About this edition
Vasily Kalinnikov's Symphony No. 1 in G minor is one of the most affecting symphonies to emerge from late nineteenth-century Russia — a sweeping, warmly lyrical work composed while its young composer was already gravely ill with the tuberculosis that would claim his life at just thirty-four. First performed in Kiev in 1897 under conductor Alexander Vinogradsky, it traveled quickly to concert halls across Europe, its glowing, folk-inflected melodies — above all the broad, unforgettable theme that opens the first movement — carrying Kalinnikov's name far beyond Russia almost overnight, even as he remained too poor and too ill to travel to hear it performed. Nearly 130 years later, it endures as a cornerstone of the Russian symphonic repertoire, prized for its melodic generosity and colorful orchestration, and ranked alongside the symphonies of Tchaikovsky and Borodin.
This edition reproduces the full orchestral score as issued by P. Jurgenson of Moscow, the preeminent Russian music publishing house of the era and principal publisher of Tchaikovsky and many of the leading Russian composers of the nineteenth century. Though the print bears no date, its plate number, 25540, places the printing at approximately 1900 — making it one of the earliest widely circulated editions of the symphony, engraved to the exacting standards of accuracy and craftsmanship for which the Jurgenson firm was celebrated throughout Imperial Russia and abroad. Issued in close proximity to the symphony's premiere and its rapid rise to international popularity, this Jurgenson score remains a valuable reference point for conductors, performers, and scholars studying the work's original notation and orchestration.
About this edition:
- Full orchestral score
- Page size: 8.5 x 11 inches
- Reproduced from a public domain historical source
- Published by Purple 4R Publishing
We're pleased to bring this historic score back into print. Because it belongs to the public domain, this edition makes Kalinnikov's beloved symphony freely accessible to musicians, students, and scholars who want to study, perform, and enjoy it.