Beethoven's Ninth Symphony

For almost a century, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony has been printed in Russia with equirhythmic translations—more than ten different editions including scores, choral parts, and arrangements with or without vocal lines. At the same time, the only publication that provides the name of the translator on its title page is the full score published in 1953. It bears the name of the poet Sergey Gorodetsky. The study of Russian publications issued from 1881 to 1986 identified four different translations. Two of them are of known authorship (in addition to Gorodetsky, the lines from Friedrich Schiller's Ode to Joy were also translated for singing by Victor Kolomiytsov); the other two are anonymous compilations. The article discloses the sources used by the compilers. Primarily, it is the Complete Edition of Friedrich Schiller’s works in Russian translation published by Nikolay Gerbel starting from 1857. The same Complete Edition was used by Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky during his work on the cantata To Joy in 1865. The other sources for compilations include an earlier Russian translation by Fyodor Tyutchev and some fragments of equirhythmic translations by Kolomiytsov and Gorodetsky. The latter were used in the full score edition published in 1963. In addition, we are likely to have discovered the earliest Russian equirhythmic translation. It was made by Victor Krylov at the request of Miliy Balakirev to mark the 100th anniversary of Beethoven's birth. The translation has never been published in musical editions. The article provides the complete text of the translation

Art · Art history · Autograph · Chamber music · Choir · Critical edition · Fyodor · Literature · Ninth · Opera · Poetry · Singing · Symphony · Visual arts · Classics · Diverse Musicological Studies · History · Musicology and Musical Analysis