Nápravník, Eduard

Preface

Eduard Nápravník

(b.  Býšt‘ near Hradec Králové, 24 August 1839 – d. Petrograd, 10/23 November 1916)

Symphonie No. 3 en mi mineur op. 18 «Démon» d’après le poème de Lermontoff
(1874)

Première partie
I Allegro appassionato (p. 1) – II Allegro giocoso (p. 46) – III Poco a poco accelerando (p. 90) –
V Larghetto lamentoso (p. 96)
Deuxième partie
V Lento con devozione (p. 122) – Poco più mosso (p. 125) – VI Allegro (p. 133) – Un poco più mosso (p. 154) –
VII Maestoso (p. 162) – Religioso (p. 164)

Preface
Although born and educated in Czechia, Eduard Nápravnik was one of the most influential und best-known conductors – among his colleagues even the most respected conductor – in Russia between 1869 and his retirement in 1914. As a composer he also assimilated the Russian culture, and as a mature master he was mainly influenced by Glinka and Tchaikovsky. He got an early musical education and became an orphan in 1853. From 1856 to 1861 he was in Prague where he took private lessons from Jan Bedrich Kittl (1806-68), the director of the conservatory, and became a teacher at the Maydl Institute. His early compositions pay tribute to the Czech tradition, reportedly under the influence of Smetana. In 1861 Nápravnik went to St. Petersburg were he became music director of the private orchestra of Prince Yusupov until the ensemble was disbanded in 1863. But he made a strong impression on Konstantin Lyadov (1820-71, father of the great composer Anatol Lyadov), the chief conductor of the Marinsky Theatre where he was engaged as répétiteur and appointed assistant conductor in 1867. In 1869 he succeeded Lyadov als chief conductor oft he Marinsky Theatre and in the same year he took over the direction of the St. Petersburg symphony concerts of the Russian Musical Society from Mily Balakirev as well (until 1881). As the Marinsky’s music director Nápravnik was extremely successful und conducted the premières of more than 80 Russian operas including Tchaikovsky’s ‚Oprichnik’, ‚Vakula the Blacksmith’, ‚The Maiden of Orléans’, ‚Pique Dame’, and ‚Yolanta’, Dargomyzhsky’s ‚The Stone Guest’, Mussorgsky’s ‚Boris Godunov’, César Cui’s ‚William Ratcliff’, Anton Rubinstein’s ‚The Demon’, and Rimsky-Korsakov’s ‚The Maiden from Pskov’, ‚Maynight’, and ‚Snowflake’. According to Igor Stravinsky’s memoirs, Nápravnik was the ideal, immaculately exemplary conductor, and also Rimsky-Korsakov praised his technical skill and structural discipline.

The majority of Nápravnik’s compositions is still unpublished. Apart from foru operas and the stage music to Alexey Tolstoy’s ‚Don Juan’, he wrote a lot of orchestral (including concertante works for piano, violin, and cello) and chamber music, piano pieces and songs. The first of his four symphonies was finished before 1861. The Second Symphony in C major Op. 17 emerged in 1873, the Third in 1874, and in 1879 he completed his Fourth and last Symphony in D minor Op. 32. Only the Third Symphony appeared in print.

Nápravnik’s Third Symphony is an unconventionally proportioned program symphony on Mikhail Lermontov’s (1814-41) famous poem ‚The Demon’. Lermontov considered it as his most significant work. He had begun writing it when he was only fourteen years old but it took him nine years to finish it. The poem portrays the story of the demon who seduces a girl who after the death of her bridegroom withdrew into a monastery and kills her with his kisses. But she is rescued by the divine powers who maledict and condemn the demon to everlasting desire, to stay ”in the bleak spheres of outer space, devoid of solace and love“ as an undead. The poem’s spirit is strongly influenced by Byron und bears the imprint of the poet’s identification who saw himself as a demon. Lermontov’s hapless and dramatic life ended when he was 26. He had to fight a duel a second time after a wilful provocation and was shot dead. His poem ‚The Demon’ got into print many years after his death in the 1860s and gained cult status in a short space of time. The painter Mikhail Vrubel (1856-1910) f. ex. got inspired to paint only demons and to identify himself completely with the subject before he died in a mental hospital.

Therefore it’s hardly surprising that Anton Rubinstein (1829-94) and Eduard Nápravnik applied themselves virtually at the same time to the Demon subject. But it is remarkable that their paths crossed directly: in 1874 Nápravnik completed his Demon Symphony, and on 24 January 1875 he conducted the world première of Rubinstein’s fantastic opera ‚The Demon’ (libretto by Pavel Viskovatov [1842-1905]) in St. Petersburg. Nápravnik also led the first performance of his Demon Symphony in St. Petersburg. The symphony was printed in full score, parts, and piano score in 1882 by the publisher D. Rahter in Leipzig. Nápravnik’s Third Symphony combines a straightforward and memorably cantabile tonal language of conservative diction with ambitious large form in excellent orchestration. The original print of the full score is prefixed by Lermontov’s poem. The present edition is a faithful reprint of the original score.

C.S., June 2017

Performance materials are available from Boosey & Hawkes, Berlin/London/New York (www.boosey.de).