Zdravitsa
Zdravitsa, Op. 85, (Russian: Здра́вица, IPA:
Background
After Prokofiev returned to the
Libretto
The libretto, which according to the first edition was taken from "Russian, Ukrainian, Belorussian, Kumïk, Kurd, Mari, and Mordovian sources", is a patchwork of poems taken from a 534-page pseudo-folkloristic collection celebrating the 20th anniversary of the
Analysis
Simon Morrison notes that "in explicit contrast to the reality of mass incarceration, starvation, and execution, [Zdravitsa and similar propaganda works] offer benign images of resplendent harvests and harmonious labor".[3] The cantata opens with a sighing motif on trumpets, after which the strings play an expansive, flowing melody in C major. The choir suddenly enters, and the music picks up speed. The choir slips cheekily into distant keys now and then, but the harmonic language contains nothing too 'unorthodox' which would have been anathema to Soviet musical strictures. Faster staccato sections continue to alternate with slower flowing sections.
Of special interest is the penultimate section, where the choir races up and down a C major scale (spanning more than two octaves), rather like a child practising piano scales: the British journalist,
Sviatoslav Richter, in Bruno Monsaingeon's documentary, criticizes the "brutal" Prokofiev for working on commission "without principles" and calls Zdravitsa unplayable today due to its subject matter, but, nevertheless, an "absolute work of genius".[5]
Performance history
The cantata premiered on 21 December 1939 in Moscow, conducted by Nikolai Golovanov. It was broadcast twice in 1952.[6] After de-Stalinization, the text, like many others, was rewritten to remove references to the now partially disgraced Stalin. In the editions of 1970 and 1984, the toast becomes a toast to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.[3]
Text and translation
Никогда так не было |
Never before |
Instrumentation
The cantata is scored for
.Recordings
Orchestra | Choir | Conductor | Record Company | Year of Recording | Format |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
State Symphony Capella of Russia | State Symphony Capella of Russia | Valeri Polyansky
|
Chandos Records | 2003 | CD |
London Philharmonic Orchestra | Geoffrey Mitchell Choir /
London Philharmonic Choir |
Derek Gleeson[7] | IMP Masters | 2000 | CD |
New Philharmonic Orchestra | St Petersburg Philharmonic Choir | Alexander Titov | Beaux | 1998 | CD |
USSR Radio/TV Large Symphony Orchestra | Moscow Radio Chorus | Yevgeny Svetlanov | Le Chant Du Monde | 1962 | CD |
Notes
- ^ Jaffé, p.158
- ^ Jaffé, p.159
- ^ ISBN 9780199830985.
- ^ Werth (1946), p.244
- ^ Monsaingeon, Bruno (1998). "Sviatoslav Richter: The Enigma".
{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty|url=
(help) - ISBN 9780195181678.
- ^ "Home". derekgleeson.com.
References
- Jaffé, Daniel Sergey Prokofiev (London: Phaidon, 1998; rev. 2008)
- Werth, Alexander The Year of Stalingrad (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1946)
External links
- Zdravitsa: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
- Recording of Zdravitsa, Valeri Polyanski (conductor) and the Russian State Symphonic Orchestra, Russian State Symphonic Capella.