String
Quartet No.6 in G major, op.101
- Allegretto
- Moderato con moto
- Lento
- Allegretto
String
Quartet no.6 was wriitten in 1956 (August 7th-31st)
and was first performed at a concert of Shostakovich's music, held on
the occasion of his 50th
birthday at the Glinka Small Hall, Leningrad on October 7th
of that year.
On
the surface, the choice of the key of G major implies a happy,
lighter mood to this work, and certainly the quartet seems
surprisingly carefree and laid-back at times.
In
1956 Shostakovich married his 2nd
wife Margarita Kainova and they were on honeymoon when this quartet
was mostly written. There was also a sense of political and cultural
thaw after Stalin's death in 1953.
In
the first movement however we always notice that when the initial
carefree theme returns, it is always different, with either 'wrong
notes' in the melody or in the accompanying harmony. We can't help
but think back to the Zhadanov decree in which Shostakovich was
openly criticised for his use of 'atonality, dissonance and
disharmony'!
There
are hints of a darker side then in this work, especially considering
the loss of his 1st
wife Nina in 1954 and his mother in 1955. In the beautiful 3rd
movement 'Passacaglia', Shostakovich seems to be able to express both
peace and contentment alongside a deeper sense of loss. He also
quotes a theme by Prokofiev (who had died on the same day as Stalin)
perhaps as a way of memorialising him and the countless other close
friends who had suffered or been killed on Stalin's orders.
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