Elena Firsova

Internet Edition compiled by Onno van Rijen

Updated 2 December 2008

Born

21 March 1950 in Leningrad.

Education

She studied at the Music School from 1963 until 1966, at the Music College from 1966 until 1970, at the Moscow Conservatory from 1970 until 1975 where her teachers were Alexander Purimov (composition), Yuri Kholopov (analysis) and Nikolai Rakov (orchestration).
She established contact of a crucial musical importance with a composer Edison Denisov and Philip Herschkowitz, the pupil of Anton von Webern. In August 1972 she married the composer Dmitri Smirnov.

Style

Firsova's music has much of the quality of lyric verse, especially of the confessional variety. The majority of her music is connected in one way or another with the poetry of Osip Mandelstam. Formally Firsova's music is possessed of unity rather than variety. A great number of her works are cast in a single movement. Many of these single movements follow much the same ternary design, where the three sections are markedly similar in character, perhaps with a suggestion of "development" in the second section and "recapitulation" in the third. When multi-movement works do occur in Firsova's output, they tend to be the result of her setting contrasted poems. In recent years Firsova has extended her range of colours by venturing into the world of the larger orchestra, but she has still retained the same time-scale and formal preoccupations already familiar in her chamber works. One still has a sense of private rather than public music.

Works

Without Opusnumber: Invention a Two for piano (1966)

Without Opusnumber: Two Polyphonic Pieces for piano (1966)

Without Opusnumber: Three Romances on Poems by Boris Pasternak for voice and piano (1966-1967)

Opus 1: Scherzo for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and piano (1967)

Opus 2: Suite for viola (1967)

Without Opusnumber: Legend for horn and piano (1967)

Without Opusnumber: Creation on a text by Anna Akhmatova for high voice and piano (1967)

Without Opusnumber: Two Pieces for violin and piano (1968)

Without Opusnumber: Three Romances on Poems by Vladimir Mayakovsky for voice and piano (1969)

Opus 3: Three Poems by Osip Mandelstam for mixed chamber chorus (1970)

Opus 4: String Quartet No. 1 "Five Pieces" (1970)

Opus 5: Sonata for cello and piano (1971)

Opus 6: Five Pieces for orchestra (1971)

Opus 7: Feast in Plague Time, chamber opera after Pushkin (1972)

Opus 8: Piano Trio No. 1 (1972)

Opus 9: Chamber Music for string orchestra (1973)

Opus 10: Cello Concerto No. 1 (1973)

Opus 11: String Quartet No. 2 (1974)

Opus 12: Autumn Songs on texts by Tsvetaeva, Mandelstam, Blok and Pasternak for voice and piano (1974)

Opus 13: Stanzas for orchestra (1975)

Opus 14: Violin Concerto No. 1 (1976)

Opus 15: Capriccio for flute and saxophone quartet (1976)

Opus 16: Sonata for clarinet solo (1976)

Opus 17: Petrarca Sonnets on texts, translated by Osip Mandelstam for voice, flute, oboe, horn, harp, celeste, violin, viola and cello (1976)

Without Opusnumber: The Bell on a text by Yesenin for mixed chorus (in collaboration with Dmitri Smirnov) (1976)

Opus 18: Postlude for harp and chamber orchestra (1977)

Without Opusnumber: Two Inventions for flute (1977)

Opus 19: Chamber Concerto No. 1 for flute and strings (1978)

Opus 20: Night on a text by Boris Pasternak for voice and saxophone quartet (1978)

Without Opusnumber: Three Pieces for xylophone solo (1978)

Opus 21: Elegy for piano solo (1979)
CD Black Box BBM 1039 review: Genia (piano)

Opus 22: Tristia, cantata on a text by Osip Mandelstam for voice and chamber orchestra (1979)

Without Opusnumber: Hermitage, music for a TV film (in collaboration with Dmitri Smrirnov) (1979)

Opus 23: Three Poems by Osip Mandelstam for voice and piano (1980)

Opus 24: String Quartet No. 3 "Misterioso" (in memory to Stravinsky) (1980)

Without Opusnumber: Three Pieces for horn and piano (1980)

Opus 25: Shakespeare's Sonnets for voice and organ (1981)

Opus 25bis: Shakespeare's Sonnets for voice and saxophone quartet (1981)

Opus 26: Chamber Concerto No. 2 / Cello Concerto No. 2 (1982)

Opus 27: Spring Sonata for flute and piano (1982)

Without Opusnumber: Sphinx for harp solo (1982)

Opus 28: "The Stone", cantata on a text by Osip Mandelstam for voice and orchestra (1983)

Opus 29: Violin Concerto No. 2 (1983)

Opus 30: Mysteria for organ and four percussionists (1984)

Opus 31: Earthly Life, cantata for soprano, flute, percussion, harp, three violins, two violas, cello and double bass (1984)

Opus 32: Fantasy for violin solo (1985)

Opus 33: Chamber Concerto No. 3 for piano and orchestra / Piano Concerto No. 1 (1985)

Opus 34: "Music for 12" for oboe, flute, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, harp, celeste, two violins, viola and cello (1986)

Opus 35: Sonata for piano (1986)

Opus 36: "Forest Walks", cantata for soprano and ensemble after Mandelstam (1987)

Opus 37: Chamber Concerto No. 4 for horn and ensemble (1987)

Opus 38: "Augury" for chorus and orchestra after Blake, translated by Smirnov (1988)

Opus 39: "Autumn Music" for chamber orchestra (1988)

Opus 39A: "The Dream" for mezzo-soprano and piano after Pasternak (1988)

Opus 40: String Quartet No. 4 "Amoroso" (1989)
Duration: 15 minutes.
CD RCA-BMG Catalyst 82876 64283-2: Chilingirian Quartet: Levon Chilingirian (violin), Charles Sewart (violin), Simon Rowland-Jones (viola), Philip De Groote (cello)

Opus 41: "Monologue" for bassoon solo (1989)

Opus 42: "Nostalgia" for orchestra (1989)

Opus 43: Stygian Song" for soprano and chamber ensemble after Mandelstam (1989)

Opus 44: "Odyssey" for 7 players (1990)

Opus 45: "Verdehr-Terzett" for violin, clarinet and piano (1990)

Opus 46: The Nightingale and the Rose, chamber opera after Wilde and Rossetti (1991)

Opus 47: "Seven Haiku" after Bashyo for soprano and lyre (1991)

Opus 48: "Far Away" for saxophone quartet (1991)

Opus 49: "Seashell" for soprano and ensemble after Mandelstam (1991)

Opus 50: "Whirlpool" for voice, flute and percussion after Mandelstam (1991)

Opus 51: "Silentium" for voice and string quartet after Mandelstam (1991)

Opus 52: "Secret Way" for voice and orchestra after Mandelstam (1992)

Opus 53: "Distance" for voice, clarinet and string quartet after Tsvetaeva (1992)

Opus 54: "Meditation in Japanese Garden" for flute, viola and piano (1992)

Opus 55: "You and I", duet for cello and piano (1992)

Opus 56: "Starry Flute" for flute solo (1992)

Opus 57: "Vigilia" for violin and piano (1992)

Opus 58: String Quartet No. 5 "Lagrimoso" (1992)

Opus 59: "Otzvuki (Reflections)" for flute and guitar (or harp) (1992)

Opus 60: "Cassandra" for orchestra (1992)
CD BIS CD: BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Tadaaki Otaka (cond)

Opus 61: "Phantom" for four violins (1993)

Opus 61A: "Phantom" for four celli (1993)

Opus 62: "The Night Demons" for cello and piano (1993)

Opus 63: "Crucifixion" for cello and bayan (or organ) (1993)

Opus 64: "Hymn to Spring" for piano (1993)
CD Black Box BBM 1039 review: Genia (piano)

Opus 65: "Monologue" for saxophone solo (1993)

Opus 66: "The Enchanted Island" for cello and piano (1993)

Opus 67: "Album Leaf" for cello and piano (1993)

Opus 68: Piano Trio No. 2 "Mad Vision" (1993)

opus 69: "Insomnia" for four singers after Pushkin (1994)

Opus 70: "Before the Thunderstorm", cantata for soprano and ensemble after Mandelstam (1994)

Opus 71: String Quartet No. 6 (1994)

Opus 72: String Quartet No. 7 "Compassione" (1995)

Opus 73: "Mnemosyne" for chamber orchestra (1995)

Opus 74: String Quartet No. 8 "The Stone Guest" (1995)

Opus 70A: "Questions and Answers" for flute solo (1995)

Opus 75: "The Word" for chorus and orchestra after the Bible (1995)

Opus 76: "No It Is Not A Migraine" for baritone and piano after Mandelstam (1995)

Opus 77: "Evening Music" for piano solo (1996)

Opus 78: Chamber Concerto No. 5 / Cello Concerto No. 3 (1996)

Opus 79: String Quartet No. 9 "The Door Is Closed" (1996)

Opus 80: Chamber Concerto No. 6 / Piano Concerto No. 2 (1996)

Opus 81: "The River of Time" for chorus and chamber orchestra after Derzhavin in memory of Edison Denisov (1997)

Opus 82: "The Secrets of Wisdom" for soprano, recorder (flute) and percussion after Khayam (1997)

Opus 83: "The Sound of Time Past" for orchestra (1997)

Opus 84: String Quartet No. 10 "La Malinconia" (1998)

Opus 85: "Captivity" for wind orchestra (1998)

Opus 86: "Leaving" for string orchestra (1998)

Opus 87: "Equinox" for mixed chorus after Mandelstam (1998)

Opus 88: "The Scent of Absence" for bass, flute and harp after Oleg Prokofiev (1998)

Opus 89: Piece for piano (1998)

Opus 90: "Frozen Time" for piano quartet (1999)

Opus 91: "Winter Elegy" for counter-tenor and string trio after Pushkin (1999)

Opus 92: "The Singing Forest" for four recorders and string orchestra (1999)

Opus 93: "The Former Things are Passed Away (Das Erste ist vergangen)", oratorio for soprano, bass, mixed chorus and chamber orchestra (1999)
Christushymnus 2000 was premiered at EXPO, Hannover, 3 October 2000

Opus 94: "Vernal Equinox" for violin and piano (1999)

Opus 95: "Perpetual Turn", sextet for flute, oboe, harp and string trio (2000)

Opus 96: "Retrospect" for fourteen players (1997-2001)

Opus 100: Requiem after Anna Akhmatova for soprano, chorus and orchestra (2001)

Prichet, lament (2004)
Duration: 8' 30"

Thanks to Martin Algie from Australia for additional information

For more information please check Firsova's website.

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