CLXVII. SHOSTAKOVICH, Dmitri: String Quartet #6 in G Major, Op. 101

CLXVII. SHOSTAKOVICH, Dmitri (1906-1975)

String Quartet #6 in G Major, Op. 101 (1956)
1. Allegretto
2. Moderato con moto
3. Lento
4. Lento -- Allegretto
Jerusalem Quartet
(24:07)

There is probably a good argument to the contrary, but I was taught in music school that there are really only two types of music: 1) absolute music and 2) programme music.

Absolute music would include symphonies, string quartets -- anything with a title that implies a composition for a specific form without necessarily having anything to do with some specific illustrated idea;

Programme music, on the other hand, is music with a specific or general theme to it, like an overture to a Shakespeare play, or La Mer by Debussy -- a tone-painting of the sea.

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Shostakovich had twice gotten into serious trouble for both types -- but it was mostly his absolute music that was forced into the desk drawer (example: Fourth Symphony, First Violin Concerto), sometimes for decades ...

After Stalin's death (1953), things relaxed a bit. He got so brave as to even paint a brutal musical portrait of Stalin in the second movement of the Tenth Symphony (1953).

In 1954, his wife Nina -- the mother of his children -- died at age 45. Shostakovich was lost without a woman in the house and remarried in 1956, the year of this quartet.

First Movement

A G Major nursery rhyme with the viola opening on repeated D's ...

Take note of the red circle. We'll talk about that later.

A second theme, the tune interrupted by sighs:

Now for the last seven bars. Note the red circle -- the exact same notes from earlier!

But there's more!

Shostakovich was fond of embedding his initials -- DSCH -- into his music. (In German nomenclature S=E-Flat and H=B-natural) ... so, D/E-Flat/C/B-natural.

Normally, he would write it horizontally, like this -- the ending of the third movement of the Tenth Symphony:

Now check out the ending of the movement again, but this time notice the DSCH in a vertical alignment!

Second movement

A lovely, slightly off-key waltz:

and ending with the now familiar cadence:

Third Movement

Stephen Harris -- a brilliant Shostakovich analyst -- suggests this unusual experiment. Listen to the this section from about midway through the movement (14:56):

Imagine that a loved-one has died. The coffin is being carried solemnly step by step to the grave and you are part of the cortège. You follow the procession mechanically but suddenly your heart breaks and you feel the bitter loss that this death has caused.

Now repeat the experiment, but this time forget about any idea of morbidity. You are on your honeymoon in a beautiful coastal resort. The last few years have been extremely taxing but now -- with your head on the lap of your beloved -- you gaze at the open sky and are overcome with a feeling of peaceful contentment. Thanks to the beloved, your life has become orderly, tranquil and serene. Suddenly, your heart opens and you are engulfed by sentimental happiness.

This what I meant at the beginning about absolute vs. programme music!

His wife had died (they had had an "open" marriage) ... and he had just happily remarried (although they would divorce in just a few short years!) ... so what is that feeling? ... who knows? it is simply absolute music ...

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There is even more. Check out this rabbit hole:

The above melody is actual a paraphrase from the cello part in the middle movement of Prokofiev's Second String Quartet:

Why is he quoting Prokofiev here -- however briefly?

We turn again to Harris:

Prokofiev's quartet was based around a collection of folk-tunes, a standard ploy used by Soviet composers to fulfil the requirements of socialist realism. The melody quoted by Shostakovich from this collection was based on a Kabardian love song, Synilyaklik Zhir. [Kabardian is a language spoken in the Caucasus.] Was he addressing this to his first wife -- Nina -- who had died in the Caucasus; or to his new wife, with whom he was now on his honeymoon?

Further, Prokofiev died on March 5, 1953 -- the same day that Stalin died. Could DS be recalling not only Prokofiev's death, but Stalin's and the countless persons he murdered, including some of Shostakovich's closest friends?

A lament for his dead fellow-composer; for his murdered friends; for his first wife, or second -- or perhaps, considering the DSCH vertical signature throughout this work -- for himself! It becomes a harbiner of the Eighth Quartet.

And finally, here's another familiar cadence and the vertical DSCH:

Fourth Movement

DS reprises the theme from the first movement with a solo violin:

and he even reprises the initial repeated notes that started the quartet, all con sordino:

and finally: