Russian Shostakovich Analysis

The orchestral introduction of the song no. 2 mm. 1-18 displays the uncertainty of major-minor mode, in which the music sounds as if in an F# minor key, but the E major chords in mm. 16-18 that proceeds to the A major chord in m. 19 provide a certainty that A major is the actual key of the music (fig. 15), whereas the submediant chord at the beginning of the song obscures the actual key and provides the song a minor flavor. Fig. 15: The dominant chord in mm. 16-18 in song no. 2.
Alfred J. Swan writes that a singer now and then inserts an odd measure into a song spontaneously resulting in the flexibility of the rhythm in Russian folksong. Song no. 2 displays this trait when Shostakovich inserts one additional beat in each of the first three measures of melody A, resulting a melody A’ that has a different
meter (figs. 16 and 17).

Fig. 16: Melody A sung by the choir in mm. 68-79 of the song no. 2. Fig.17: Melody A’ in G# Aeolian sung by the choir in mm. 80-87 of the song no. 2.
As seen in fig. 17 above, contrary to the cadential termination in Russian folk song that usually uses falling fourth, melody A’ ends in G#5, up a fourth from D5.
Melody A in the song no. 2 also has a key uncertainty similar to the one in the orchestral introduction of the song (mm. 1-18). However, the addition of melody A’ to the melody A causes the entire melody to have a different key from the accompaniment. The ending of melody A’ on the sixth scale degree creates a Russian folk music flavor in the entire melody and puts the entire melodies A and A’ in an Aeolian mode, while the accompaniment is in a major key. In other words, the flute plays both melodies A and A’ in F# Aeolian in mm. 19-39 while the orchestra plays the music in the key of A major. Similarly, the choir sings the melodies A and A’ in mm. 68-87, mm. 100-106, mm.108-127, and mm. 140-148, mm while the orchestra plays the accompaniment in the key of B major. The music supports the last note of the melody A’ by a submediant chord preceded by a supertonic chord. However, at the end of the song mm. 180-190, Shostakovich alters the last measures of melody A’ to adjust the melody with the accompaniment in the key of B major (fig. 18). Fig.
18: Melody A’ in B major sung by the choir at the end of the song no. 2 mm 180-190.
Another melody in the song no. 2, melody B (fig. 19) appears together with the melodies A and A’ in the middle of the song in mm. 88-99 and mm. 128-139. Contrary to the melodies A and A’, the orchestra and the melody B have the same mode, C# Aeolian. Therefore, a direct modulation in fourth relationship occurs between melodies A and A’ in G# Aeolian and melody B in C# Aeolian, while a modulation using a common chord G# minor occurs in the accompaniment as seen in fig. 20.

Fig. 19: Melodies B in C# Aeolian sung by the choir in mm 88-99 of the song no. 2.
The major-minor modes fluctuation occur in the harmony where the tonality shifts from major to minor modes and vice versa. Swan explains that the fluctuation between major and minor modes is one of the characters of Russian traditional folksong. Taruskin further mentions that the seemingly unstable interplay of relative major and minor keys reflecting what ethnomusicologists call the ‘mutable mode’ (peremennïy lad) of genuine Russian folklore. In the oratorio, only song no. 2 shows this trait as shown in fig.
20.