage in the work on the composition, including the changes that were made during work on the performance after the premiere. So mechanically following the piano score, in particular, several cuts made in it, led in certain cases to disruptions in meaning in the development of the action in the libretto. For example, in No. 32 of the score, a repeat of the couplet was envisaged in keeping with the text. The text of one couplet ended with the words: “And all the dreams come true/Of people who live here”, followed by a dialogue between Baburov and Barabashkin: “Have you heard?” “What?” “That ‘all the dreams of the people who live here come true’.” “Oh dear, I don’t like those hints for some reason!” But in the 1986 edition of the score (as in the piano score edition), there is no repetition sign, so there is no cited text either, and as a result the dialogue presented above has absolutely no meaning.
  There are various kinds of discrepancies in the libretto text in all the editions. For example, in the first scene, Lidochka appears as one of the museum visitors, among those taking the tour, but right after the scene with Bubentsov and the choir (No. 1 “Bubentsov and the Choir of Visitors”), it turns out that she is also the tour guide.
  In the 1986 edition Scene Two has the subtitle of “Want to write down the address?”, but the content of the scene have nothing whatsoever to do with this subtitle, and the corresponding episode (the conversation in the telephone booth) takes place in the previous scene.
  Scene Four in all the editions begins with the remark: “The Bubentsovs’ flat. The same spacious room with a balcony door as in Scene One (italics mine).” But the action of Scene One takes place in the museum, and the described interior does not appear in the play until Scene Three. In the penultimate item (No. 38 “Scene with Barabashkin and the Masks”), there is the remark “Builders and new tenants come out onto the stage” (that is, the choir), but right after that, at the beginning of the next item, it is indicated that the choir sings off stage, and so on.
  In this publication, an attempt has been made to remove this kind of discrepancy both in the libretto and in the music text.
  In addition to the 1986 edition of the score, the following editions were also used when preparing this edition: the above; mentioned first edition of the piano score; the edition of the piano score in Volume 25 of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Collected Works (Muzyka Publishers, Moscow, 1986); the author’s handwritten copy of the piano score (private collection); clean and fair author’s manuscripts, as well as author’s handwritten copies of individual items of the piano score kept in Dmitri Shostakovich’s Archives, and finally, orchestral voices and solo and choir parts of the music comedy Moscow, Cheryomushki from the library of the Moscow Operetta Theatre.
  A copy of the libretto by Vladimir Mass and Mikhail Chervinsky was used to clarify the names of several items and the literary text, in particular the “List of Music Items” it contains (Glinka State Central Museum of Musical Culture, rec. gr. 32, f. 326, p. III).