K28 Unterschale
Russische Bauernlieder. Vier Chöre für gleiche Stimmen – Four Russian Peasant Songs for equal voices – Подблюдныя [Podbljudnyja] – Chansons Paysannes Russes – Sottocoppa. Quattro cori a voci uguali (Quattro canti paesani russi per coro femminile) a cappella
Title: There is no original Russian subtitle. The English title ‘Saucers'’, which is often encountered in the Strawinsky literature, as well as the French translation ‘Soucoupes'’, is not in the original printed edition. The German title Unterschale emphasises in a similar way to the Italian translation Sottocoppa by Roman Vlad that it neither concerns one saucer nor several, but rather the event which happens under the saucer. For this reason, Strawinsky also called his piece Подблюдныя, a made-up word which literally translates as saucer-under-a-saucer. Strawinsky was not happy with the English translation ‘Saucer’ or even worse: ‘Saucers’ for the works. Regarding the English translation of the title, he was of the opinion that a phrase such as ‘Saucer-readings’ (i.e. predictions from a saucer) or ‘Saucer-riddles’ would catch the intended meaning more exactly.
Source: The origin of the texts is obviously not localised. They are taken from Afanasjev’s collection of folk tales Народные русские сказки ( Russianfolk tales) and according to Strawinsky, they can be traced to peasant songs from North Russia in the area of Pskow. They concern the superstitious belief in foretelling the future, for which women would retrieve all types of objects from under an upended saucer at Christmas time while songs were sung, from which the future could be told. The parlour game of fortune telling at Christmas is related in terms of approach to the half-serious German custom of pouring liquid lead into water at the New Year and deriving meanings from the coincidental shapes formed, without, as in Russia, singing songs. Other sources claim that tea-leaves would be laid out, which may itself be similar to the local practice of tea-leaf reading (in other lands: coffee ground reading). None of the four songs have a genuine concern with Christmas, only the first references the Church of Tschigissi near (today: in) Moscow as a religious motif.
Summary: The meaning of the text does not avoid combinations of nonsense words, but it remains obscure and requires elucidation, although it is not a narration, rather just rhymes and their phonic associations. – The first of the peasant songs concerns the Church in Tschigissi. Tschigissi is an old suburb of (in) Moscow on the river Jauza. There was a church-dedication festival to consider, or a rich peasant who collected gold with shovels and a great deal of silver in baskets. – The Russian title of the second song is Овсень , meaning ‘Autumn’, and is at the same time the Russian name for the Thunder God who is meant in relation to the autumn storms. Presumably, the CD translations for the three languages uses the original name (‘Ovsen’) for this reason. According to Craft, Strawinsky must have confused the name for the first day of Spring in the pre-Christian Russian calendar with the Russian word for Autumn. The song is a dialogue between a hunt for a black grouse and a call to the God of autumn, i.e. the Thunder God. Once the hunter has discovered the grouse under a bush because the animal is betrayed by its tail hanging out, he captures it and at the same time receives a handful of money. – The third song (Щука = The Pike) concerns a pike which must have been a magical pike and is, seen superficially, a cock-and-bull story. The pike comes from Novgorod, which it reached from Bjeloe osero. From Bjeloe osero, the ‘White Lake’, to Novgorod is several hundred kilometres. The stretch, which goes via Lake Ladoga, is the name for an old waterway. The giant pike has scales which glitter like silver and gold, a back which glitters like pearls, a head adorned with jewels and two eyes of diamonds. – The final song has the Russian title Пузиш (Master Portly) what means a big stomach. In Roth’s translation, this becomes ‘Dicksack’, and in the less poetic CD version, ‘Fat belly’. What is meant is a sack of seeds which contains lice and fleas and is emptied on a field of beetroot and, as Roth translates, a whole measure of lice and a half-measure of fleas, while the CD edition speaks of half a sack of lice and a whole sack of fleas. The song has a call of ‘Slava’ at the end of the refrain which Roth meaningfully translates as ‘Salvation’ while the CD translator makes it an ‘O Yes’.
Performance practice: All melismatic vowels should be pronounced in the German version with separate vocalisations.At the word “Heiland” (1st song, bar 3) for example, the syllable “Hei” falls on two tied tenuto quavers c2, and the syllable “land” on two tenuto quavers b1-a1. These should not be sung at this point with it continuous vowels “ei” and “a”, but “Hei-ei-la-and”. In bar 16, the adjective “rein” for “reines” silver should be articulated on the notes of different value b1-g1-a1-b1-c2-c2 not as “rei-nes“, but “rei-ei-ei-ei-eines”. — The same or similar problems for translation stand for the prophetic songs of the Saucer cycle as for Pribautki. Strawinsky himself said that he was sceptical of all translations, but the German translation in the first Schott edition of 1930 filled him with such enthusiasm that he demanded that the name of the translator, Hermann Roth, stand on the title page with his own name. It can be seen from the correspondence that the translation took effort to prepare and that Strawinsky was asked for explanations. The translation in the accompanying booklet of the official CD edition is not the old Roth translation. The more recent translation differentiates from the original very markedly at certain points but conveys the feeling of the text literally if not poetically to the reader. The CD edition does not even print the Russian original text in transliteration, so that comparisons are impossible without the original score.
Construction: This varied collection on Russian folk-song texts of four unaccompanied female choirs of sopranos and altos, with up to three solo voices, uses different models and demands a different approach for each of them; the songs vary between the choir alone and being joined by the soloists, and between two- and four-part choral writing. –
The first song is a responsorial dialogue between the choral sopranos and a four-part short response, A-B-A1-B-A2-B-A3-B1, for which the range of the voices is very narrow. The soprano part remains in the range of a sixth, g1-e2, mainly based around the third, h1-d2. In the three first phrases, the note e2 is the highest note and appears on only one occasion and in the fourth phrase it does not appear. In the response, which consists of only three quavers and two semiquavers with a final quaver, the soprano part has a figure of a third a1-d2, the second soprano has a figure of a second a1-h1, the first alto has a figure of a fourth d1-g1 and the second alto a figure of a second alternating d1-c1 and d1-c#1 to sing. The soprano melody line, which is dependent on the text, corresponds to the length of the verses: A=5 bars overlapping with the response (bars 1-6), A1 and A2= 3 bars respectively overlapping with the response (bars 7-10, 11-14), A4=5 bars overlapping with the response (bars 15-20). The three final bars (bars 21-23) consist of one augmented response. –
The second song is a homophonic chorus song for soprano and alto which proceeds in parallel in close and harsh harmonic friction and is constructed by inverting short rudimentary melodic figures in the style of an intonation, diminuting melismatically in soprano und alto quavers. The soprano range spans the sixth e1-b1, but normally moves in the range of the third g1-b1; the alto range spans the sixth b1-g1 in total but it only seems larger, in reality the division of the 75 actually sung notes, including tied-over notes, prefers a few of them: the lowest note, b, is only sung once, c sharp twice, c1 four times, d sharp 1 and f1 not at all. The most commonly sung notes are f sharp with 23 and e1 with 21 appearances, followed at a distance by g1 with 14 and d1 with 10. In spite of this, a structural build-up over 22 bars can be observed. The first 5 bars (bars 1-5) are repeated in a shorter version in the next 4 bars (bars 6-9) and also form the ending, in that bar 6 overlaps with bar 7 as bars 18-19, bars 1-2 overlaps 3 with bars 20-21 repeated. The actual final bar, 22, is the call ‘Овсень ’ (‘Ovsen’) a continually returning bar of reminiscence which at the same time divides the work in its declamatory form at bars 2, 6, 11, 14, 16, and 19 and concludes at bar 22. Bars 10-11 is a repetition of the sequence from bar 1, overlapping into bar 3 while bars 12-13 and 15 and 17 are derived from bars 4-5; bar 18 corresponds to bar 13. The work is constructed from the call formula and two declamatory figures which first appear in bar 1 and 4 and are then developed. –
The third song is an original recitation for three solo voices proceeding in parallel with occasional one-bar interjections from the four-part choir. The soprano solo lies within the narrow range of a fifth, g1-d2, because these outer notes, g1 and d2, are only used infrequently, g1 four times and d2 only three times, so that the actual notes of the recitation lie predominantly within the range of a major third. Under the self-standing, flexible recitation of the solo Soprano run two further solo voices in the alto register, entirely in parallel sixths; this is how the tale of the miraculous pike is told by the three soloists. The four-part choir interjects after each verse with an awestruck call of ‘Salvation’ (‘Slava’) with two chords, a dotted crotchet chord of f#1-a1-c#2- e2 and a short tearing away quaver–long chord of f#1-a1-d2-e2. –
The fourth song is a quick refrain in three verses for a female singer and choir, again within a narrow range. The solo calls are short and are intoned, to use the Gregorian term, as a ‘Tuba’ on a d2 and within the range of a fifth, from a fourth below to a tone above. All three intonations evolve out of the text and speech rhythms and span 16-19 sung syllables, because the one-syllable original words which are translated by two-syllable words are set to two syllables. The declamations are not structurally identical. All three homophonic choral responses are in any case dependent on the text, are 7 bars in length and structurally identical. The final calls of ‘Slava’ are differently numbered. They come: seven times after the first entry, five times after the second and six times after the third (in the German edition, five calls are also written after the first entry, but two of them, presumably for printing reasons, have repeat marks around them; otherwise it would not have been possible to bring the choral entry onto one page). The later version, with a four-horn accompaniment, has a greatly altered alto part and the choir calls are consistently arranged in groups of five, though they are written out only once in repeat marks and (only in the English edition) bear the German marking ‘fünfmal’.
Structure
N o 1
Beim Heiland von Tschigissi*
У Cпаса въ Чигисахъ
[On Saints' days in Chigisakh]
[Pendant la fête des Saints à Chigisakh]
Beim Heiland in Tschigissy* am Jausabach, glanzvoll . . .
У, у Cпаса, у Cпаса, въ Чигисахъ за Яузою. . . .
On Saints' days in Chigisakh on Yaouzoi, so 'tis said . . .
Pendant la fête des Saints à Chigisakh sur Yaouzoi, on dit . . .
(23 bars)
* The varying spellings are original.
N o 2
Herbst
Овсень
Ovsen
Ovsen
Herbst, o Herbst! Auf das Birkhuhn ich jag'!
Овсень, овсень, овсень! Я тетерю гоню.
I'm hunting the grouse, Ovsen!
Je chasse le coq de bruyère, Ovsen!
(22 bars)
N o 3
Der Hecht
Щука
The Pike
Le Brochet
Hechtfisch kam daher aus Nowgorod;
Щука шла изъ Новагорода; . . . Cлава!
Once a pike swam out of Novgorod, . . . Glory!
Un jour, un brochet quitta Novgorod, . . . Gloria!
(26 bars)
N o 4
Freund Dicksack
Пузиш
Master Portly
Gros sac ventru
Einstmals trabte Freund Dicksack auf's Rübenfeld, . . .
Ужъ, какъ вышло пузище . . .
Master Portly tramped through the big turnip field . . .
Gros sac ventru allait à travers le grand champ de navets.
Frisch und laut Бодро и громко (bar 1 up to bar 40)
Solo (3 bars = bar 1 up to bar 3)
Choir (10 bars = bar 4 up to bar 13 with bar 8 repeated = bar 12)
Solo (3 bars = bar 14 up to bar 16)
Choir (9 bars = bar 17 up to bar 25)
Solo (6 bars = bar 26 up to bar 31)
Choir (11 bars = bar 32 up to bar 42)
Largamente (bar 41 up to bar 42)
Corrections / Errata
Edition 28-1 (red)
1st Song
1.) bar 19, Soprano: quavers d2-d2-d2-e2 instead of d2-d2-d2-d2 (red; also 28-2 Straw)
3rd Song
2.) bar 4, Soprano: quavers a1-c2-a1-a1-f1 instead of a1-b1-a1-a1-g1 (pencil).
3.) bar 4 + 5, Piano, 2. and 3. voice, bar 4: the last two-note-chord a-g1* instead of a-f1; four dividing dots (vertical) have to be added after the 2. quavers two-note-chord; the three last two-note- chords of bar 5 have to be read semiquaver a-f1 / semiquaver b-g1 / quaver a-a1** / instead of quaver b-g1 / quaver a-f1 / crotchet b-g1.* (pencil).
4th Song
4). p. 9, bar 8: the quaver ligature of the highest part has to be read b1-a b1 instead of b1-a1 (pencil).
* It cannot be ruled out that Strawinsky made an inaccurate correction and that it should actually read b-g1.
** It cannot be ruled out that Strawinsky made an inaccurate correction and that it should actually read c1-a1.
Edition 28-5
2nd Song
1.) p. 6, bar 1, Piano discant: 5/8 sequence of notes has to be read g1 / g1 / two-note-chord f#1-a1 / g1 / two-note-chord f#1-a1 instead of g1 / a1 / two-note-chord f#1-a1 / g1 / two-note-chord f#1- a1; see also all comparable places pp. 5, 11, 14, 16, 19, 22.
2.) p. 6, bar 1, Piano discant: semiquaver two-note-chord f#1-g1 instead of f1-g#1.
Style: The songs are studies of vocal sound in Russian which are written in the declamatory manner of the Russian language and are integrally concerned with the sound of the words. The sounds of each syllable are of great importance and the songs are constructed so that they are set inside a limited range of notes and at times used as a form of rhythmic punctuation, though not in order to emphasise the content of the text. Stylistically, the works belong to the group of works which includes Les Noces and, in the fourth piece, the opera The Nightingale.
Dedication : no dedication known.
Duration: Original version:3'; Horn arrangement:between 3' 40" and 4' 06".
Date of origin: a) original version:chronologically independent of one another Morges 1916, Morges 1917, Salvan 1914, 1915; b) Horn arrangement:1954.
First performance: Original version:1917 in Genf under the conduction of Wassily Kibalschisch; Horn arrangement:11th October 1954 as part of the Monday Evening Concerts in Los Angeles under the conduction by Robert Craft.
Remarks: The actual history of the work is unknown. The person who gave the commission is not known. The dating of the piece can be traced from the dates at the end of the composition in the printed edition. They demonstrate the compositional independence of the songs from each other, in that Strawinsky had been writing one of the ’Saucer’ pieces from 1914 and in each of the years of the war until 1917 as if he had made them a set for himself. The first song of the series was either composed on 22nd October 1916 in Morges as the third song (which is unlikely) or (which is more probable) concluded. The place of composition for the second song was given as Morges in 1917, it is the latest one of the series. The third song appears to have been the earliest of them all, it was written in 1914 in Salvan. The last song, with no place of composition given, was dated from 1915 and is the second in terms of when it was written.
Versions: According to White, the contract for the printing of the works in 1919 was settled in Chester in London. They were not published however. Strawinsky was horrified and was very acrimonious towards Strecker. Strawinsky wrote thankfully that, by the end of 1929, the Chester contract had given the additional right to a printing licence for a German edition and with it, the right to sell the option of the first printing. In the Chester matter however, he was anything but demure, writing to Strecker on 27th December 1929 with mischievous irony and wordplay that the works had lain for ten years in the vault of the famous Chester and without Strecker, they would presumably have lain in ‘that dirty fleabox’ for as long again until an English governor, brandishing fleaherb, would bring his choirs to light in the name of a triumphant ten-year celebration. The fact that they were not published by Chester at first after the split caused by the lost Firebird trial can be partly explained by the fact that Strawinsky had severed his business connections with Chester. Strecker expressed his enthusiasm for the songs and communicated successfully with Kling. They were first published by Schott in Mainz simultaneously in two editions with the Chester licence of 1930 without a copyright mark in a Russian-German choral score edition with a German title; only two years later, it was issued with a 1932 Copyright protection in a Russian-English-French edition by Chester, which had already been prepared by the beginning of the year and so must have been printed at the end of 1931 at the latest. The London exemplar bears the date 13th January. 1932. In 1938, the American publishers, Marks, printed a copyright licence from that year which should have been renewed ten years later in 1948 for a new version. This date is in fact questionable. From the exemplar received in London, there are reasons for supposing a printing error for the date which was given as 1948. In any case, the responsible librarian of the London Library who registered the entry of the contributed copy with the date 20th May, 1950, crossing out the 1948 Copyright date and correcting it by hand with 1950. The American edition came out under number 27 in the ‘Arthur Jordan Choral Series’ in the Soprano and Alto version as well as, something which contradicts original sense of the works, a version for Tenor and Bass. In 1954, Strawinsky replaced the piano accompaniment with an arrangement for horn quartet and extended the pieces. In this form, they were first published in 1957 by Schott and then in mid-1958 by Chester in London. The contributed exemplar in London bears the date 9th July, 1958. In a letter of 18th August, 1954, Strawinsky offered a new arrangement to Chester, with whom the rights to the originals still lay. His relationship with this publishing house seems to have normalised itself again to a certain extent after the death of the younger Kling. The head of the publishing house, Gibson, accepted. The first edition may have run to 930 copies; in any case, the publishers had this many in stock in the calculations of 30th June 1959, which spanned the time period from 1st July 1958 onwards. Of these, they sold 81 in the first three years and 337 in the fourth year. –
Print runs: In Schott’s plate books, the distinction is made in the case of Unterschalebetween the score [here: P], the vocal score [here: Sp] and a non-sign [here -]. There were 15 print runs of Unterschalefrom 1930 onwards with a total number of 9,300 copies produced, the majority of which were in runs of 300 or 1,000 copies. It is possible to differentiate between the editions to a certain extent because some of the print runs are just normal continuations (print runs: 23rd May 1930: 300 [P.]; 23rd May 1930: 300 [Sp]; 9th July 1932: 300 [Sp]; 17th February 1934: 300 [-]; 27th August 1938: 200 [Sp]; 10th January 1950: 400 [Sp]; 1st October 1951: 400 [Sp]; 14th February 1953: 500 [Sp]; 1st June 1954: 600 [-]; 16th May 1955: 1000 [-]; 28th January 1959: 1,000 [Sp]; 21st February 1962: 1,000 [Sp]; 25th August 1964: 1,000 [Sp]; 10th October 1967: 1,000 [Sp]; 17th February 1971: 1,000 [-]. From Strawinsky’s death to the end of the century, there were 3 print runs with an additional 1,802 copies produced (print runs 19/6/1973: 1,000; 23/4/1986: 400; 4/7/1990: 400-402). – All pre-War editions can be recognized by the incorrectly printed first name of the translator (incorrectly Herman instead of Hermann, which is correct). The changes between the editions are mostly very small. In the copy 28-1 D, one of the publishers’ free copies from 1938, the uppermost line of the inner title (‘Singpartitur’) has been removed or left out. The copy 28-1 Emust be the last pre-War edition, because copies from the War bear the Visa stamp that was required for the French occupied zone in Germany, meaning that they belong to the remaining stock that was not sold until 1945. Significantly, the Russian title was removed from the titles, and the phrase ‘Singpartitur’ was re-inserted.
Horn arrangement: The horn arrangement was completed in 1954 and printed in 1958. Many of his adjustments from that time come as a result of the performances at the Monday Evening Concerts in Los Angeles, made possible by Craft. Although Strawinsky had always emphasised that his Russian Peasant Songs were text-dependent and untranslatable, the original Russian sung text for the edition was replaced by an English one and neither the original text nor any other language was included in the printing. The name of the translator was not given, an indicator of the fact that Strawinsky did not like the translation. It was however used in the official CD edition. The horns were written in non-transposing parts in C in the choral score,and are reduced, as per usual, onto 2 systems as I./III. and II./IV. Horn. The letters and bar numbers restart for each of the pieces, and do not appear at important structural points, but rather show schematic units of four bars. Apart from this, Strawinsky stipulated metronome markings which are missing from the original choral edition. In spite of the marking ‘with accompaniment of four horns’, this version is more than a reproduction of the song with horn accompaniment. The arrangement has become a new composition in its own right in which the recitative-like stasis of the original changes into a dynamic work of imitation; the former intimacy of the chamber music is adapted into a concert style and the miniature scale of the first version develops in an almost improvisatory manner and is redesigned as a large-scale form, thanks to the additional length. The songs gained a new Prelude, Interlude and Postlude played by the horns, and they are constructed and derived from intervallic material. The instrumental parts only support the sung parts to a certain extent. They gain their own self-standing, expressive existence through canonic, imitative development of the material of the songs. With the exception of the third song, in which he constructs the choral parts out of the solo parts and removes the third solo part and thus the characteristic movement in sixths, the original structures of the choral movements remain untouched; there is however rhythmic and metrical displacement throughout which creates a feeling of clarification and also creates compositional entries into the parlando of the original which is playing in thirds (as in the second song). The third piece ends with three eight-part chords in the choir and quartet in each of which eight notes of the scale are played together in each group/family of instruments. This arrangement heralds a new style. –
The first song has the metronome marking crotchet=104. The 23 bars of the original choral movement (as a result of the repeated sections with their own sections) as well as the one-bar instrumental prelude and ten-bar coda, make 59 bars in total. The choral movement itself is extended from 23 to 24 bars in length. This extension leads to a metrically more convincing resolution than in the original, since in the original, the choral interjections always come in the middle of the bar and run on into the next one. By means of a small displacement of the bar lines, which makes a 5/8 bar at figure A4 into a 3/4 bar, both the first choral interjections gain an extra bar. Strawinsky continues with this adjustment at figure D8, where he adopts the same technique of a 5/8 bar becoming a 3/4 bar. Taking this into consideration, the choral movement gains an extra bar in the horn-quartet version without having been altered at all. On the subject of Strawinsky‘s variable working habits, it is illuminating that he makes this adjustment here yet does not write it out for the subsequent choral interjections, although he employs further metrical displacements. At the section in the original to the end 3/4, 5/8, 3 x 2/4, 3/4, 3 x 2/4 = 41/8, there is the following from E1: 2 x 2/4, 3/8, 3 x 2/4, 3/4, 2 x 2/4 = 37/8. The difference of four quavers, without diminuation and without reduction of the bars, is accomplished by removing the last of the 2/4 bars with combinations of held minims in the original. Instead of this, he repeats from bar 1 onwards and makes a ten-bar instrumental coda out of the original final bar, using a second-time bar with a four-part, but differently arranged, final chord in the horns (D-g1-a1-d2 instead of d1-d2). A single alteration was made to a voice part by Strawinsky, or else it was printed with more care, and it is in the horn version; one must ask the question as to whether it is a compositional alteration or the removal of a printing error in the original, or even a printing error which had passed into the edition. In bar 19 of the original (figure F2 of the edition/revision), there are four quavers on d2. In the revision, these are changed to three quavers on d2 and a quaver on e2. The horns take up the recitation-like melody in the solo part and develop it. They simply act to reinforce the choral interjections. The short instrumental coda becomes its own imitative section in the manner of an invention. –
The second song has a metronome mark of quaver=200 and was raised a major third higher than the original. From the original 22 bars, it becomes 45 bars in the revision. Of these, two bars come from a prelude in the first and third horn, which play a melody line which is self-imitating and rises simply, resembling that of the first movement. In fact, Strawinsky developed all the preludes out of the same melodic material as rising fanfare signals, always for two horns, in different forms. In the second piece as well, the extension of the bars is noticeable but it is real; thus the bar lengths are made smaller. For example, out of the 5/8 bar, two 3/8 bars are produced (Original: bar 1; revision: figure A3-4) and the progression 4/8 + 3/8 becomes 2/8 + 3/8 + 2/8 (original: bars 6-7; revision: figures C1-3); Strawinsky however repeats the opening section and in doing so, changes the overall form. It does not necessarily become an A-B-A form; since the work is constructed as a sequence of formulae with the calls of ‘Ovsen’ as punctuation and this procedure only gets longer. After the two-bar introduction, the 22 bars of the original follow at first until the end (bars 3-31 of the revision = figure A3 to figure H3), at which point he enters into the original structure of the melody, some second playing in thirds and thus weakens its recitative-like parlando. In doing this, he has the possibility, since the work closes with the ‘Ovsen’ call, of continuing with the formula after the ‘Ovsen’ call. He therefore returns to bar 3 of the original (bar 6 = figure B2 of the revision) and follows it for 9 bars (Original: bars 3-11; revised version: bar 32-42 = figures H4-K2). He then repeats the ‘Ovsen’ call again (bar 43 = figure K3) and has its final note g sharp (originally e) sound out over two 3/8 bars (originally one 3/8 note in a 5/8 bar, and this note is used as a bridge into the extension), accompanied by the horns. The horns lead their own self-standing filigree, imitative material and have a three- and four-part canonic counterpoint against the two-part choir. –
The third song has a metronome marking of quaver = 208. The 26 bars of the original become 54 bars, including the horn interlude and prelude, and the choral entry alone is expanded to 50 bars. In the extension, Strawinsky returns exclusively to the bar shortening, which is here especially dramatic. For example, the second bar of the song in the original is notated as an 8/8 bar. In the revised version, this bar is made into three bars, two 3/8 bars and one 2/8 bar. All the ‘Slava’ calls are gathered together under one 5/8 bar, but in the revised version, these become two bars, a 3/8 and a 2/8. In fact, Strawinsky stayed extremely close to the original in terms of the overall structure, but he so markedly disrupted the structure of the different sections that he reduced the three original solo parts into two choral parts, soprano and alto, by removing the lower solo alto part. In this way, the movement in sixths, which had been so characteristic of the piece, was removed, and as Strawinsky found it necessary to define the intervallic structures underneath the soprano part in a different way, which then may have had an effect on the upper part at certain points. One must here pose the question again as to whether this is the alteration of a melody or the removal of a printing error. The second quaver value of bar 4 (figure B3) is changed from b1 to c2. This corresponds, shortened by a quaver, to the identical figure of notes in bar 1, in the revised version as well as the original. In the same bar, the fifth quaver, g1, is altered to f1 in the revision, lowered by a second, and this is kept on for all the subsequent comparable bars (bar 8 = figure B3; bar 11 = figure C3; bar 16 = figure E3; bar 19 = figure F4; bar 23 = figure G3). A further alteration in the melody line concerns the reordering of the crotchets before the choral interjections in quavers with subsequent quaver rest (bar 2 = figure A5; bar 5 = figure B7; bar 9 = figure C6; bar 13 = figure D8; bar 17 = figure E6; bar 20 = figure F8). The reason for this correction may be found in the altered performance situation. In the original, the parts are sung by female soloists, which are shortened in the revision, and in whose intonation of which the choir are now engaged; now the choir itself is singing this while it is also needed to sing the choral call. The original effect is therefore technically impossible now, so Strawinsky discarded it completely and, instead of the breath marks, he wrote a quaver rest into the score and employed this technique for an especially effective final call; since he previously separated the two not with a quaver rest but with a breath mark, he indicated that this final call should link and complete itself directly without a pause. For the same reason, the upbeat in bar 25 (3 quavers; figure G5) should have been removed, as Strawinsky did not want to assigne this effect suitable to the chorus which in the first place belongs to the soloist. The final call was already raised up in the original by another chord and by this suitable for the final. All 6 calls of ‘Slava’ in the original are made up of dotted crotchets, f#1-a1-c#2-e2, with a subsequent quaver chord f#1-a1-d2-e2 and a final quaver rest; only the final chord consists of two crotchet chords, f#1-a1-d2-e and e1-g#1-b1-c#2, and a minim final chord without a following rest, d#1-f#1-b1-c2. Strawinsky retained this combination of chords for the transcription and further strengthened it by means of a massive horn chord with a moving, first horn part anticipating the final note. He very solemnly built up the final chord in a new way in that he follows two eight-part crotchet chords with an eight-part final chord to the value of a minim: f#1-d2-a1-e2 + e1-b1-g#1-c#2 + d#1-f#1-b1-c#2 in the choir and f#-d-e-a + c#1-e-g#1-b + d#1-f#1-b-c# in the horn quartet. It is not a twelve-tone chord but rather an eight-note chord for each of the separate ensemble groups, so two sections of eight parts. The horn parts take over the parts replacing the removed low female voice part alongside their accompaniment, which is very much thinned out and not imitative. Strawinsky completely removed the characteristic movement in sixths. Technically it is debatable as to whether the horn quartet should be kept a dynamic level lower than the two chorus parts. The choir intones the call ‘Glory’ fortissimo, the horn quartet only at forte. In practice, the volume of the horns will reach an identical dynamic to that of the chorus. The third song is the only piece of the suite in which the horns each receive one-bar interludes. In terms of material, they are, like all the introductions, derived from the same combination of intervals in the course of the form, in which the first interlude is structurally identical to the second, but not to the third. –
The fourth song has the metronome mark crotchet =108 and contains in its penultimate bar, from which the original largamento marking has been removed, a further metronome marking of three quavers, written as unmarked triplets = crotchet = 72. The 42 bars of the original, including repeats, become 57 bars in the transcription, including 2 bars of instrumental prelude, without any change in the length of the music. The same form is retained, as well as the system of metrical displacement which, in the case of this refrain form, almost has a new meter for each bar. In the first 10 bars of singing up to the call of ‘Salvation’, there is a change of 6 bars in the original. In the revision, there are, without the upbeat, 14 bars of which 12 are altered. In none of the four pieces of this collection did Strawinsky alter the structure of the movement so much as here. The melody line remains all unchanged but one note in the choral soprano part only at this moment, not at the other two previous comparable points (original bar 38, last note: quaver f1; revised version figure 16, penultimate quaver: quaver b1), but the form of the movement for both the other solo parts is at times almost completely differently conceived, without this being a result of the addition of the horn accompaniment. There is also a change in the chorus endings with their calls of ‘Slava’; in the original, there are 7 calls for the first time, 5 for the second time, and 6 for the third and last time, of which the 6 thcall, in a slower largamento, was extended for the fourth time in comparison with the other calls. In the revised version, the number of calls at one time is standardised at 5, which also holds true for the final call section, only that here the different length of the final call remains unaltered. Although the first edition is an anglicised Chester edition, the first and second choral response of the calls of ‘Slava’, which are only notated once in repeat bars, have the German marking ‘fünfmal’ above them. The horn accompaniment sets the chorus against the instrumentalists moving in up to four parts and does not provide a background support. The same is true for the solo calls which are punctuated by the single horns in the manner of a signal, but are not accompanied and are occasionally hurried in terms of intonation. It is certainly not easy for a soprano to sing a C when the horn is playing a D, or indeed singing two semiquavers, b-a, over a held C in the horn.
Historical Recordings: Historical Recordings: Hollywood 28th July 1955 in the version for 4 horns with Marni Nixon and Marilyn Horne sung in English conducted by Igor Strawinsky; Hollywood 20th* August 1965 in the version for 4 horns, Gregg Smith Singers (Chorus director: Gregg Smith) and Horn players from the Columbia Symphony Orchestra conducted by Igor Strawinsky, sung in Russian.
* 2nd August according to the booklet in the CD edition.
CD edition: VIII-2/22-25 (Horn arrangement recording 1965).
Autograph score: A neat copy of the original version, along with numerous signed and dated sketches, are in the Paul Sacher Foundation in Basel; the manuscript of the Horn quartet was in the possession of Robert Craft.
Copyright: 1932 by J.& W. Chester London.
Editions
a) Overview
28-1A 1930 ChSc; g-r; Schott Mainz-Leipzig; 11 pp.; 32640-32643.
28-1B 1930 ChSc; g-r; Schott Mainz-Leipzig; 11 pp.; 32640-32643.
28-1Straw1 ibd. [with annotations].
28-1Straw2ibd. [with annotations].
28-2 1932 ChSc; r-e-f; Chester London; 11 pp.; J. W. C. 9732.
28-2Straw1 ibd. [with annotations].
28-2Straw2ibd. [with annotations].
28-3 [1932] ChSc [teilkorrigiert]; d-r; Schott Mainz-Leipzig; 11 pp.; 32640-32643.
28-4 [1938] ChSc [French controlled]; d-r; Schott Mainz-Leipzig; 11 pp.; 32640-32643.
28-5 [1948] ChSc; e-f; Marks New York / Chester London; 15 p.; 12734-13.
28-5Strawibd. [with annotations].
28-5[50][1950] ibd.
28-6 [1950] ChSc; g-r; Schott Mainz; 11 p.; 32640-32643.
28-6Straw ibd. [without annotations].
28-7 [1956] ChSc-Horns; g; Schott Mainz; 11 p.; 39491.
28-8 (1958) ChSc-Horns; e; Chester London; 10 p.; J. W. C. 6715.
28-8Straw ibd.
b) Characteristic features
28-1A STRAWINSKY* / UNTERSCHALE** / Подблюдныя / VIER RUSSISCHE / BAUERNLIEDER / [Vignette] / B. SCHOTT'S SÖHNE MAINZ // UNTERSCHALE / Russische Bauernlieder / Vier Chöre für gleiche Stimmen / von / Igor Strawinsky / Deutsche Übertragung von / Herman Roth / [Asterisk] / Beim Heiland von Tschigissy – Herbst / Der Hecht – Freund Dicksack / Partitur [#***] n. M. 3.– / Singpartitur <bei Mehrbezug> [°] / B. Schott's Söhne, Mainz and Leipzig / J. & W. Chester, Ltd., London / Imprimé en Allemagne – Printed in Germany // (Choir score stapled 16.5 x 25.8 (8° [Lex. 8°]); sung text German-Russian; 11 [10] pages + 4 cover pages thicker paper black on yellow beige [front cover title with vignette 4 x 3.7 stylised fish, 2 empty pages, empty page with centre centred publisher’s emblem rectangular 2.4 x 3.8 lion with wheel of Mainz in its paws and with writing encircling >B · SCHOTT’S SÖHNE [#] PER MARE [#] MAINZ UND LEIPZIG [#] ET TERRAS<] + 1 page front matter [title page] + 1 page back matter [page with publisher’s advertisements >Werke für gemischten Chor / a capella< production data >955<****]; title head flush right [exclusively p. 1] >Unterschale / Подблюдныя < flush left [all song titles] >Vier Russische / Bauernlieder< [with consecutive Arabic numbering ]; author specified flush right centred below song title >Beim Heiland von Tschigissi / У СПАСА ВЪ ЧИГИСАХЪ < 1st page of the score unpaginated [p. 2] >Igor Strawinsky / 1916< below song title >Herbst< [#] >ОВСЕНЬ < p. 4 >Igor Strawinsky / 1917<, below song title >Der Hecht< [#] >ЩУКА < p. 6 >Igor Strawinsky / 1914< below song title >Freund Dicksack *)< [#] >ПУЗИЩЕ < p. 9 >Igor Strawinsky / 1915<; legal reservation 1. page of the score below type area flush right without Copyright >Aufführungsrechte vorbehalten / Tous droits d'exécution réservés<; plate numbers [1. song p. 2-3:] >32640< [2. song p. 4-5:] >32641< [3. song p. 6-8:] >32642< [4. song p. 9-11:] >32643<; production indication p. 11 flush right as end mark >Druck u. Verlag von B. Schott's Söhne in Mainz<) // (1930)
° An illegible, blackened section of the text.
* A much thickened i-dot over the >I<.
** Printed in red.
*** Fill character (dotted line).
**** Y as fancy letter. I n French, the library material is advertised without edition numbers, the compositions for sale are advertised with edition numbers behind fill character (dotted line) >Feu d’artifice. Fantaisie pour grand orchestre, op. 4 / Partition d'orchestre <format de poche>° 3464 / Réduction pour Piano à 4 mains (O. Singer)° 962 / <Parties d'orchestre en location> / [Asterisk] / L’oiseau de feu. Ballet / Transcriptions pour Violon et Piano par l'auteur: / Prélude et Ronde des princesses° 2080 / Berceuse° 2081 / [Asterisk] / Pastorale. Chanson sans paroles pour une voix et quatre / instruments à vent / Partition <avec réduction pour Piano>° 3399 / <Parties en location> / [Asterisk] / Unterschale. Russische Bauernlieder. 4 Chöre für gleiche Stimmen. / Beim Heiland von Tschigissy — Herbst — Der Hecht — Freund Dicksack<. After Mainz the places of printing are listed: Leipzig-London-Brüssel-Paris [° fill character (dotted line)].
28-1B STRAWINSKY* / UNTERSCHALE** / Подблюдныя / VIER RUSSISCHE / BAUERNLIEDER / [Vignette] / B. SCHOTT'S SÖHNE MAINZ // UNTERSCHALE / Russische Bauernlieder / Vier Chöre für gleiche Stimmen / von / Igor Strawinsky / Deutsche Übertragung von / Herman Roth / [Asterisk] / Beim Heiland von Tschigissy – Herbst / Der Hecht – Freund Dicksack / Partitur [#***] n. M. 3.– / Sing-Partituren nach Vereinbarung / B. Schott's Söhne, Mainz and Leipzig / J. & W. Chester, Ltd., London / Imprimé en Allemagne – Printed in Germany // (Chorpartitur stapled 17.4 x 27.3 (8° [Lex. 8°]); sung text German-Russian; 11 [10] pages + 4 cover pages thicker paper black on yellow beige [front cover title with vignette 4 x 3.7 a stylized fish rolled up and orientated to the left, 2 empty pages, empty page with centre centred publisher’s emblem rectangular 2.4 x 3.8 lion with wheel of Mainz in its paws and with writing encircling >B · SCHOTT’S SÖHNE [#] PER MARE [#] MAINZ UND LEIPZIG [#] ET TERRAS<] + 1 page front matter [title page] + 1 page back matter [page with publisher’s advertisements > IGOR STRAWINSKY< production data >959<****]; title head flush right [exclusively] 1. page of the score >Unterschale*) / Подблюдныя < flush left centred 1st page of the score, p. p. 4, 6, 9 >Vier Russische / Bauernlieder< [with consecutive Arabic numbering]; song title German-Russian centre; author specified flush right centred below song title >Beim Heiland von Tschigissi / У СПАСА ВЪ ЧИГИСАХЪ < 1st page of the score unpaginated [p. 2] >Igor Strawinsky / 1916< below song title >Herbst< [#] >ОВСЕНЬ < p. 4 >Igor Strawinsky / 1917<, below song title >Der Hecht< [#] >ЩУКА < p. 6 >Igor Strawinsky / 1914< below song title >Freund Dicksack *)< [#] >ПУЗИЩЕ < p. 9 >Igor Strawinsky / 1915<; legal reservation 1. page of the score below type area flush right centred >Aufführungsrechte vorbehalten / Tous droits d'exécution réservés<; plate numbers [1st song p. 2-3:] >32640< [2nd song p. 4-5:] >32641< [3rd song p. 6-8:] >32642< [4th song p. 9-11:] >32643<; production indication p. 11 flush right as end mark >Druck u. Verlag von B. Schott's Söhne in Mainz<) // (1930)
* A much thickened i-dot over the >I<.
** Printed in red.
*** Fill character (dotted line).
**** Y as fancy letter. In French, the library material is advertised without edition numbers, the compositions for sale are advertised with edition numbers behind fill character (dotted line) >Feu d’artifice. Fantaisie pour grand orchestre, op. 4 / Partition d'orchestre <format de poche>° 3464 / Réduction pour Piano à 4 mains (O. Singer)° 962 / <Parties d'orchestre en location> / [Asterisk] / L’oiseau de feu. Ballet / Transcriptions pour Violon et Piano par l'auteur: / Prélude et Ronde des princesses° 2080 / Berceuse° 2081 / [Asterisk] / Pastorale. Chanson sans paroles pour une voix et quatre / instruments à vent / Partition <avec réduction pour Piano>° 3399 / <Parties en location> / [Asterisk] / Unterschale. Russische Bauernlieder. 4 Chöre für gleiche Stimmen. / Beim Heiland von Tschigissy — Herbst — Der Hecht — Freund Dicksack<. After Mainz the following places of printing are listed: Leipzig-London-Brüssel-Paris [° fill character (dotted line)].
28-1Straw1
On the front cover title, Strawinsky’s copy is above >STRAWINSKY< flush right with >Igor Strawinsky / mai 1930< signed and dated, and contains corrections in red and with pencil [1st song, p. 3, 3rd system, last Takt, (bar 19), Soprano: quaver e2 instead of d2 (red); 4. song, p. 9, 3rd system, bar 3 (bar 8), d1-as1 instead of d1-a1; p. 10, 3rd system, bar 2, (bar 21), last chord: e1-a b1 instead of e1-a1]. The Russian text is without mistakes
28-2 STRAWINSKY* / Подблюдныя / FOUR RUSSIAN / PEASANT SONGS / [Vignette] / J. & W. CHESTER LTD. LONDON // FOUR RUSSIAN PEASANT SONGS / FOR / EQUAL VOICES / RUSSIAN, ENGLISH, AND FRENCH TEXTS / MUSIC BY / IGOR STRAWINSKY / У Спаса въ Чигисахъ [#**] Овсень / 1. On Saints Days in Chigisakh. [#**] 2. Ovsen. / Près de l'Eglise à Chigisak. [#**] Ovsen. / Щука [#**] Пузище / 3. The Pike. [#**] 4. Master Portly. / Le Brochet. [#**] Monsieur Ventrue. VOCAL SCORE 2/6 Net / PARTS BY ARRANGEMENT / J. & W. CHESTER, L TD./ 11, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET / LONDON, W. 1 / For Germany: B. SCHOTT's SÖHNE, MAINZ and LEIPZIG // (Choir score sewn in green 17 x 26 (8° [Lex. 8°]); sung text Russian-English-French; 11 [10] pages + 4 cover pages thicker paper black on light-lila*** [front cover title with vignette 4 x 3.7 a stylized fish rolled up and orientated to the left , 3 empty pages] + 1 page front matter [title page] + 1 page back matter [page with publisher’s advertisements >RÉPERTOIRE COLLIGNON. / Arrangements of Old Folk-Songs.<**** without production data]; title head >FOUR RUSSIAN PEASANT SONGS<; author specified 1. page of the score paginated p. 2 below piece title flush right centred >Igor Strawinsky / 1916< unpaginated [p. 4] >Igor Strawinsky / 1917<, unpaginated [p. 6] >Igor Strawinsky / 1914<, unpaginated [p. 9] >Igor Strawinsky / 1915<; legal reservation 1. page of the score below type area flush left >Copyright MCMXXXII,by J. & W. Chester Ltd.< flush right >All rights reserved / Tous droits réservés<; plate number >J. W. C. 9732<; without end mark) // (1932)
* A much thickened i-dot over the >I<.
** A vertical hyphen extending beyond the limits of the line itself.
*** It has turned brown in many places. The London copy >F.1771.(20.)< shows the original colour most (the last two cover pages are missing).
**** Arrangements are advertised by Arnold Bax, Eugène Goossens, Herbert Howells and Guy Weitz as well as by Frank Bridge and John Ireland; Strawinsky not mentioned.
28-2Straw1
Strawinsky’s copy from his estate is between name and Russian text flush right with >IStr / février 1932< signed and dated and contains corrections [1st song, p. 3, 3rd system, bar 3 (bar 19), Soprano: last quaver e2 instead of d2 (red); 2nd song, p. 5, 2nd system, Soprano: bar 1 and bar 3 (bars 14 + 16) should be read > ов-сень < instead of > о-всень < (red)].
28-2Straw2
Strawinsky’s copy from his estate is without cover pages and contains corrections [1st song, p. 3, 3rd system, last bar (bar 19), Soprano: last quaver e2 instead of d2; 2nd song, p. 5, 2nd system, Soprano: bar 1 and bar 3 (bars 14 + 16) > ов-сень < instead of > о-всень < (red)].
28-3 STRAWINSKY* / UNTERSCHALE** / Подблюдныя / VIER RUSSISCHE / BAUERNLIEDER / [Vignette] / B. SCHOTT'S SÖHNE MAINZ // UNTERSCHALE / Russische Bauernlieder / Vier Chöre für gleiche Stimmen / von / Igor Strawinsky / Deutsche Übertragung von / Herman Roth / [Asterisk] / Beim Heiland von Tschigissy – Herbst / Der Hecht – Freund Dicksack / Partitur . . . n. M. 3.– / Sing-Partituren nach Vereinbarung / B. Schott's Söhne, Mainz and Leipzig / J. & W. Chester, Ltd., London / Imprimé en Allemagne – Printed in Germany [***] // (Choir score library binding 19.3 x 27.1 (8° [Lex. 8°]); sung text German-Russian; song title German-Russian; 11 [10] pages + 4 cover pages thicker paper black on yellow beige [front cover title with vignette 4 x 3.7 a stylized fish rolled up and orientated to the left , 2 empty pages, empty page centre centred publisher’s emblem rectangular 2.4 x 3.8 lion with wheel of Mainz in its paws and with writing encircling >B · SCHOTT’S SÖHNE [#] PER MARE [#] MAINZ UND LEIPZIG [#] ET TERRAS<] + 1 page front matter [title page] + 1 page back matter [page with publisher’s advertisements >IGOR STRAWINSKY< production data >959<****]; title head [exclusively] p. [2] flush right >Unterschale *) / Подблюдныя < p. [2], 4, 6, 7 flush left centred >Vier Russische / Bauernlieder< with centre below numbering with Arabic numerals; author specified below song title flush right centred 1. page of the score unpaginated [p. 2] >Igor Strawinsky / 1916< p. 4 >Igor Strawinsky / 1917<, p. 6 >Igor Strawinsky / 1914< p. 9 >Igor Strawinsky / 1915<; legal reservation 1. page of the score below type area flush right without Copyright >Aufführungsrechte vorbehalten / Tous droits d'exécution réservés<; plate numbers [1. song p. 2-3:] >32640< [2. song p. 4-5:] >32641< [3. song p. 6-8:] >32642< [4. song p. 9-11:] >32643<; production indication p. 11 flush right as end mark >Druck u. Verlag von B. Schott's Söhne in Mainz<) // [1934]
* A much thickened i-dot over the I<.
** Printed in red.
*** The copy of the Städtische Musikbibliothek München >95/121317< (received 1938) contains on the inside front cover page below centre the framed stamp >Vom Verlage überreicht<.
28-4 [38] UNTERSCHALE / Russische Bauernlieder / Vier Chöre für gleiche Stimmen / von / Igor Strawinsky / Deutsche Übertragung von / Herman Roth / [Asterisk] / Beim Heiland von Tschigissy – Herbst / Der Hecht – Freund Dicksack / Partitur / (Singpartitur) / B. Schott's Söhne, Mainz and Leipzig / J. & W. Chester, Ltd., London / Imprimé en Allemagne – Printed in Germany // (Choir score stapled 19.3 x 27.1 (8° [Lex. 8°]); sung text German-Russian; song title German-Russian; 11 [10] pages without cover + 1 page front matter [title page] + 1 page back matter [empty page]; title head [exclusively] p. [2] flush right [with note = asterisk] >Unterschale *)/ Подблюдныя < p. [2], 4, 6, 7 flush left centred >Vier Russische / Bauernlieder< with centre consecutive Arabic numbering >N o 1< > N o 2< > N o 3< > N o 4<; title head as song title German-Russian; author specified flush right centred below song title >Beim Heiland von Tschigissi / У СПАСА ВЪ ЧИГИСАХЪ < 1. page of the score unpaginated [p. 2] >Igor Strawinsky / 1916< below song title >Herbst< [#] >ОВСЕНЬ < p. 4 >Igor Strawinsky / 1917<, below [with note = asterisk] song title > *)Der Hecht< [#] >ЩУКА < p. 6 >Igor Strawinsky / 1914< below [with note = asterisk] song title >Freund Dicksack *)< [#] >ПУЗИЩЕ < p. 9 >Igor Strawinsky / 1915<; without legal reservation; plate numbers [1. song p. 2-3:] >32640< [2. song p. 4-5:] >32641< [3. song p. 6-8:] >32642< [4. song p. 9-11:] >32643<; printed inspection stamp p. 11 below type area flush left centred with a text box containing >Visé par la Direction de l'Education Publique / Autorisé par la Direction de l'Information / G. M. Z. F. O.<; production indication p. 11 flush right as end mark >Druck u. Verlag von B. Schott's Söhne in Mainz<) // [1938]
28-5 The / ARTHUR JORDAN CHORAL SERIES / No. 27 / STRAVINSKY / FOUR RUSSIAN PEASANT SONGS / S S A A or T T B B / a cappella / 25 ¢ / [drawing] / Published jointly by / J. & W. Chester, Ltd., London, England / Edward B. Marks Music Corporation, Radio City, New York // (Choir score with piano part only >For / rehearsal< [piano part preceding the 1st piano system on the third page] [library binding] 17.6 x 26.8 (8° [Lex. 8°]); sung text English-French; 15 [13] pages without cover + 2 pages front matter [title with strips of picture16.2 x 8.2 images of the entire bodies of alternately female and male singers (3 of the former and 2 of the latter) in front of a system of five lines at mid-leg height, page with a text box containing duration data [4’] and difficulty level >difficult< English**] +1 page back matter [page with >EDWARD B. MARKS MUSIC CORPORATION / R.C.A. building [#] New York, N. Y.< advertisement >THE / ARTHUR JORDAN CHORAL SERIES / A distinguished collection of classical and / contemporary masterpieces<** without production data + >THE / ARTHUR JORDAN CHORAL PERENNIAS / A selected list of folk songs, children’s choruses / and choral arrangements<*** without production data]; title head >FOUR RUSSIAN PEASANT SONGS<; author specified below piece title >I / On Saints’ Days in Chigisakh / Près de l’Église à Chigisakh< >II / Ovsen* / Ovsen< >III / The Pike / Le Brochet< >IV / Master Portly* / Monsieur Ventru< flush right centred 1. page of the score paginated p. 3 >Igor Strawinsky, 1916 / Piano reduction by Felix Greissle< [p. 6] >Igor Strawinsky, 1917 / Piano reduction by Felix Greissle< [p. 8] >Igor Strawinsky, 1914 / Piano reduction by Felix Greissle< [p. 11] >Igor Strawinsky, 1915 / Piano reduction by Felix Greissle<; legal reservation 1. page of the score below type area centre centred italic >Printed by Edward B. Marks Music Corporation / by arrangement with J. & W. Chester, Ltd., London / Copyright, 1938, by J. & W. Chester, Ltd., London / New version copyright, 1948 [°], by Edward B. Marks Music Corporation, New York<; production indication 1. page of the score centre below legal reservations >Printed in U. S. A.<; plate number >12734-13<; without end mark) // (1948)
° In the London copy >F.1801< , the copyright number >1948< has been crossed out by hand and replaced by >1950<.
* T he grades of difficulty are specified >easy / medium / difficult / very difficult<. The level of difficulty of the specific publication is shown by a tick printed in bold.
** 30 Compositions are advertised in alphabetical order from >ARCADELT< to >WILBYE< with price informations behind fill character (dotted line), amongst these >27. STRAVINSKY [#] Four Russian Peasant Songs—SSAA or TTBB, a cappella° .25< [°Fill character (dotted line)].
*** Without names of the componists; Strawinsky not mentioned.
28-5Straw
Strawinsky must have been both amused and irritated with this edition especially. He entered a squiggle at the statement of the text on p.6 >Piano reduction< in red, linked it with a line without an arrow, which led under his name, and put there a forceful red question mark. He used this to criticize the error in transcription which, as it is there seven times, was either a genuine transcription error or the result of a correction process that was not carried out in a meticulous enough manner [C orrections: 2. song, bar 2, Piano, 2nd double note semiquaver f#-g instead of f-g#, the same mistake repeated still six times: bar 5, 11, 14, 16, 19, 22]. The copy contains no further corrections].
28-5[50] MC 27 [#] FOUR RUSSIAN PEASANT SONGS [#] STRAVINSKY [#] SSAA OR TTBB [#] 60¢ / ARTHUR JORDAN CHORAL SERIES / IGOR STRAVINSKY / FOUR RUSSIAN PEASANT SONGS / S S A A or T T B B / a cappella / [strip of picture] / J. & W. Chester, Ltd. / *M / Edward B. [#°] Exclusive distributor of all printed products: / Marks Music [#°] Belwin [°°] Mills / Corporation [#°°°] Publishing Corp. [°°] MELVILLE, N. Y. 11746 // (Choir score (with vocal score for rehearsal only) not sewn 17.6 x 26.8 (8° [Lex. 8°]); sung text English-French; 15 [13] pages without cover + 2 pages front matter [title page with strips of picture16.2 x 8.2 images of the entire bodies of alternately female and male singers (3 of the former and 2 of the latter) in front of a system of five lines at mid-leg height, page with a text box containing duration data [4'] and difficulty level [>difficult<]*** English centre centred] + 1 page back matter [page with publisher’s advertisements >FESTIVAL MUSIC FOR CHORUSES<** without production data]; title head >FOUR RUSSIAN PEASANT SONGS<; author specified 1. page of the score paginated p. 3 below piece titles Roman numbered (without dot) English-French flush right centred >Igor Stravinsky, 1916 / Piano reduction by Felix Greissle< [p. 6] >Igor Strawinsky, 1917 / Piano reduction by Felix Greissle< [p. 8] >Igor Strawinsky, 1914 / Piano reduction by Felix Greissle< [p. 11] >Igor Strawinsky, 1915 / Piano reduction by Felix Greissle<; legal reservation 1. page of the score below type area in connection with production indication centre partly in italics >Printed by Edward B. Marks Music Corporation by / arrangement with J. & W. Chester, Ltd., London / Copyright, 1938, by J. & W. Chester, Ltd., London / New version Copyright, 1950, by Edward B. Marks Music Corporation New York / Copyright renewed [#] All Rights Reserved [#] Printed in U.S.A<; plate number >12734-13<; without end mark) // (1950)
* Name of the publishers. The M is three lines high and precedes the following text, which is divided up into two text blocks by a continuous, three-line slash [°] .The final two lines in the right block of text are divided by the sign of a quaver note, the beam and tail of which cross into the second [°°] line and the notehead of which crosses into the third [°°°] line.
*** T he grades of difficulty are specified >easy / medium / difficult / very difficult<. The level of difficulty of the specific publication is shown by a tick printed in bold.
** Strawinsky not mentioned.
28-7 IGOR STRAWINSKY / Unterschale / Vier Russische Bauernlieder / für Frauenchor and eine Solostimme / mit Begleitung von vier Hörnern in F / Deutsche Übertragung von Hermann Roth / Beim Heiland von Tschigissy /* Herbst /* Der Hecht /* Freund Dicksack / [Asterisk] / Chorpartitur / Partitur /* 4 Hornstimmen / B. SCHOTT'S SÖHNE · MAINZ / Printed in Germany // (Choir score with two systems of horn parts stapled 16.9 x 26.4 ([Lex. 8°]); sung text German; 10 [9] pages + title page black on white + 2 pages back matter [empty pages]; notes on performance 1. page of the score below type area below >**)<; explanation of the songs p. 6, 8; duration datan below [2.-4.] respectively next to and below [1. ] song title flush right in a text box [1. song:] >1. Beim Heiland von Tschigissy< unpaginated [p. 2] >74 Sek.< [2. song:] >2. Herbst< p. 4 >39 Sek.< [3. (with note = asterisk) song:] >3. Der Hecht *)< p. 6 >47 Sek.< [4. (with note = asterisk) song:] >4. Freund Dicksack *)< p. 8 >53 Sek.<; title head with note (asterisk) >Unterschale *)< and explanation of the title below type area; author specified [exclusively] 1. page of the score unpaginated [p. 2] between title head and song title flush right centred >Igor Strawinsky / Neufassung (1954)<; legal reservation 1. page of the score below type area flush left >© by B. Schott's Söhne / 1957<; plate number in connection with production indication p. 10 as end mark >Stich and Druck von B. Schott's Söhne, Mainz 39491<) // (1957)
* Slash original.
28-8 IGOR STRAWINSKY / FOUR RUSSIAN PEASANT SONGS / for / EQUAL VOICES / with accompaniment of / FOUR HORNS / CHORUS PART / (Instrumental parts on hire) / J. & W. CHESTER LTD. / 11 GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET / LONDON, W. 1 / Made in Great Britain // (Choir score with horn parts as Choir score not sewn 17.7 x 28.1 (4° [Lex. 8°]); sung text English; 10 [9] pages + title page black on white + 2 pages back matter [empty page, page with publisher’s advertisements >SELECTED PART-SONGS / in the / CHESTER EDITION<* production data >LB. 629<]; title head >FOUR RUSSIAN PEASANT SONGS / for Equal Voices / with Four Horns<; author specified 1. page of the score unpaginated [p. 2] below title head flush right centred >Igor Strawinsky / (New version, 1954)<; legal reservation 1. page of the score below type area flush left >Copyright for all countries, 1958. © / J. & W. Chester, Ltd., London. W. 1.< flush right >All rights reserved<; plate number [exclusively on 1. page of the score] >J. W. C. 6715<; production indications 1. page of the score below type area below legal reservation flush right >Printed in England< p. 10 flush right as end mark >Lowe and Brydone (Printers) Limited, London<) // (1958)
* Compositions are advertised under the heading >MIXED VOICES< from >BANTOCK, G.< to >TRADITIONAL [#] Song of the Haulers on the Volga (S.A.T.B.)<, Strawinsky notmentioned; under the heading >WOMEN’S VOICES< from >Castelnouvo-Tedesco, C°< to >STRAWINSKY, I. [#] Four Russian Peasant Songs° Equal Voices<; under the heading >MALE VOICES< without Strawinsky-Nennung Kompositionen from >BERKELEY, L.< to >TRADITIONAL [#] Song of the Haulers on the Volga<, Strawinsky notmentioned [° original spelling].
28-8Straw
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.
http://www.kcatalog.org and http://www.kcatalog.net