Op. 79. Iz Evreiskoi narodnoi poezii: vokal'nyi tsikl dlia soprano, kontral'to i tenora v soprovozhdenii fortepiano [From Jewish folk poetry. A cycle of vocals for soprano, contralto and tenor with piano accompaniment] by Shostakovich, Dmitrii - 1955

1955. Moscow: Muzykal'nyi Fond SSSR, 1955. Quarto (29.4 × 22.8 cm). Original decorative wrappers; 59, [1] pp. Very good; wrappers lightly dust-soiled and with one light stain; else very good. First edition of Shostakovich's song-cycle based on Jewish motifs, authored in 1948, but consigned to the drawer until after the Antisemitic campaign of Stalin's last years. Even then, it was printed in a relatively low print run of 3000 copies. This was one of a number of works on Jewish themes by Dmitry Shostakovich (1906-1975), widely considered one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century. The song cycle was based on texts from the collection "Jewish Folk Songs" published in Moscow in 1947. Commenting on this tendency, musicologist Laurel Fay writes: "Shostakovich's interest in Jewish music was of long standing, revealing itself through [...] Piano Trio no. 2, op. 67, which incorporated a Jewish tune into its concluding movement, and the Violin Concerto, with the conspicuously "Jewish" inflections of its scherzo. [...] Shostakovich was attracted by the ambiguities in Jewish music, its ability to project radically different emotions simultaneously. As he later observed to the poet Aron Vergelis: "It seems I comprehend what distinguishes the Jewish melos. A cheerful melody is built here on sad intonations... The 'people' are like a single person... Why does he sing a cheerful song? Because he is sad at heart" (Shostakovch: A Life, p. 169). According to Fay, Shostakovich seems to have written this cycle as a response to the so-called Zhdanov decree, in which he, along with other leading Soviet composers, was accused of "formalism," of writing music that was not accessible to the masses. By setting folk poetry to music, Shostakovich hoped to produce work that was "democratic, melodious, and understandable for the people" (Shostakovich: A Life, p. 170). This intention seems to have backfired, as Stalin's anti-Semitic "anti-cosmopolitan campaign" was unleashed at the end of 1948, making the publication and performance of this work impossible until after Stalin's death in 1953. The work finally received a public premiere in January 1955, with this publication likely timed to appear around the time of the performance. KVK, OCLC show four copies in North America, at Columbia, Toronto, Newberry, and the University of Washington.