Nikolai Myaskovsky Nikolai Yakovlevich Myaskovsky or Miaskovsky or Miaskowsky (russian: Никола́й Я́ковлевич Мяско́вский; pl, Mikołaj Miąskowski, syn Jakóbowy; 20 April 18818 August 1950), was a Russian and Soviet composer. He is so ...

's Symphony No. 16 in

F major F major (or the key of F) is a major scale based on F, with the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative minor is D minor and its parallel minor is F minor. The F major scale is: : F major is ...

, op. 39, was composed in 1935-6 and has the nickname ''Aviation Symphony''. The Symphony is in four

movements Movement may refer to: Common uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Motion, commonly referred to as movement Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...

: #Allegro vivace #Andantino e semplice, in

B major B major (or the key of B) is a major scale based on B. The pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A are all part of the B major scale. Its key signature has five sharps. Its relative minor is G-sharp minor, its parallel minor is B minor, and ...

#Sostenuto. Andante marciale, ma sostenuto in A minor #Tempo precedente. Allegro ma non troppo (A minor followed by F major) Myaskovsky is said to have told his biographer Alexey Ikonnikov that the slow movement of the symphony was inspired by the crash of the Tupolev ANT-20 "Maksim Gorky". However, Patrick Zuk goes on: "One suspects that this 'content' was bestowed on the movement retrospectively ... there is no mention of the crash, or indeed, anything to do with aviation in Myaskovsky's own programme note." The premiere was on 24 October 1936, in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

with the

Moscow Philharmonic The Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra is an orchestra based in Moscow, Russia. It was founded in 1951 by Samuil Samosud, as the Moscow Youth Orchestra for young and inexperienced musicians, acquiring its current name in 1953. It is most associated wit ...

conducted by E. Szenkar. The first movement begins with a

triplet A triplet is a set of three items, which may be in a specific order, or unordered. It may refer to: Science * A series of three nucleotide bases forming an element of the Genetic code * J-coupling as part of Nuclear magnetic resonance spectrosc ...

accompaniment and a chromatic main theme. The second movement is a dance-like intermezzo. This is followed by a funeral march, and following without pause, a finale that quotes a song written by Myaskovsky, "The Aeroplanes are Flying".

References

Sources

* 16 1936 compositions Compositions in F major 1936 in the Soviet Union Aviation music {{symphony-stub