String Quartet No. 8 (Shostakovich)
Encyclopedia
Dmitri Shostakovich's
String Quartet No. 8 in C minor (Op. 110) was written in three days (July 12–14, 1960). It was premiered that year in Leningrad
by the Beethoven Quartet
.
The piece was written shortly after two traumatic events: the composer's diagnosis with polio, and his joining the Communist Party
reluctantly. According to the score, it is dedicated "to the victims of fascism
and war
"; his son, Maxim
, interprets this as a reference to the victims of all totalitarianism
, while his daughter Galina says that he dedicated it to himself, and that the published dedication was imposed by the Russian authorities. Shostakovich's friend, Lev Lebedinsky
, said that Shostakovich thought of the work as his epitaph and that he planned to commit suicide
around this time.
The work was written in Dresden
, where Shostakovich was to write music for the film Five Days, Five Nights
, a joint project by Soviet and East German filmmakers about Bombing of Dresden in World War II
. The quartet, extremely compact and focused, is in five interconnected movements and lasts twenty minutes:
The first movement opens with the DSCH
motif which was Shostakovich's musical signature. This slow, extremely sad theme can also be heard in his Cello Concerto No. 1
, Symphony No. 10
, Violin Concerto No. 1
, Symphony No. 15
, and Piano Sonata No. 2
. The motif is used in every movement of this quartet, and is the basis of the faster theme of the third movement.
The work is filled with quotes of other pieces by Shostakovich: the first movement quotes his Symphony No. 1
and Symphony No. 5
; the second movement uses a Jewish theme first used by Shostakovich in his Piano Trio No. 2
; the third movement quotes the Cello Concerto No. 1
; and the fourth movement quotes the 19th century revolutionary song "Tormented by Grievous Bondage" and the aria "Seryozha, my love" from Shostakovich's opera, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District
. The fifth contains a play upon a motive also from Lady Macbeth.
It has been transcribed by Rudolf Barshai
for string orchestra, in which version it is known as Chamber Symphony in C minor (Op. 110a).
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
String Quartet No. 8 in C minor (Op. 110) was written in three days (July 12–14, 1960). It was premiered that year in Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
by the Beethoven Quartet
Beethoven Quartet
The Beethoven Quartet was founded between 1922 and 1923 by graduates of the Moscow Conservatory: violinists Dmitri Tsyganov and Vasily Shirinsky, violist Vadim Borisovsky and cellist Sergei Shirinsky...
.
The piece was written shortly after two traumatic events: the composer's diagnosis with polio, and his joining the Communist Party
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
reluctantly. According to the score, it is dedicated "to the victims of fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
and war
War
War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
"; his son, Maxim
Maxim Shostakovich
Maxim Dmitrievich Shostakovich is a Russian conductor and pianist. He was the second child of Dmitri Shostakovich and Nina Varzar.Since 1975, he has conducted and popularised many of his father's lesser-known works....
, interprets this as a reference to the victims of all totalitarianism
Totalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a political system where the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible...
, while his daughter Galina says that he dedicated it to himself, and that the published dedication was imposed by the Russian authorities. Shostakovich's friend, Lev Lebedinsky
Lev Lebedinsky
Lev Lebedinsky was a Russian musicologist.He is perhaps most well known today as a friend and oft-quoted confidant of composer Dmitry Shostakovich...
, said that Shostakovich thought of the work as his epitaph and that he planned to commit suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
around this time.
The work was written in Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
, where Shostakovich was to write music for the film Five Days, Five Nights
Five Days, Five Nights (1960 film)
Five Days, Five Nights is a 1960 joint Soviet-East German film directed by Lev Arnshtam and Heinz Thiel.-Plot:Three months after Bombing of Dresden in World War II, Soviet soldiers help to recover the remnants of art collection from the ruins of Zwinger....
, a joint project by Soviet and East German filmmakers about Bombing of Dresden in World War II
Bombing of Dresden in World War II
The Bombing of Dresden was a military bombing by the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force and as part of the Allied forces between 13 February and 15 February 1945 in the Second World War...
. The quartet, extremely compact and focused, is in five interconnected movements and lasts twenty minutes:
- Largo -
- Allegro molto -
- Allegretto -
- Largo -
- Largo
The first movement opens with the DSCH
DSCH (Dmitri Shostakovich)
DSCH is a musical motif used by the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich to represent himself. It is a musical cryptogram in the manner of the BACH motif, consisting of the notes D, E flat, C, B natural, or in German musical notation D, Es, C, H , thus standing for the composer's initials in German...
motif which was Shostakovich's musical signature. This slow, extremely sad theme can also be heard in his Cello Concerto No. 1
Cello Concerto No. 1 (Shostakovich)
The Cello Concerto No. 1 in E Flat Major, Opus 107, was composed in 1959 by Dmitri Shostakovich. He wrote the work for his friend Mstislav Rostropovich, who committed it to memory in four days and gave the premiere on October 4, 1959, with Yevgeny Mravinsky conducting the Leningrad Philharmonic...
, Symphony No. 10
Symphony No. 10 (Shostakovich)
The Symphony No. 10 in E minor by Dmitri Shostakovich was premiered by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra under Yevgeny Mravinsky on 17 December 1953, following the death of Joseph Stalin in March that year...
, Violin Concerto No. 1
Violin Concerto No. 1 (Shostakovich)
The Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Opus 99, was originally written by Dmitri Shostakovich in 1947-48. He was still working on the piece at the time of the Zhdanov decree, and in the period following the composer's denunciation the work could not be performed...
, Symphony No. 15
Symphony No. 15 (Shostakovich)
The Symphony No. 15 in A major , Dmitri Shostakovich's last, was written in a little over a month during the summer of 1971 in Repino. It was first performed in Moscow on 8 January 1972 by the All-Union Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra under Maxim Shostakovich.-Form:The work has four...
, and Piano Sonata No. 2
Piano Sonata No. 2 (Shostakovich)
Dmitri Shostakovich's Piano Sonata No. 2 in B minor, Op. 61 was composed in 1943 in Samara, where he had been evacuated due to the Siege of Leningrad, and was premiered by Shostakovich himself on June 6, soon after moving to Moscow...
. The motif is used in every movement of this quartet, and is the basis of the faster theme of the third movement.
The work is filled with quotes of other pieces by Shostakovich: the first movement quotes his Symphony No. 1
Symphony No. 1 (Shostakovich)
The Symphony No. 1 in F minor by Dmitri Shostakovich was written between 1924 and 1925, and first performed in Saint Petersburg by the Leningrad Philharmonic under Nikolai Malko on 12 May 1926...
and Symphony No. 5
Symphony No. 5 (Shostakovich)
The Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 47, by Dmitri Shostakovich is a work for orchestra composed between April and July 1937. Its first performance was on November 21, 1937, in Leningrad by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra under Yevgeny Mravinsky...
; the second movement uses a Jewish theme first used by Shostakovich in his Piano Trio No. 2
Piano Trio No. 2 (Shostakovich)
The Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67, by Dmitri Shostakovich was written in 1944, in the midst of World War II.-Composition history:The composition was dedicated to Shostakovich's good friend, Ivan Sollertinsky, a Russian polymath and avid musician, who had recently died at age 41. The work...
; the third movement quotes the Cello Concerto No. 1
Cello Concerto No. 1 (Shostakovich)
The Cello Concerto No. 1 in E Flat Major, Opus 107, was composed in 1959 by Dmitri Shostakovich. He wrote the work for his friend Mstislav Rostropovich, who committed it to memory in four days and gave the premiere on October 4, 1959, with Yevgeny Mravinsky conducting the Leningrad Philharmonic...
; and the fourth movement quotes the 19th century revolutionary song "Tormented by Grievous Bondage" and the aria "Seryozha, my love" from Shostakovich's opera, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District
Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (opera)
Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District is an opera in four acts by Dmitri Shostakovich, his Op.29. The libretto was written by Alexander Preis and the composer, and is based on the story Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District by Nikolai Leskov. The opera is sometimes referred to informally as Lady Macbeth...
. The fifth contains a play upon a motive also from Lady Macbeth.
It has been transcribed by Rudolf Barshai
Rudolf Barshai
Rudolf Borisovich Barshai was a Soviet/Russian conductor and violist.Barshai was born in Stanitsa Lobinskaya, Krasnodar Krai, and studied at the Moscow Conservatory under Lev Tseitlin and Vadim Borisovsky. He performed as a soloist as well as together with Sviatoslav Richter, David Oistrakh, and...
for string orchestra, in which version it is known as Chamber Symphony in C minor (Op. 110a).