Alone, Op. 26 (1931)

Music to the sound film

Produced by Soyuzkino (Leningrad) – Grigori Kozintsev, Leonid Trauberg (scenario and direction) – Evgeni Enei (set designer) – Andrei Moskvin (camera) – Lev Arnshtam, Ilya Volk (sound editors) – Nikolai Rabinovich (conductor). First showing: 10 October 1931, Leningrad, ‘Splendid Palace’ cinema.

Sometimes translated as ‘All Alone’. Any part then known to have survived from the music of Op. 26 is published in Vol. 41 of Muzyka Collected Works from 1987. The above list of items (coinciding with the actual sequence in the film) was adopted from Vol. 123 from DSCH New Collected Works, which represents a collation of Shostakovich’s manuscript, the Muzyka publication and a considerable number of reconstructions not available in the composer’s score.

These (Nos. 1-3, 7, 9, 11-13, 19, 20, 24, 25, 33, 40 and 42) were made according to the sound track by Mark Fitz-Gerald, who also introduced numerous alterations into the author’s score in correspondence with the phonogram. For a detailed commentary and explanation concerning the discrepancies between Muzyka and DSCH publications see Vol. 123 of DSCH New Collected Works. No. 2 of the Appendix (‘The Barrel Organ’) is based on ‘Dance’ in C minor from 1923 dedicated to the composer’s sister Soya. ‘The Dream’ from the Appendix reappears as ‘Lullaby’ in the incidental music to ‘Hamlet’, Op. 32.

_________________________________________________________________

Reel No. 1
1. [Con moto]*
2. [Allegro giocoso]*
3. [Allegro]*
4. March. The Street (Allegro)
5. Barrel-Organ (Kusmina waits for Sobolevsky) (Andantino)
6. Galop (‘Happy Days are Coming’) (Allegro)
7. [March] [Allegretto]*
8. Choral Finale (‘Stop! Don’t Go Away’) (Andantino)
Reel No. 2
9. [Marciale]*
10. March (Allegretto)
11. [Moderato]*
12. [March] (Allegretto)*
13. [Allegro]*
14. Allegro
Reel No. 3
15a. [Overtone Singer]*
15. The Steppe of the Altai (Andante)
16. The Altai (Andantino)
17. Adagio
18. Kuzmina in the Peasant’s Hut (Largo – Allegro)
19. [Allegro]*
Reel No. 4
20. [Andante]*
21. Allegro
22. The Bey Takes the Children to the Sheep Pastures (Largo)
23. Largo
24. [Andante]*
25. [Allegro]*
26. Village Soviet Chairman at Sleep and Rising (Adagio)
27. Kuzmina’s Arrival (Allegro)
28. Village Soviet Chairman Drinks Tea with his Wife (Allegretto)
Reel No. 5
29. Adagio – Allegretto
30. Adagio
31. Allegro
32. Russian/Enemy/Nod of the head (Moderato)
33. [Allegro vivace – Adagio molto]*
Reel No. 6
34. Allegretto – Presto – Allegretto – Presto – Adagio
35. The Storm in the Steppe (Allegro)
36. Snowstorm (Presto)
37. Largo
38. Finale (Largo)
Reel No. 7
39. The Aeroplane (Allegro)
40. [Poco lento]*
41. Allegro
42. [Andante]*
43. Adagio
44. Allegro
45. Finale (Allegro)
Appendix (fragments not used in the film)
1. Beginning (Allegro vivo) [score]
2. The Barrel-Organ (Andantino)
3. Choral Finale ‘Stop! Don’t Go Away’ (Andante) [65 introductory bars]
4. Andante
5. Andante
6. Andante
7. Beginning (Allegro) [piano version]
8. The Dream [Andantino] [piano version]
9. March [Allegretto] [piano version of No. 12]
10. The Russian Lot [vocal line]
11. The Bai’s Conversation (Moderato) [piano score]