Need info on piece by Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov

[crimbo912]

Hi i need to find the date of composition of Ippolitov-Ivanov's Spanish serenade for viola and orchestra (here on Imslp for viola and piano) or any other info about the piece. I searched the web without any luck. Thanks in advance.

[steltz]

Oddly, Grove Music doesn't mention it. It could have been written at any time, since he had an interest in folk music that developed while studying under Rimsky-Korsakov. The fact that it has no opus number might mean that it was early, before any official numbering started, but it could also mean that he didn't regard it as important enough to number. There really seems to be nothing specific on this piece . . .

[Davydov]

After doing a little digging in Russian sources, the earliest publication I can find for the "Spanish Serenade" was in 1966, in a collection of pieces by Soviet composers for viola and piano, which were put together (and possibly arranged) by Genrikh Talalian (dates unknown). It looks like this is the source of the edition already on IMSLP.

I'm wondering if this might actually be an arrangement by Talalian of one of Ippolitov-Ivanov's 3 songs on Spanish texts (Op. 23), but I can't compare them because they haven't yet been uploaded to IMSLP. If this is the case, and if Talalian died within the last 50 years, we'll have to delete the file because his arrangement would still be in copyright. But it's still possible this is an original work by I.I. which was only published for the first time in 1966, in which case it should be OK to leave it. Until we find out more I've edited the page to show that the viola and piano version is the original.

[Davydov]

Update: Just found a score of the Op. 23 songs, and they bear no resemblance to the serenade. So either this is a very obscure work, or it's been arranged from another source. That's as far as I can take it for now.

[Eric]

Genrikh Talalian, btw, seems to have been a member (violist, unsurprisingly- go viola!) of the Komitas String Quartet (from 1947-1972, if I read their website right), which suggests he did not die in the last 50 years.