Symphony No. 13 (Shostakovich)

Symphony No. 13
Symphony No. 13
Babi Yar
by Dmitri Shostakovich
	Dmitri Shostakovich in 1958
Key	B♭ minor
Opus	113
Text	Yevgeny Yevtushenko
Language	Russian
Composed	1962
Duration	1 hour
Movements	5
Scoring	Bass soloist, men's chorus, and large orchestra
Premiere
Date	December 18, 1962
Location	Large Hall of the Moscow Conservatory; Moscow, Russian SFSR
Conductor	Kirill Kondrashin
Performers	Vitaly Gromadsky (bass); Basses of the Republican Russian Chorus (Alexander Yurlov, choirmaster); Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra;

Symphony No. 13 in B-flat minor, Op. 113, by Dmitri Shostakovich was first played in Moscow on 18 December 1962. Kirill Kondrashin was the conductor. The symphony is sometimes called Babi Yar.^[1]^[2]

Form

The symphony has five parts, also called movements, played without stopping.

Babi Yar: Adagio (15–18 minutes)
Humour: Allegretto (8–9 minutes)
In the Store: Adagio (10–13 minutes)
Fears: Largo (11–13 minutes)
Career: Allegretto (11–13 minutes)

Instruments

The symphony is written for a bass soloist and men's chorus, as well as an orchestra with:^[3]

Woodwinds

3 flutes (3rd doubling piccolo)

3 oboes (3rd doubling cor anglais)

3 clarinets (2nd doubling E♭, 3rd doubling bass clarinet)

3 bassoons (3rd doubling contrabassoon)

Brass

4 horns

3 trumpets

3 trombones

1 tuba

Percussion

tam-tam

Keyboards

Strings

2-4 harps

1st violins

2nd violins

violas

cellos

double basses

References

↑ "Dmitri Shostakovich" (PDF). Sikorski Musikverlage Hamburg. 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 2, 2020. Retrieved August 29, 2022. Although the Thirteenth Symphony is widely known as 'Babi Yar' Symphony there is, according to Krzysztof Meyer, actually no such subtitle, and the score printed in DSCH New Collected Works Vol. 13 does not show such an inscription.
↑ "Symphony No. 13, Babi Yar". BSO. Retrieved 2026-04-14.
↑ "Symphony No. 13, "Babi Yar", Dmitri Shostakovich". LA Phil. Retrieved 2026-04-14.

Other websites

Symphony No. 13 (Shostakovich): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project

[1] "Dmitri Shostakovich" (PDF). Sikorski Musikverlage Hamburg. 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 2, 2020. Retrieved August 29, 2022. Although the Thirteenth Symphony is widely known as 'Babi Yar' Symphony there is, according to Krzysztof Meyer, actually no such subtitle, and the score printed in DSCH New Collected Works Vol. 13 does not show such an inscription.

[2] "Symphony No. 13, Babi Yar". BSO. Retrieved 2026-04-14.

[3] "Symphony No. 13, "Babi Yar", Dmitri Shostakovich". LA Phil. Retrieved 2026-04-14.

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