Editing Nikolai Myaskovsky (section)

==Middle years==
In the 1920s and 1930s Myaskovsky was the leading composer in the USSR dedicated to developing basically traditional, sonata-based forms. He wrote no operas—though in 1918 he planned one based on [[Fyodor Dostoevsky|Fyodor Dostoyevsky]]'s novel ''[[The Idiot]]'', with a libretto by [[Pyotr Suvchinsky|Pierre Souvtchinsky]];<ref>Taruskin, p. 1124. According to Prokofiev's diaries, Myaskovsky suggested ''The Idiot'' to Prokofiev as an opera subject in October 1913. See ''Sergey Prokofiev Diaries 1907–1914: Prodigious Youth'' translated & annotated by Anthony Phillips (London: Faber & Faber, 2006, {{ISBN|978-0-571-22629-0}}), p.525.</ref> but he would eventually write a total of 27 symphonies (plus three sinfoniettas, two concertos, and works in other orchestral genres), 13 string quartets, 9 piano sonatas as well as many miniatures and vocal works. Through his devotion to these forms, and the fact that he always maintained a high standard of craftsmanship, he was sometimes referred to as 'the musical conscience of Moscow'. His continuing commitment to musical modernism was shown by the fact that along with [[Alexander Mosolov]], [[Gavriil Popov (composer)|Gavriil Popov]] and [[Nikolai Roslavets]], Myaskovsky was one of the leaders of the [[Association for Contemporary Music]]. While he remained in close contact with Prokofiev during the latter's years of exile from the USSR, he never followed him there.

Myaskovsky's reaction to the events of 1917–21 inspired his [[Symphony No. 6 (Myaskovsky)|Symphony No. 6]] (1921–1923, rev. 1947—this is the version that is almost always played or recorded) his only choral symphony and the longest of his 27 symphonies, sets a brief poem (in Russian though the score allows Latin alternatively—see the [[American Symphony Orchestra]] page below on the origins of the poem—the soul looking at the body it has abandoned.)  The finale contains quite a few quotes—the [[Dies Irae]] theme, as well as French revolutionary tunes.{{citation needed|date=December 2012}}

The years 1921–1933, the first years of his teaching at the Moscow Conservatory, were the years in which he experimented most, producing works such as the [[Symphony No. 10 (Myaskovsky)|Tenth]] and [[Symphony No. 13 (Myaskovsky)|Thirteenth]] symphonies, the fourth piano sonata and his first string quartet. Perhaps the best example of this experimentative phase is the Thirteenth symphony, which was the only one of his works to be premiered in the United States.

In the 1920s and 1930s Myaskovsky's symphonies were quite frequently played in Western Europe and the USA. His works were issued by [[Universal Edition]], one of Europe's most prestigious  publishers.<ref>{{Cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/03/arts/music-recordings-for-russian-music-mavens-a-fabled-beast-is-bagged.html|title = For Russian Music Mavens, a Fabled Beast Is Bagged|last = Taruskin|first = Richard| work=The New York Times |date = 3 November 2002}}</ref> In 1935, a survey made by [[CBS]] of its radio audience asking the question "Who, in your opinion, of contemporary composers will remain among the world's great in 100 years?" placed Myaskovsky in the top ten along with Prokofiev, [[Sergei Rachmaninoff|Rachmaninoff]], [[Dmitri Shostakovich|Shostakovich]], [[Richard Strauss]], [[Igor Stravinsky|Stravinsky]], [[Jean Sibelius|Sibelius]], [[Maurice Ravel|Ravel]], [[Manuel de Falla|de Falla]] and [[Fritz Kreisler]].<ref name="yakubov"/>

The next few years after 1933 are characterized mostly by his apparent discontinuation of his experimental trend, though with no general decrease in craftsmanship.  The [[Violin Concerto (Myaskovsky)|Violin Concerto]] dates from these years, the first of two or three concerti, depending on what one counts, the second being for [[cello]], and a third if one counts the [[Lyric Concertino (Myaskovsky)|Lyric Concertino]], Op. 32 as a concerto work.

Another work from the period up to 1940 is the one-movement [[Symphony No. 21 (Myaskovsky)|Symphony No. 21]] in F-sharp minor, Op. 51, a compact and mostly lyrical work, very different in harmonic language from the Thirteenth.

Despite his personal feelings about the [[Stalinism|Stalinist]] regime, Myaskovsky did his best not to engage in overt confrontation with the Soviet state. While some of his works refer to contemporary themes, they do not do so in a programmatic or propagandistic way. The [[Symphony No. 12 (Myaskovsky)|Symphony No.&nbsp;12]] was inspired by a poem about the collectivization of farming, while [[Symphony No. 16 (Myaskovsky)|No. 16]] was prompted by the crash of the huge airliner [[Tupolev ANT-20|''Maxim Gorky'']] and was known under the Soviets as the ''Aviation Symphony''. This symphony, sketched immediately after the disaster and premiered in Moscow on 24 October 1936, includes a big funeral march as its slow movement, and the finale is built on Myaskovsky's own song for the [[Red Air Force]], 'The Aeroplanes are Flying'. The ''Salutation Overture'' was dedicated to Stalin on his sixtieth birthday.