Piano Sonata No. 2 (Shostakovich)
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| Piano Sonata No. 2 | |
|---|---|
| by Dmitri Shostakovich | |
 Shostakovich in 1942 | |
| Key | B minor |
| Opus | 61 |
| Composed | 1943 |
| Dedication | Leonid Nikolayev |
| Duration | 25 minutes |
| Movements | 3 |
| Premiere | |
| Date | June 6, 1943 |
| Location | Moscow |
| Performers | Dmitri Shostakovich |
The Piano Sonata No. 2 in B minor, Op. 61 by Dmitri Shostakovich, the last of his piano sonatas, was composed in early 1943. It was his first solo piano composition since 1933, as well as his second attempt at composing a piano sonata in the key of B minor.
Shostakovich began composing the sonata while he and his family were evacuated in Kuybyshev (present-day Samara). A few months before, he heard about the death of his former piano teacher Leonid Nikolayev, which affected him profoundly; the sonata is dedicated to his memory. Originally, Shostakovich had planned a four-movement sonata in C-sharp minor, but by March 1943 had abandoned that idea in favor of the work's final three-movement form. Shostakovich premiered the sonata in Moscow on June 6, 1943.
The sonata was received with mixed reviews. Ivan Sollertinsky felt it was one of the finest of all of Shostakovich's works. Emil Gilels, an important champion of the sonata, expressed disappointment and compared it unfavorably to Shostakovich's symphonies. Shostakovich himself was unsure of the work's quality; it was one of the few piano works from his maturity that he never recorded. Nevertheless, he told Inger Wikström in 1973 that he regarded the sonata as the most important of his piano works.
The Piano Sonata No. 2 was Shostakovich's first solo piano composition since the 24 Preludes, Op. 34 from 1933 and his second attempt at composing a piano sonata in the key of B minor.[1]
In late 1942, Shostakovich and his family were living in the city of Kuybyshev (present-day Samara), where they had been evacuated by the Soviet government in order to escape the Nazi siege of Leningrad.[2] That October, the composer learned about the death of his former piano professor Leonid Nikolayev, who had died in Tashkent earlier that month from typhoid fever.[3] "I loved him greatly and it grieves me to think that I shall never see him again", Shostakovich wrote to Isaak Glikman. "I have thought much about his life and shall miss him sorely".[4]
Shostakovich commenced work on his second piano sonata in January 1943;[5] its composition was concurrent with his waning enthusiasm for work on the opera The Gamblers as well as his own bout with typhoid fever.[6] Initially, he had envisioned a four-movement sonata in C-sharp minor. Three pages of rough drafts labeled "Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 63" detailing this eventually abandoned concept are extant; none of this material was used in the final version of the sonata. Shostakovich continued to maintain in a letter to Vissarion Shebalin dated February 22 that the sonata would be cast into four movements. Soon thereafter, Shostakovich played the first movement of the final draft for Lev Oborin, who approved of the music, but suggested some edits, which Shostakovich accepted.[7] In a letter to Ivan Sollertinsky from March 1943, the composer claimed that the sonata was a symptom of his ongoing "graphomania" and that the score had been "nearly all" written down.[8] On April 21, 1943, Shostakovich wrote to Glikman that he had just completed the Piano Sonata No. 2, which he dedicated to the memory of Nikolayev.[9] He completed the final draft of the sonata on March 17 while recovering his health at a sanatorium in Arkhangelskoye.[10]
Music
The Piano Sonata No. 2 consists of three movements:
- Allegretto
- Largo
- Moderato (con moto) — Allegretto con moto — Adagio — Moderato
A typical performance takes approximately 25 minutes.[11]
The restless mood of the first movement is established by the running sixteenth notes which begin the sonata, leading to a melodic line which is a verbatim quote in retrograde of the opening motif of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 1.[12] This is followed by the appearance of a march-like theme in E-flat, accompanied by triads in the same key, before ebbing away into a chromatic closing subject. A fortissimo climax is capped by the combination of the movement's two main subjects, clashing against each other bitonally in B and E-flat.[6] Following this is the "Largo" second movement, which mixes ternary and rondo forms. Musicologist David Haas likened it to a waltz,[13] while Sofia Moshevich said the movement forecasts the textures and moods of Shostakovich's late music.[14] The finale begins with the statement of a thirty-measure theme which is then developed upon by nine variations; allusions to the compositions of Nikolayev,[15] as well as to what would later become Shostakovich's musical monogram, appear. The final variation closes the sonata with a recollection of its opening.[16]
Premieres
Shostakovich premiered the sonata in Moscow on June 6, 1943, on the same program as the premiere of his Six Romances on Verses by British Poets.[3] Efrem Flaks, who was Shostakovich's recital partner for the performance of the song cycle, remembered that the composer took unusual care in preparing his performance of the sonata; the concert was the first time he played the piano in public in Moscow since September 1942.[17]
The Western radio premiere of the sonata was played by Vera Brodsky and broadcast on CBS on September 29, 1943. It was preceded by a private performance that afternoon for invited critics and musicians.[18] That broadcast was followed by the Western concert premiere at Carnegie Hall on October 24 played by Brodsky. Her performance was part of a concert of Soviet music held under the auspices of the American Russian Institute, which sought to improve cultural relations between the United States and Soviet Union. It also included the Western premieres of three songs from the Six Romances on Verses by British Poets, sung by Alexander Kipnis. Donald Ogden Stewart was the master of ceremonies for the concert, whose audience included Andrey Gromyko.[19]
