String Quartet No. 9 (Shostakovich)

Dmitri Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 9 in E-flat major, op. 117, was composed in 1964 and premiered by the Beethoven Quartet. The Ninth Quartet was dedicated to his third wife, Irina Antonovna Shostakovich, a young editor he married in 1962.

Background

Shostakovich rarely changed or revised his works, but the Ninth Quartet is one of the rare exceptions. Elizabeth Wilson writes in her biography Shostakovich: A Life Remembered, "Shostakovich finished the first version of the Ninth Quartet in the autumn of 1961. In a fit of depression, or, to quote his own words, 'in an attack of healthy self-criticism, I burnt it in the stove. This is the second such case in my creative practice. I once did a similar trick of burning my manuscripts, in 1926.'"^[1]

Shostakovich took three years to complete the new Ninth Quartet, finishing it on 28 May 1964. The premiere was by the Beethoven Quartet in Moscow on 20 November 1964. The Beethoven Quartet had the exclusive rights to perform all of Shostakovich's string quartets. Dmitri Tsyganov, the first violinist, recalled that Shostakovich told him that the first Ninth Quartet was based on "themes from childhood", and the newer Ninth Quartet was "completely different".

Structure

The piece has five movements, played without pause:

1. Moderato con moto -
2. Adagio -
3. Allegretto -
4. Adagio -
5. Allegro

Its duration is approximately 24 minutes.

References

Notes

Sources

• Wilson, Elizabeth (1995). Shostakovich : a life remembered (1st Princeton pbk. printing. ed.). Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691044651. 

External links

• Fanning, David (2012). The Soviet Experience: Volume III (PDF) (CD). Cedille Records. CDR 90000 138. 
• Harris, Stephen (2014). "Shostakovich: the string quartets, Quartet No. 9". Shostakovich: the string quartets. 
• Griffiths, Paul (2012). "Quartet No. 9 in E-flat major for Strings, Op. 117". The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. 
• * Matthew-Walker, Robert (2001). Shostakovich: String Quartets Nos 5, 7 & 9 (PDF) (CD). Hyperion Records. CDA67155. 
• Parloff, Michael (26 March 2013). "Lecture on Shostakovich Quartets Nos. 2, 9, & 15". YouTube. 

Dmitri Shostakovich Operas and operetta Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District Moscow, Cheryomushki The Nose Orango The Big Lightning (unfinished) The Twelve Chairs (unfinished) The Gamblers (unfinished) Ballets The Bolt The Golden Age The Limpid 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 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 Orchestral 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 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 Anti-Formalist Rayok The Execution of Stepan Razin From Jewish Folk Poetry Seven Romances on Poems by Alexander Blok Song of the Forests Suite on Finnish Themes Suite on Verses of Michelangelo Buonarroti The Sun Shines over Our Motherland 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 Twenty-Four Piano Preludes and Fugues Children's Notebook (6) Piano Sonata No. 2 in B minor Three Fantastic Dances Named for Shostakovich 2669 Shostakovich London Shostakovich Orchestra Shostakovich Peninsula Related articles List of compositions by Dmitri Shostakovich DSCH motif Leningrad première of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7 Literaturoper Maxim Shostakovich Muddle Instead of Music Neoclassicism Post-romanticism Shostakovich v. Twentieth Century-Fox Testimony The War Symphonies: Shostakovich Against Stalin Wihuri Sibelius Prize Portal:Classical music