Galina Ustvolskaya’s Fourth Piano Sonata: A preliminary finale to the tragedy

Abstract

This article is dedicated to Galina Ustvolskaya’s Fourth Sonata for Piano (1957), which occupies a central position in the composer’s sonata works. The Sonata’s dramaturgy was prepared by previous works in the genre, notably the Second and Third Sonatas, and it closes the first period in the evolution of sonatas. At the same time, the Sonata reveals no small points of contact with the Twelve Preludes for Piano composed in 1953. In the opinion of the author, in these two works for the first time the lyricism can be seen so vividly. The object of the analysis in this article is the lyrical element of the Fourth Sonata refracted through the prism of Ustvolskaya’s tragedy. The author suggests that the lyricism in the Sonata should be interpreted through three hypostases of the sphere of farewell: lamentation, funeral and mourning. The most developed and complicated path is weeping. Embodied in a few seconds of a chant, lament pervades the entire thematicism of the Sonata. The author examines the intonational sphere of the work, outlines the genre origins of the material in the movements and sketches the further path of development of the imagistic spheres of the Fourth Sonata. The article provides sheet music examples to illustrate the most important, in the opinion of the author, stages of the dramaturgy of the work.