Updated biographical and bibliographical material is in The New Grove Russian
Masters 2(#2643).
Individual Works
Lady Macbeth of Mtensk District (Ledi Makbet Mtsenskago uezda)
ASO141 (1991).
- Emerson, Caryl. “Back to the Future: Shostakovich’s Revision of Leskov’s
Lady Macbeth of Mtensk District.” COJ1-1 (1989): 59–78.
Genesis and place of the work in Russian cultural history. “The opera can be
seen as defending the virtuous martyrdom implicit in a ‘woman’s lot,’ against
attempts to parody that tradition.” - Brown, Royal S. “The Three Faces of Lady Macbeth.” In Russian and Soviet
Music(#2640), 245–252.
An immediate success at its premiere (Leningrad, 22 January 1934) but soon
submerged in angry negative reaction, notably in Pravda. Objections included
the sexual theme and the extraordinary musical depiction of (offstage) inter-
course. The composer revised the work as Katerina Ismailovain 1956 (pre-
miere 1963), greatly reducing the erotic components. Brown describes the
revision and also another version in a 1935 piano score.
The Nose (Nos)
- Fay, Laurel E. “The Punch in Shostakovich’s Nose.” In Russian and Soviet
Music(#2640), 229–244.
Genesis, the Gogol story on which it is based, and brief comments on the musi-
cal idiom, which is “non-tonal and non-lyrical.” The cast is huge: 78 solo
singing roles and nine spoken roles; more than 200 rehearsals were required
for the premiere in 1930. It was a success, receiving 16 performances, but
politically unacceptable, so it then went unstaged in Russia until 1974. There
were some productions outside Russia in the 1960s.
Bedrich Smetana (1824–1883)
Operas in General
- Large, Brian. Smetana. London: Duckworth, 1970. xvii, 473p. ML410 .S63
L4.
Biography and genealogy, plus a good introduction to all the operas. Separate
chapters on Bartered Bride, Dalibor, Two Widows, The Kiss, The Secret, and
The Devil’s Wall.Style is program note, but primary sources are cited and
there is some technical commentary. An appendix gives detailed comparisons
of the five versions of Bartered Brideand the three versions of Two Widows.
With 26 plates, 112 musical examples, chronological worklist, and expansive
index of names and titles.
Bedrich Smetana 317