Loyalty (Shostakovich)

Loyalty
by Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Shostakovich in June 1973
Opus	136
Occasion	Centennial of the birth of Vladimir Lenin
Text	Yevgeny Dolmatovsky
Language	Russian
Composed	February 13, 1970
Dedication	Gustav Ernesaks
Published	1970
Publisher	Hans Sikorski Musikverlage
Duration	25 minutes
Movements	8
Scoring	Men's chorus a capella
Premiere
Date	December 5, 1970 (1970-12-05)
Location	Estonia Theatre Tallinn, Estonian SSR
Conductor	Gustav Ernesaks
Performers	Estonian SSR State Academic Male Choir

Loyalty (Russian: Верность, romanized: Vyernost'; also translated as Faith, Truth, Correctness,^[1] Faithfulness,^[2] or Fidelity),^[3] Op. 136 is a cycle of eight ballads for men's chorus a capella composed by Dmitri Shostakovich based upon texts by Yevgeny Dolmatovsky. It was composed in commemoration of the centennial of Vladimir Lenin's birth in 1970.

Shostakovich had contemplated composing a vocal work in tribute to Lenin as early as 1968; by 1969, he announced that he was envisioning a work in oratorio form. A visit to a mass song event in the Estonian SSR that same year helped him to settle on composing Loyalty as an a capella work for men's chorus. He composed it for and dedicated it to choral conductor Gustav Ernesaks, but did not inform him about the work until after it was completed.

Sources conflict as to when and where Shostakovich began Loyalty, but the score was completed on February 13, 1970. It was premiered in Tallinn, Estonian SSR on December 5 sung by the Estonian SSR State Academic Male Choir conducted by Ernesaks. The work was received warmly in the Soviet Union, but has been mostly ignored and derided elsewhere.