The Gamblers (Shostakovich)

The Gamblers, Op. 63 (1941-42; Igroki), is an unfinished opera by Dmitri Shostakovich, to his own libretto based on Nikolai Gogol's comedy The Gamblers (1842). The surviving first act lasts around 47 minutes.

Shostakovich, who was trying to set every word of Gogol's play, abandoned the opera as too long and unwieldy.[1] He returned to the work towards the end of his life, reusing material from the overture in the scherzo of the sonata for viola and piano (1975).[2]

Meyer completion

The opera was completed by Krzysztof Meyer as Die Spieler premiered in Leningrad 1978.[3]

Recordings

References

  1. ↑ Bartlett, Rosamund (2008). Fairclough, Pauline; Fanning, David, eds. Shostakovich as Opera Composer. Cambridge Companion to Shostakovich. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 192. ISBN 9780521603157.
  2. ↑ Macdonald, Malcolm (2008). Fairclough, Pauline; Fanning, David, eds. 'I Took a Simple Little Theme and Developed it': Shostakovich's String Concertos and Sonatas. Cambridge Companion to Shostakovich. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 140. ISBN 978-0521603157.
  3. ↑ Franklin Mesa -Opera: An Encyclopedia of World Premieres and Significant ... 1476605378 2007 "COMPOSER: Shostakovich, Dmitri Dmitriyevich (1906–75). Composed 1941–2; incomplete. Completed by Krzysztof Meyer as Die Spieler. LIBRETTIST: Based on the play (1842) by Nikolay Vasil'yevich Gogol (1809–52). WORLD PREMIERE: Leningrad 1978.
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