KN15 Lied der Wolgaschlepper. Hymne des neuen Russland
KN15 Chant des bateliers du Volga [1917]
Chant populaire Russe. Hymne de la nouvelle Russie — Lied der Wolgaschlepper. Hymne des neuen Rußland — Song of the Volga Boatmen
Remarks: After the collapse of the Russian Empire, as a result of its defeat by Germany in the First World War, the issue of the Russian National Anthem arose for Russian artists with the February Revolution and the deposition of the Russian Tsar. Diaghilev was urging Strawinsky to find a replacement for the hymn of the Tsars for an announced gala concert in the Roman Costanzi Theatre for the 9th April 1917. Strawinsky went on to orchestrate the Song of the Volga Boatmen for large orchestra the day before the performance (Piccolo, Flute, 2 Clarinets in A, 2 Oboes, 3 Bassoons, 4 Horns in F, 3 Trumpets in C, 3 Trombones, Tuba, Timpani, Bass Drum and Tam-Tam). The work took place in a huge hurry. Strawinsky did the orchestration at the piano in the room of Lord Berners and dictated the arrangement to Ernest Ansermet who acted as amanuensis. It was copied out immediately, rehearsed the morning after and premièred in the evening. The work lasts between 2 and 4 minutes, was printed in 1920 in Switzerland and was published by J. & W. Chester in London-Geneva as a conducting score in Quarto (4° [4°]) 24 x 30.8, including a set of parts which was for sale under the plate number J. W. C. 18. The autograph of the orchestral version went from the Chester estate into the British Library in London and the piano reduction into the Paul Sacher Stiftung, Basel.
K Catalog: Annotated Catalog of Works and Work Editions of Igor Strawinsky till 1971, revised version 2014 and ongoing, by Helmut Kirchmeyer.
© Helmut Kirchmeyer. All rights reserved.
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