About this edition
Sergey Taneyev's Symphony No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 12, is the culminating symphonic statement of a composer revered as the most exacting contrapuntist of the Russian nationalist school. Completed in 1898, it was the only symphony Taneyev released for publication in his lifetime — the product of a mind steeped equally in the polyphonic rigor of Bach and the lyric intensity of his teacher, Tchaikovsky. The result is a work of remarkable structural discipline and emotional reach, its taut thematic architecture and dense, learned counterpoint unfolding within a warmly Russian melodic voice, and it remains a touchstone for those who see Taneyev as the great synthesizer of Western craft and Russian feeling.
This edition reproduces the first printing issued by M.P. Belaieff of Leipzig in 1901, plate number 2246. Belaieff, founded in 1885 by the timber magnate and music patron Mitrofan Belyayev, was the principal publishing house of the Russian nationalist composers, bringing out the works of Glazunov, Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, and Taneyev in handsomely engraved editions produced by some of the finest music engravers in Germany. As the original publication overseen during the composer's own lifetime, this Belaieff first edition has long served scholars and conductors as the primary documentary source for the score, its clean, meticulous engraving a hallmark of the house's exacting editorial standards.
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
Because this score's copyright has long since expired, we're able to bring this historic Belaieff edition back into print at an accessible price, putting Taneyev's masterful C Minor Symphony directly into the hands of conductors, orchestral musicians, students, and scholars who want to study it straight from the source.