Works
Instrumentations of Works by Other Composers
“Annie Laurie”. Scottish Ballad. Instrumentation
Opus SO
1944 year
premiere:
20-May-1944
Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, Maria Maksakova accompanied by the State Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Alexander Orlov.
first publication:
DSCH Publishers, Moscow, 2009
manuscripts:
RNMM, rec. gr. 32, f. 124, sheets 1-1rev.
“Annie Laurie”
Scottish Ballad for Voice and Piano
Scottish Ballad for Voice and Piano
The Scottish ballad “Annie Laurie” was instrumented by Shostakovich no later than the middle of May 1944. Both in terms of time and circumstances, as well as stylistics and nature of the orchestral facture, this work is undoubtedly affiliated with the Eight British and American Folk Songs.
The fair copy of the author’s manuscript of the score of “Annie Laurie” was considered lost. Only the rough draft of the author’s manuscript was recorded in the reference publications. Derek Hulme does not single out this work as a separate composition at all, only mentioning the rough draft in a comment relating to the instrumentations of the Eight British and American Folk Songs.
Nevertheless, the author’s manuscript of the score of the orchestration of the Scottish ballad “Annie Laurie” kept in Dmitri Shostakovich’s personal depository at the Glinka State Central Museum of Musical Culture (GSCMMC) is the fair copy of the author’s manuscript, whereby executed extremely carefully and almost without any corrections or erasures.
The original (piano score) Shostakovich used when working on the instrumentation is not indicated in the author’s manuscript. We was able to ascertain that the composer used the collection of British songs compiled by Nazari Raisky published in Moscow in 1942. The Scottish ballad “Annie Laurie” was published in the collection with the English and Russian text (translation by N.G. Raisky).
Shostakovich retained the key of the original, the tessitura of the vocal part, and the facture of the accompaniment, supplementing it when necessary in order to accommodate the special features of the
orchestral arrangement. The instrumentation was done for a chamber orchestra composed of two flutes, two clarinets (in B), four French horns (in F), and strings. So the score uses the same orchestral composition as the instrumentations of the Eight British and American Folk Songs.
The ballad was performed for the first time on 20 May 1944 in Moscow in the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall by Maria Maksakova accompanied by the State Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Alexander Orlov. It was performed in the program of the Concert of British and Soviet music organized by VOKS and the Moscow State Philharmonic.
The fair copy of the author’s manuscript of the score of “Annie Laurie” was considered lost. Only the rough draft of the author’s manuscript was recorded in the reference publications. Derek Hulme does not single out this work as a separate composition at all, only mentioning the rough draft in a comment relating to the instrumentations of the Eight British and American Folk Songs.
Nevertheless, the author’s manuscript of the score of the orchestration of the Scottish ballad “Annie Laurie” kept in Dmitri Shostakovich’s personal depository at the Glinka State Central Museum of Musical Culture (GSCMMC) is the fair copy of the author’s manuscript, whereby executed extremely carefully and almost without any corrections or erasures.
The original (piano score) Shostakovich used when working on the instrumentation is not indicated in the author’s manuscript. We was able to ascertain that the composer used the collection of British songs compiled by Nazari Raisky published in Moscow in 1942. The Scottish ballad “Annie Laurie” was published in the collection with the English and Russian text (translation by N.G. Raisky).
Shostakovich retained the key of the original, the tessitura of the vocal part, and the facture of the accompaniment, supplementing it when necessary in order to accommodate the special features of the
orchestral arrangement. The instrumentation was done for a chamber orchestra composed of two flutes, two clarinets (in B), four French horns (in F), and strings. So the score uses the same orchestral composition as the instrumentations of the Eight British and American Folk Songs.
The ballad was performed for the first time on 20 May 1944 in Moscow in the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall by Maria Maksakova accompanied by the State Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Alexander Orlov. It was performed in the program of the Concert of British and Soviet music organized by VOKS and the Moscow State Philharmonic.