Form in Shostakovich's Quartets

Author(s): Colin Mason

Source: The Musical Times, Vol. 103, No. 1434 (Aug., 1962), pp. 531-533
Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/948370
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 Colin Mason

FORM IN SHOSTAKOVICH'S QUARTETS

opening movement, expounded in 3/4 time, is trans-

All Shostakovich's String Quar-

formed in the abbreviated recapitulation to 4/4. A

tets will be played at the transformation of another kind has gone into the

second theme, in which the staccato accompanying

Edinburgh Festival: Nos 1 and

cello melody (later passed to the first violin) is

2, August 20; No 5, August 21;

F4/ 1,
unmistakably borrowed and altered from the

Nos 3 and 7, August 26; No 4,

staccato cello semiquavers in the third movement of

1111

August 29; No 8, August 31;

Beethoven's Op 130 (see Ex 1). The second move-

No 6, September 3.

ment is a set of passacaglia-like variations, set out in

a kind of ternary form (exposition-episode-develop-

ment-episode-reprise) on a simple, rather melancholy

A thorough study of Shostakovich's forms, especially

march-like theme. The third movement is a scherzo

of the symphonies, might be recommended to a

and trio, with prominent pedal notes in the scherzo

young writer seeking an unexplored subject.

and a drone-bass in the trio, and another wittily

Form is one of the most interesting aspects of his

shaped sonata movement ends the work.

music, and one that has hardly been touched on yet

in the published literature on him-which is itself

astonishingly scanty, considering his immense

popularity. Such a study could be an important Signs of the study of the late Beethoven quartets

contribution to the discussion of contemporary appear again in Quartet No 2, not this time in the

music, and it is curious-perhaps also symptomatic thematic material but in the formal conception. The

of some general doubt about Shostakovich, popular first movement, archaically headed Overture, is in

as he is-that nobody with the necessary dedication straightforward sonata form, and the neo-classical

to undertake it has yet come forward. element is not conspicuous. This is followed by a

The following notes on his String Quartets long slow movement headed Recitative and

(incorporating some material published in The Romance, in which the Romance is a waltz-like

Listener in 1959, when there were only six of them) middle section, and the surrounding recitative a

are concerned mainly with their forms. They make protracted and strictly conventionalized solo for the

first violin, played over longheld dominant-to-tonic

no pretence of thoroughness, let alone completeness,

and merely draw attention to some of the more chord progressions. The third movement is another

striking features, in particular to methods of waltz, and the fourth a set of passacaglia-like

thematic unification. But even a rapid and super- variations of the same kind as those in the Quartet

ficial survey such as this reveals in the quartets a No 1, on a similar song-like theme. This movement

care for structure and in some cases such subtleties of has a short introduction which anticipates the final

design as to suggest that they would handsomely bars of the theme, and reappears as a half-indepen-

repay a deep and close analysis. dent theme in the coda.

First, their dates: A passacaglia movement crops up again in

Quartet No 3. Here it is the fourth of the five move-

ments, and leads directly into the fifth, to which it

No 1, op 49 C major 1938

serves as an extended introduction, its theme re-

2 69 A major 1945

appearing in canon at the end of the fifth movement

3 73 F major 1946

itself (a formal scheme that is almost exactly

4 83 D major 1949

repeated in the last two movements of Quartet

5 92 B flat major 1951

No 6). In the fourth movement of No 3 there are

6 101 G major 1956

seven statements of the recitative-like passacaglia

7 108 F sharp minor 1960

theme, each with a different cadential continuation.

8 110 C minor 1960

A point of unusual interest in a Soviet work is that

at its second and fifth appearances it forms a

No 1 is the least ambitious in form and content. It

complete 12-note statement (see Ex 2); there is also

plays for less than a quarter of an hour, and is a another such 12-note fragment in the last movement,

kind of chamber-music equivalent of Prokofiev's in the lead back from the reappearance of the

Classical Symphony. The tone is slightly more passacaglia theme to the finale's own second subject

serious and there are some delightful and witty -the two missing notes from the cello part being

things in it. The first theme of the sonata-form provided by the trill on the second violin (Ex 3).

Ex 1 j5 times, Ex 2 =so

PP sff esress.

Ex vl con sord. dm.

dim. pp

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 There are no thematic links between the move- Nos 6 and 7 revert to a more relaxed and simple

ments of Quartet No 4, where the most remarkable style, often recalling that of No 1, but hide a greater

formal feature is the preludial first movement--a depth and subtlety of thought beneath their in-

kind of two-part invention, growing steadily higher, nocent surface. Characteristic of this subtlety in No

shriller and louder, over an almost continuous 6 is the use of the tag quoted in Ex 6, which makes a

drono-bass, which in the reprise moves up a tone, as first inconspicuous appearance on the cello during

the metre changes from 4/4 to 3/4. Ex 4 shows a the opening theme of the first movement, hardly

fragment near the 'peak' of this movement. noticed against the pretty tune on the two violins.

In Quartet No 5 the number of movements is It comes into greater prominence in an ostinato-like

reduced to three, which are played without a break harmonic figure in the development section, and

and have close thematic links that give the effect surprisingly reappears as the bass line for the final

almost of a huge single ternary movement with a cadence of both the third and fourth movements.

contrasting middle section-an effect still more con- As in the Quartet No 3 the slow penultimate move-

centratedly sought by Shostakovich in Nos 7 and 8. ment is a passacaglia, leading directly into the fourth

The principal common theme in No 5 is a long melody movement, in the course of which the passacaglia

that first appears at the end of the development theme (Ex 7) reappears in canon.

section of the first movement (see Ex 5), is repeated No 7 is still nearer to No 1 in its light-heartedness

in the coda, and reappears prominently in the and brevity, though in formal design and thematic

middle section of the last movement. This re- material it has more in common with No 8, which

appearance in the last movement is immediately is a closely related complement to it in Shostakovich's

preceded by a striking near-quotation of a con- most serious vein. The three movements of No 7,

spicuous bridge-passage from the middle movement, and the five of No 8, are played without a break,

consisting of G minor arpeggios over an F sharp and have closer and more persistent thematic

pedal. Numerous other thematic affinities, in the relationships than those of any of the earlier

Retian sense, link the three movements of this quartets.

quartet, which is formally tauter, more highly The first movement of No 7 is in a very simple

organized, and in content denser and more con- sonata form, without development section, recalling

sistent, than any of its predecessors. the corresponding movement of No 1 by its rhythmic

S1 Allegretto J =100 Ex 5 ? =too 10

vln IP

S esfpressito etc.

Ex 6 Allegretto

rln I itrf
3 . A vcl Id

6 4 - [ ++,.

Ex 7 Lento

vcl

.1W

; -7 T

vel

Ex 8 Allegretto a =120

vlnl_ PH". -

",-,"-=-

Lento J=63

Ex 9 vln1I con sord6

vln2 con orn srd.

EExx Algolegro = 116

na con sord.

p-a

4,::71 pp

2 3 Q tA

ff 7

Ex1 "= 80 E 3 =8

E x12 = so
Ex 1il ALegreo 10 .7 E6 Lro_63

v n I., con sord. Ex 1.3 80

vin I con sord.

vlnF 1 4 )b

F .............. "." .._ _ I . . . . , .,

L vi s Irvc,

p cre~sc. es press. p p

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transformation of the first subject from a capricious appearance of the motive at the tritone (ie in F

2/4 (with some 3/4 bars) in the exposition, to a sharp minor), near the beginning of the second

regular 3/8 in the reprise. The slow movement is in movement, and numerous other transpositions occur,

an equally simple ternary form, with an extremely including, in the contrapuntal first and last move-

abbreviated recapitulation, and the third movement ments, many entries answering first entries in the

is an extended fugue with a brief introduction and a original key; but it is in its C minor form that it most

long finale somewhat similar in function to that of often appears, dominating the entire work even

Roussel's String Quartet. more pervasively than its permutation in No 7.

Exs 8 and 9 show the marked affinity between the It is the opening and basic motive of the first

opening phrases of the principal themes of the first movement, an extended contrapuntal prelude; it is

two movements. The third movement begins with a present in all the thematic material and development

short introduction recalling Ex 8, inverted, and of the sonata-form second movement; it haunts the

containing also Ex 10, conspicuously stated on the third movement in diminution as a melodic ostinato;

unaccompanied viola. This introduction leads to the even in the fourth movement, where it plays no

fugue, on the theme shown in Ex 11, which is closely thematic part, it crops up once in the bass, trans-

related to Ex 10, and equally closely follows the posed up a tone, at the beginning of the middle

outlines of the second-violin part in Ex 9 from the section; and it reappears at the very end of this

previous movement (see especially the numbered movement, in its home key, as a bridge to the fifth

notes). The second half of the fugue-theme also and final movement, which begins by taking up and

shows some similarity to the first-violin part of Ex expanding the mock-fugal opening of the first

9. After the fugue these themes from the second and movement, and ends with a very slightly varied

first movements (Exs 9 and 8) reappear in their recapitulation of the first 27 bars of that movement.

original form (the latter in four parallel lines at This is almost the same formal device as in the last

different pitches), after which Shostakovich un- movement of No 7, and the effect here, even more

expectedly launches into a long finale or epilogue than in No 7 or No 5, is of a work in one huge

which is in effect a separate movement, although its monothematic movement.

main theme (Ex 12) is a transformation of the What No 8 lacks is the cunning and subtlety of

fugue-subject into a quick waltz-like tune. This No 7. There the basic four-note motive is slightly

appears three times, in alternation with a 3/4 version distorted in the themes of both first and second

of the main theme of the first movement (see Ex 8). movements, and their relationships to each other

At its second appearance the waltz-like theme is and to that motive are fully revealed only in the later

transposed down a tritone (Ex 13), to reveal very movements. In No 8 there are no such refinements,

plainly its relationship to a conspicuous phrase in and Mr Keldysh, in the article already mentioned,

the second subject of the first movement (Ex 14). complains with justice of 'the monotony of thematic

The thematic concentration of this work, light- material, in particular the somewhat tiresome

hearted though it is, exceeds that even of No 5, and repetition of fragmentary melodic particles, especially

with slight exaggeration it might all be said to grow in the second and third movements'.

out of the four-note motive of Ex 10. In Quartet The eight quartets show a gradually increasing

No 8 Shostakovich performs a strikingly similar feat concern on Shostakovich's part with thematic

with a permutation of the same motive, with which unification, and after revealing in No 7 a supreme

the work opens, as in Ex 15. Yury Keldysh's and unstrained mastery of this art, in No 8 he has

valuable article on No 8, published in The Musical developed it to a fault. He can hardly go farther in

Times of April 1961, discusses the autobiographical this direction, and No 9 may bring relaxation again.

significance of this motive, which spells out Shosta- Perhaps it will be the quartet that we are waiting for

kovich's initials (DSCH)-though Mr Keldysh from him, in which the perfection and beauty of

points out that 'melodic contours within a diminished form of No 7, and its mastery and variety of texture,

fourth are in general highly characteristic of are combined with the weight and seriousness of

Shostakovich's style' (the last movement of Quartet content of No 5.

No 5 is a notable example). What is significant here

is that whereas in No 7 the four-note motive appears

Quartets Nos 4, 5, 6 and 7 are published by Musica Rara,

in many different keys (most conspicuously around

who also handle Nos 1 and 3. No 8 is published by Boosey &

the tritonally opposite poles of F sharp and C), in

Hawkes. Our quotations are by permission of the respective

No 8 the tonic key is much more stubbornly publishers.

insisted on. Here too there is one conspicuous

AMATEURS' EXCHANGE

Under this heading we insert, free of charge, announcements by Maltese music student (22) wishes to correspond with people

amateur musicians who wish to co-operate with others, especially sharing his interest in classical music, opera, ballet, etc.

in the private performance of chamber music. Alfred Callas, 80/2 St Michael Street, Cospicua, Malta

String chamber orchestra now being formed in Leyton invites

Lady pianist wishes to improve sight-reading by duet playing.

applications from experienced amateurs and students. Weekly

Sense of humour as well as purpose required. 55 Cromwell

rehearsals at a local school hall. John Stephens, 7 Madeira

Road, Beckenham, Kent.

Road, Ell (LEY 7455)

Players of high standard in all instruments, especially wood-

London Transport Orchestra has vacancies for instrumentalists.

wind, are invited to join the Reading Symphony Orchestra.

Rehearsals, Shepherds Bush Central line station, Mondays

Rehearsals begin 13 September for programme including

7.30 (PER 0885)

Holst's Planets. Hon Secretary, 38 Balmore Drive, Caver-

sham, Reading, Berks

The Edward J. Dent Medal, sponsored by the Royal Musical

The Royal Amateur Orchestral Society has vacancies for

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evenings in Central London. Apply Hon Sec Mr F. E.

for her work on medieval liturgical music.

Dunkley, 75 Old Park View, Enfield, Middx (ENField 2352)

533

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