Symphony No. 12 (Shostakovich) - Form

Form

The symphony, scored for a medium-sized orchestra, is approximately 40 minutes long and divided into four movements:

  1. Revolutionary Petrograd (about 14 minutes): Moderato — Allegro — Più mosso — Allegro —
    The first movement uses quotations from a revolutionary song with the words 'shame on you tyrants' and the Polish song The Warsaw March, both of which appear in the finale of Symphony No. 11. Additionally, one can hear motifs from Handel's Hallelujah Chorus from the Messiah.
  2. Razliv (about 10 minutes): Allegro (L'istesso tempo) — Adagio —
    The expressive second movement further quotes Symphony No. 11 and the composer's early Funeral March for the Victims of the Revolution. It depicts Lenin's countryside headquarters at Razliv, outside Petrograd.
  3. Aurora (about 4 minutes): Adagio (L'istesso tempo) — Allegro —
    The third movement is in scherzo form. Aurora was the battleship that fired at the Winter Palace and began the Russian Revolution.
  4. The Dawn of Humanity (about 10 minutes): Allegro (L'istesso tempo) — Allegretto — Moderato
    The fourth movement represents Soviet life after the guidance of Lenin. The funeral march quotation is transformed into a jubilant theme in the finale, before a celebratory conclusion.

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