Dmitri Shostakovich part ten for either side of an hour's walk.
By 1941 Shostakovich had largely weathered the
Lady Macbeth storm of 1936 and felt sufficiently confident to have another crack at opera, this time a setting of Nikolai Gogol's short story about a card-sharp who, as a result of his greed, ends up being comprehensively chiselled by a trio of other players. Shostakovich wanted to set the opera word for word as the action moved fast, but after writing the first act he realised that this would create a work of inordinate length.
By the following year Shostakovich had given up and the torso was left to gather dust. There may well have been others factors: the year Shostakovich commenced work on the opera saw the USSR at war with Germany - in 1942 the USSR was struggling badly and perhaps deep down Shostakovich felt there were higher priorities - how could he compose the epic seventh symphony which came to represent the inextinguishable Soviet spirit and then immediately follow it up with something that seemed so flippant at a time when his home city of Leningrad was being starved out?
If the surviving music for
The Gamblers is anything to go by it's probably as well that Shostakovich abandoned it - its spikier qualities almost hark back to the stage works of the late 20s/early 30s but in 1942 that was far too much of a risk, not to say inappropriate, in those desperate years. He may not have realised it then but at the age of 36 Shostakovich's career as a serious composer for the stage was virtually over.
Symphony no.7 in C for orchestra op.60 (by 1941):
Cordelia's Ballad for mezzo-soprano and piano op.58b, arr. of the song from the incidental music to the play
King Lear by William Shakespeare op.58a (1940):
The Fool's Songs for baritone and piano op.58c, arr. of the songs from the incidental music to the play
King Lear by William Shakespeare op.58a (1940):
Six Romances on Verse by English Poets (
sic) for bass and piano op.62 [Texts: Sir Walter Raleigh/Robert Burns/William Shakespeare] (1942):
Igroki [
The Gamblers] - opera in one (surviving) act WoO [Libretto: Dmitri Shostakovich, after the play by Nikolai Gogol] (1941-42 inc.):
Piano Sonata no.2 in B-minor op.61 (1943):