Symphony No. 8 in C minor, op. 65 - Dmitry Shostakovich’s symphony, written in the summer of 1943 and first performed on November 4 of that year by the USSR Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Yevgeny Mravinsky , to whom the work is dedicated.
The work is characterized by expansive emotional expressions and monumental musical constructions. The symphony is not as popular as a number of others, but it is characterized by considerable depth and drama. The circle of images, as far as possible for Shostakovich, is typical for tonality in C minor and therefore the theme of the work is similar to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony , Bruckner’s Eighth and Mahler’s Second . Isaac Glikman , a close friend of Shostakovich, called the Eighth Symphony "the most tragic work."
Content
Structure
The symphony consists of five parts:
- Adagio - Allegro non troppo
- Allegretto
- Allegro non troppo
- Largo
- Allegretto
Orchestra Composition
The symphony was written for an orchestra composed of: 4 flutes (the third and fourth are duplicated by piccolo flutes), 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, small clarinet, bass clarinet, 3 bassoons (the third is duplicated by a contrabassoon), 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, snare drum, tambourine, cymbals, snare drum, triangle, xylophone, gong and strings.
Reception
The gloomy images of music made it unacceptable for the implementation of propaganda ideas, so it was not positively appreciated by the authorities. The symphony was criticized at the Plenum in March 1944 , and after Zhdanov ’s famous decree in 1948 , which for some time actually banned the music of composers such as Khachaturian , Prokofiev , including the work of Shostakovich himself, it was not performed for eight years. For the first time after the break, the symphony was performed in October 1956 by the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Samuel Samosud .