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String Quartet No. 6 (Shostakovich)

Dmitri Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 6 in G major, Op. 101, was composed in the summer of 1956. It was premiered by the Beethoven Quartet[1] in October 1956. It carries no dedication.[2] The Beethoven Quartet recorded this work on the Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga label.

Structure

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It consists of four movements:

  1. Allegretto
  2. Moderato con moto
  3. Lento (attacca)
  4. Lento — Allegretto

Playing time is approximately 22 minutes.

The Allegretto first movement creates a carefree mood using nursery tunes.[citation needed] The second movement is a cheerful round dance in E♭ major, the third movement a chaconne in B♭ minor. The final movement leads into a complex Allegretto showing the influence of both Alban Berg's Lyric Suite and Richard Strauss's Metamorphosen. [citation needed][further explanation needed] The quartet also features the only vertical appearance of the DSCH motif (the notes D, E♭, C, and B♮ played at the same time). This happens at the cadence at the end of each movement.

The quartet was written in Komarovo, Russia.

References

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  1. ^ Harris, Stephen (2021). "quartet no. 6". Shostakovich: the string quartets. Retrieved May 27, 2024.
  2. ^ Lesser, Wendy (2011). Music for Silenced Voices. Yale University Press. p. 122. ISBN 978-0-300-16933-1.
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