Rodion Shchedrin

Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin ( rus, Родион Константинович Щедрин, , rədʲɪˈon kənstɐnʲˈtʲinəvʲɪtɕ ɕːɪˈdrʲin; born 16 December 1932) is a Soviet and Russian composer and pianist, winner of USSR State Prize (1972), the Lenin Prize (1984), and the State Prize of the Russian Federation (1992), and is a former member of the Inter-regional Deputies Group (1989–1991). He is also a citizen of Lithuania and Spain.

Biography

Shchedrin was born in Moscow into a musical family—his father was a composer and teacher of music theory. He studied at the Moscow Choral School and Moscow Conservatory (graduating in 1955) under Yuri Shaporin (composition) and Yakov Flier (piano). He was married to ballerina Maya Plisetskaya from 1958 until her death in 2015.

Shchedrin's early music is tonal and colourfully orchestrated and often includes snatches of folk music, while some later pieces use aleatoric and serial techniques. In the West the music of Shchedrin has won popularity mainly through the work of Mstislav Rostropovich who has made several successful recordings.

Among his works are the ballets ''The Little Humpbacked Horse'' (1955), '' Carmen Suite'' (1973), ''Anna Karenina'' (1971, based on the novel by Leo Tolstoy), and ''Lady with a Lapdog'' (1985); the operas ''Not Only Love'' (1961), and '' Dead Souls'' (1976, after Nikolai Gogol's novel); piano concertos, symphonies, chamber and piano music and other works. He composed 24 Preludes and Fugues after he heard those of Shostakovich. Also notable is his ''Polyphonic Notebook''.

He has written five concertos for orchestra: the first, variously translated as ''Naughty Limericks'' or ''Mischievous Folk Ditties'' (neither of which completely get the gist of the Russian which refers to a chastushka, an irreverent, satirical kind of folk song) is by far the best known, and was the work which first established him on the international stage. The second of the Concertos for Orchestra was subtitled ''Zvony'' (The Chimes), and was premiered by the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein as one of the many commissions in honor of the orchestra's 125th anniversary. The third Concerto for Orchestra is based on old music of Russian provincial circuses. Concerto 4, ''Khorovody'' (round dances), was written in 1989, and Concerto 5, ''Four Russian Songs'', was written in 1998.

Shchedrin is also a virtuoso pianist and organist, playing solo piano in the premieres of the first three of his six piano concertos. On 5 May 1974, Shchedrin performed as soloist in all three of his then-completed piano concertos, and the concert, with the USSR Symphony Orchestra under Yevgeny Svetlanov, was recorded and released on LP, then CD. He was made a member of the Berlin Academy of Arts in 1989 and received the Russian State Prize from President Boris Yeltsin in 1992. Since the collapse of the Soviet regime, Shchedrin has taken advantage of the new opportunities for international travel and musical collaboration, and now largely divides his time between Munich and Moscow.

From 11 to 14 June 2008, Shchedrin Days took place in Armenia with the participation of Shchedrin and Maya Plisetskaya as honorary guest. Invited by Walter Fink, he was the 19th composer to be featured in the annual Komponistenporträt of the Rheingau Musik Festival in 2009. He and his wife attended the concerts which included his Russian liturgy '' The Sealed Angel'' for choir and flute, performed in Eberbach Abbey. His chamber music included ''Ancient Melodies of Russian Folk Songs'' (2007) with the cellist Raphael Wallfisch and himself at the piano, and ''Meine Zeit, mein Raubtier'' with tenor Kenneth Tarver and pianist Roland Pontinen who performed it also at the Verbier Festival.

The premiere of a German version of his opera ''Lolita'' was performed as the opening night of the Internationale Maifestspiele Wiesbaden in a production of the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden in 2011.Volker Milchs
Oper ''Lolita'' – Deutschlandpremiere bei den 115. Maifestspielen in Wiesbaden
, ''Wiesbadener Tagblatt'', 1 May 2011

List of compositions

Stage works

Operas

* '' Not Love Alone'', opera in three acts with epilogue (1961). First performance on 25 December 1961 in Moscow by the Bolshoi Theatre Chorus and Orchestra, Y. Svetlanov (cond).
* '' Dead Souls'', opera in three acts (1976). Libretto by the composer. First performance on 7 June 1977 in Moscow by the Bolshoi Theatre Chorus and Orchestra, Y. Temirkanov (cond).
* ''Lolita'', opera in three acts after Vladimir Nabokov's novel (1993). Libretto by the composer. First performance: 14 December 1994 in Stockholm by the Royal Opera of Stockholm, Mstislav Rostropovich (cond), Ann-Marget Petterson, John Conklin.
* ''The Enchanted Wanderer'', opera for the concert stage for mezzo-soprano, tenor, bass, mixed chorus and orchestra (2001–2002). Story by Nikolai Leskov. Libretto by the composer. Commissioned by the New York Philharmonic to Lorin Maazel. First performance on 19 December 2002 in New York by the New York Philharmonic, New York Choral Artists, Lorin Maazel (cond).
* '' Boyarina Morozova'', choral opera in two parts for four soloists, mixed chorus, trumpet, timpani and percussion (2006). Text from "The Life of the Archpriest Awwakum by himself" and "The Life of Boyarina Morozova". Libretto by the composer. First performance: 30 October 2006 in the Moscow Conservatory in a performance directed by Boris Tevlin.
* '' The Left-Hander'', opera in 2 acts. Libretto by the composer after the novel by Nikolai Leskov. Concert performance on 26 June, and world stage premiere on 27 July 2013 at the Mariinsky II in St Petersburg, conducted by Valery Gergiev.
* ''A Christmas Tale'', billed as an "Opéra féerie", libretto by the composer after Leskov's translation of Nemcova's fairy tale. World premiere at the Mariinsky Two in St.Petersburg, conducted by Valery Gergiev, 27 December 2015. The opera contains elements of the original Slavic tale of Cinderella as well as the Russian story of "The Twelve Months".

Ballets

* ''The Little Humpbacked Horse'', ballet in four acts (1956). First performance on 4 March 1960 in Moscow by the Bolshoi Theatre, G. Rozhdestvensky (cond).
* '' Carmen Suite'', ballet in one act (1967). First performance on 20 April 1967 in Moscow by the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra, Gennady Rozhdestvensky (cond).
* ''Anna Karenina'', ballet in three acts after Leo Tolstoy(1971). First performance on 10 June 1972 in Moscow by the Bolshoi Theatre, Y. Simonov (cond).
* ''The Seagull'', ballet in two acts after Anton Chekhov's play (1979). First performance in 1980 in Moscow by the Bolshoi Theatre, Alexander Lazarev (cond).
* '' The Lady with the Lapdog'', ballet in one act after Anton Chekhov (1985). First performance on 20 November 1985 in Moscow by the Bolshoi Theatre, Alexander Lazarev (cond).

Musical theatre

*''Nina and the Twelve Months'' (1988). Musical in two acts on a libretto by T. Futjita after Samuil Marshak's story. First performance on 8 August 1988 in Tokyo.

Incidental music

*''They Knew Mayakovsky'', to the play by V. Katanyan (1954)
*''Tempo'', to the play by N. Pogodin (1955)
*''First Symphony'', to the play by A. Gladkov (1956)
*''Mistery-Buffo'', to the play by V. Mayakovsky (1957)
*''The Sword of Damocles'', to the play by N. Hikmet (1959)
*''Thunderstorm'', to the play by N. Ostrovsky (1961)
*''Tyorkin in the Hereafter'', to the play by A. Tvardovsky (1966)

Orchestral works

Symphonies

* Symphony No. 1 (1958) in three parts (1958). First performance on 6 December 1958 in Moscow by the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Natan Rakhlin (cond).
* Symphony No. 2 "Twenty-Five Preludes" (1962–1965). First performance on 11 April 1965 in Moscow by the USSR Radio & TV Large SO, Gennady Rozhdestvensky (cond).
* Symphony No. 3. Symphony Concertante "Scenes of Russian Fairy Tales" in five parts (2000). Commissioned by Bayern Radio for Lorin Maazel and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, who gave its first performance on 22 June 2000 in the Gasteig.

Concertos for orchestra

* Concerto for Orchestra No. 1 "Naughty Limericks" (1963). First performance in September 1963 in Warsaw by the Radio & TV Large SO, Gennady Rozhdestvensky (cond). First performance in Russia on 17 November 1963 in Moscow by the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Kirill Kondrashin (cond).
* Concerto for Orchestra No. 2 "The Chimes" (1968). Commissioned by the New York Philharmonic for its 125th anniversary. First performance on 11 January 1968 in New York by the New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein (cond).
* Concerto for Orchestra No. 3 "Old Russian Circus Music" (1989). Commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for its 100th anniversary. First performance on 25 October 1990 in Chicago by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Lorin Maazel (cond).
* Concerto for Orchestra No. 4 "Round Dances (Khorovody)" (1989). Commissioned by Suntory. First performance on 2 November 1989 in Suntory Hall by the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Naohiro Totsuka (cond).
* Concerto for Orchestra No. 5 "Four Russian Songs" for symphony orchestra (1998). Commissioned by the BBC
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