Symphony No. 8 (Shostakovich)

Symphony No. 8 in C minor, Op. 65, by Dmitri Shostakovich was first by the USSR Symphony Orchestra on 4 November 1943. Yevgeny Mravinsky was the conductor. The symphony is also called the Stalingrad Symphony.^[1]^[2]

Form

The symphony has five parts, also called movements:

Adagio – Allegro non troppo (C minor)
Allegretto (D♭ major)
Allegro non troppo (E minor) –
Largo (G♯ minor) –
Allegretto (C major)

Instrumentation

The symphony is written for an orchestra with:

Woodwinds: 4 flutes (3rd and 4th doubling piccolos); 2 oboes; cor anglais; 2 B♭ clarinets; E♭ clarinet; bass clarinet; 3 bassoons (3rd doubling contrabassoon)

Brass: 4 horns; 3 trumpets; 3 trombones; tuba

Percussion: timpani; bass drum; tambourine; 2 pairs of crash cymbals; suspended cymbals; snare drum; triangle; xylophone; tam-tam

Strings

1st violins

2nd violins

violas

cellos

double basses

References

↑ Khentova, Sofia (1986). Шостакович. Жизнь и творчество, Т. 2 [Shostakovich. Life and Work, vol. 2] (in Russian). Moscow: Советский композитор [Soviet Composer]. p. 193.
↑ Hulme, Derek C. (2010). Dmitri Shostakovich: The First Hundred Years and Beyond. Scarecrow Press. p. 261. ISBN 9780810872646. [The Eighth Symphony] was unofficially christened the 'Stalingrad Symphony' after the American premiere.

Other websites

Symphony No. 8 (Shostakovich): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project

[1] Khentova, Sofia (1986). Шостакович. Жизнь и творчество, Т. 2 [Shostakovich. Life and Work, vol. 2] (in Russian). Moscow: Советский композитор [Soviet Composer]. p. 193.

[2] Hulme, Derek C. (2010). Dmitri Shostakovich: The First Hundred Years and Beyond. Scarecrow Press. p. 261. ISBN 9780810872646. [The Eighth Symphony] was unofficially christened the 'Stalingrad Symphony' after the American premiere.

[1]

[2]