Shostaokvich Symphony No.13, Prom 48, Gergiev
Mr Duffy
Theatre at the Royal Albert Hall in Shostakovich's 13th Symphony. As you probably
know, after the discussed premiere Yevtushenko was invited to modify the text,
otherwise the Party wouldn't let the Symphony be performed again. He made some
minor changes in order to prevent the withdrawal of such an important work, but
nowadays the Symphony is usually played in the original version. Thus, I was very
surprised when last saturday, at the very beguinning of the bass part, Mikhail
Petrenko didn't sing the original lines
Mne kazhetsya seichas - ya iudei.
vot ya bredu po drevnemu Egiptu.
A vot ya, na kreste raspyati, gibnu.
I do sikh por na mne - sledy gvozdei.
Now I imagine that I'm a Jew.
Here I wander through ancient Egypt.
And here, on the cross, crucified, I perish.
And still I have on me the marks of the nails.
but the revised version, speaking of ukrainan people; then, from the Dreyfus part
on, everything went on as expected, except for the final part, where again these
lines were modified:
I sam ya, kak sploshnoi bezzvuchnyi krik,
Nad tysyachami tysyach pogrebyonnykh.
Ya - kazhdyi zdes rasstrelyanni starik.
Ya - kazhdyi zdes rasstrelyanni rebyonok.
And I myself am one long soundless cry.
Above the thousand thousands buried here.
I am every old man here shot dead.
I am every child here shot dead.
As the BBC commentary did not mention this, nor did their liner notes, nor Gergiev
in the interview broadcast during the intermission, does anybody know or can
suggest the reasons behind this choice? Another question: has anybody got a
complete transliteration and translation of the modified parts? I only know that
the final part was changed to
I think about Russia's heroic feats,
In blocking fascism's path.
To the very tiniest dewdrop,
Her whole essence and fate is dear to me.
The performance can be heard here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/
("Listen Online", then choose Prom 48)
Hi, Mr Duffy