String Quartet No. 6 (Shostakovich)

Dmitri Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 6 in G major (Op. 101) was composed in 1956. It was premiered by the Beethoven Quartet but carries no dedication.

It consists of four movements:

1. Allegretto
2. Moderato con moto
3. Lento -
4. Lento - Allegretto

Playing time is approximately 22 minutes.

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

v t e Dmitri Shostakovich Operas The Nose Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District Moscow, Cheryomushki Katerina Ismailova Orango Ballets The Golden Age The Bolt The Limpid Stream ("The Bright Stream") Symphonies No. 1 in F minor No. 2 in B major ("To October") No. 3 in E♭ major ("The First of May") No. 4 in C minor No. 5 in D minor No. 6 in B minor No. 7 in C major ("Leningrad") No. 8 in C minor No. 9 in E♭ major No. 10 in E minor No. 11 in G minor ("The Year 1905") No. 12 in D minor ("The Year 1917") No. 13 in B♭ minor ("Babi-Yar") No. 14 in G minor No. 15 in A major Concertos Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor Violin Concerto No. 2 in C♯ minor Cello Concerto No. 1 in E♭ major Cello Concerto No. 2 in G major Orchestra works Suite from "The Nose" Suite from "The Golden Age" Suite from "The Bolt" Suite from "The Limpid Stream" Suite from "Encounter at the Elbe" ("Meeting on the Elbe") Suite from "The Gadfly" Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 1' Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 2 Suite for Variety Orchestra Tahiti Trot "Festive Overture" in A major for Orchestra "Novorossiisk Chimes, the Flame of Eternal Glory" for Orchestra Film music The New Babylon Alone Golden Mountains Counterplan The Tale of the Priest and of His Workman Balda The Youth of Maxim Girl Friends The Return of Maxim The Vyborg Side Friends The Great Citizen Zoya Simple People The Young Guard Pirogov Michurin Meeting on the Elbe The Fall of Berlin Belinsky The Unforgettable Year 1919 The Gadfly Five Days, Five Nights Sofiya Perovskaya Hamlet King Lear Vocal music Rayok ("Little Paradise") Song of the Forests Suite on Finnish Themes From Jewish Folk Poetry Seven Songs on Poems by Alexander Blok Chamber music String quartets No. 1 in C major No. 2 in A major No. 3 in F major No. 4 in D major No. 5 in B♭ major No. 6 in G major No. 7 in F♯ minor No. 8 in C minor No. 9 in E♭ major No. 10 in A♭ major No. 11 in F minor No. 12 in D♭ major No. 13 in B♭ minor No. 14 in F♯ major No. 15 in E♭ minor Other Cello Sonata in D minor Piano Quintet in G minor Piano Trio No. 1 in C minor Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor Quartet Movement in E♭ major (c. 1960s) Viola Sonata Violin Sonata Piano music Piano Sonata No. 2 in B minor Twenty-Four Piano Preludes and Fugues "Children's Notebook" (6) Three Fantastic Dances Related articles List of compositions by Dmitri Shostakovich Leningrad première of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7 Shostakovich v. Twentieth Century-Fox Post-romanticism Neoclassicism Portal:Classical music