Dmitri Shostakovich’s Concerto for Piano, Trumpet and String Orchestra premiered in October 1933 at the opening concert of the Leningrad Philharmonic season. The soloists were the composer himself, on piano, and Russian trumpeter Alexander Schmidt, a renowned teacher of this instrument. It was an immediate success and has since been a regular feature in concert halls around the world. Although it is often billed as Piano Concerto No. 1, the prominence given to the trumpet leaves no doubt that this is a “double concerto”. Divided into four movements – the third can be understood as an interlude – it is a perfect example of eclecticism in music. Even so, it achieves a surprising unity, despite the enormous diversity of styles and references it brings together. It also stands out for harmonising grotesque fun with introspective seriousness.
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At that time, the social environment of Leningrad—today St. Petersburg—was being shaped by the advance of Stalinist repression. On the eve of the Great Purge, the threat of censorship and the crackdown by the authorities could already be felt; since the previous decade, they had been focused on mobilizing the population for industrialization and community service. Yet, cultural vibrancy and the cult of entertainment persisted. Without the extravagance of the Roaring Twenties elsewhere, and going far beyond educational activities and propaganda, there were theatre performances, ballets, concerts, cafés, and recreational clubs. This helps explain the sharp wit and good-humoured spirit of this work.
Shostakovich had initially intended to compose a Trumpet Concerto, but changed his mind. This is the reason for the alternating prominence between piano and trumpet. In the first and last movements, the trumpet’s irreverent interjections stand out. In contrast, in the slow waltz of the second movement, it answers the silence with a poignant melody. Yet, the interplay between such distinct timbres—piano, trumpet, and strings—was not the main challenge. In this work, Shostakovich revealed himself as a virtuoso polyglot of musical quotations and borrowed styles. The score is packed with appropriations and references to the music of other composers, forming a mosaic of pieces from the most varied origins. Nevertheless, it remains coherent, thanks to dazzling creativity. In the very first movement, he revived an excerpt from music he had added years earlier to a Russian production of Erwin Dressel’s opera Poor Columbus. The caricatured appropriation of the characteristic ragtime rhythm barely conceals the sarcasm aimed at an American sailors’ parade. The final movement, however, is particularly illustrative. We can identify three (or more) traditional melodies quoted in the trumpet part. The most prominent is Poor Jenny is a-Weeping, a singing game that became popular in 19th-century English folklore. There are scattered motifs reminiscent of Beethoven’s Appassionata Sonata, and even Chopin’s Prelude No. 24. In the piano cadenza, one hears Beethoven’s Rondo a capriccio, Op. 129—also known as Rage Over a Lost Penny. There is even a brief allusion to Joseph Haydn’s Piano Sonata in D major, Hob. XVI:37.
All of this calls to mind Russian Constructivism. This aesthetic movement, associated with the artistic avant-garde that emerged there in the early 20th century, broke with academic and classicist traditions, favouring purposes that were explicitly functional. Although it radiated through architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, cinema, and even dance, similar effects are not immediately evident in the realm of music. Nonetheless, certain affinities can be recognised in Shostakovich’s Op. 35—particularly when it challenges the paradigm of “pure art” and implicitly asserts itself as a form of civic intervention, albeit veiled and perhaps dissonant with the prevailing ideology. It is music that draws together disparate materials into an exercise in collage and unexpected combinations. It is experimental, yet formally robust.
Rui Campos Leitão
Image: Nevsky Avenue in Leningrad, 1930s / Source: Picryl