 | This articlerelies largely or entirely on asingle source. Relevant discussion may be found on thetalk page. Please helpimprove this article byintroducing citations to additional sources. Find sources: "String Quartet No. 8" Shostakovich – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(July 2025) |
Dmitri Shostakovich'sString Quartet No. 8 inC minor,Op. 110, was written in three days (12–14 July1960).[1][2]
The piece was written shortly after Shostakovich reluctantly joined theCommunist Party. According to the score, it is dedicated "to the victims offascism and thewar"; his sonMaxim interprets this as a reference to the victims of alltotalitarianism, while his daughter Galina says that he dedicated it to himself, and that the published dedication was imposed by Soviet authorities. Shostakovich's friend,Lev Lebedinsky, said that Shostakovich thought of the work as his epitaph and that he planned to commitsuicide around this time.[3] Peter J. Rabinowitz has also pointed to covert references to Richard Strauss'sMetamorphosen in the Eighth Quartet.[4]
The work was written inDresden, where Shostakovich was to write music for the filmFive Days, Five Nights, a joint project by Soviet and East German filmmakers about thebombing of Dresden inWorld War II.[1]
The quartet was premiered in 1960 inLeningrad by theBeethoven Quartet. In theliner notes of theBorodin Quartet's 1962 recording, music critic Erik Smith writes, "The Borodin Quartet played this work to the composer at his Moscow home, hoping for his criticisms. But Shostakovich, overwhelmed by this beautiful realisation of his most personal feelings, buried his head in his hands and wept. When they had finished playing, the four musicians quietly packed up their instruments and stole out of the room."[5]
The quartet is in five interconnected movements and lasts about 20 minutes:
The first movement opens with theDSCH motif, Shostakovich's musical signature. This theme can also be heard in hisCello Concerto No. 1,Symphony No. 10,Violin Concerto No. 1,Symphony No. 15, andPiano 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 quotations of other pieces by Shostakovich: the first movement quotes hisSymphony No. 1 andSymphony No. 5; the second movement uses a Jewish theme first used by Shostakovich in hisPiano Trio No. 2; the third movement quotes theCello Concerto No. 1; and the fourth movement quotes the 19th centuryrevolutionary song "Tormented by Grievous Bondage" (Замучен тяжёлой неволейZamučen tjažóloj nevolej, byGrigori Machtet)[3] and thearia "Seryozha, my love" from Shostakovich's operaLady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. The fifth contains a play upon another motif fromLady Macbeth.[1]
Rudolf Barshai transcribed the quartet for string orchestra, in which version it is known as Chamber Symphony in C minor, Op. 110a.[6]Boris Giltburg arranged the quartet for piano solo.[7] Other arrangements include Lucas Drew'sSinfonia for string orchestra[8] and Abram Stasevich'sSinfonietta for string orchestra and timpani.[9]
In the liner notes of the Borodin String Quartet's recording of Dmitri Shostakovich's Eighth String Quartet, critic Erik Smith wrote, "The Borodin Quartet played this work for the composer at his Moscow home, hoping for his criticisms. But Shostakovich, overwhelmed by this beautiful realization of his most personal feelings, buried his head in his hands and wept. When they had finished playing, the four musicians quietly packed up their instruments and stole out of the room."
