Misplaced Pages

This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources. Find sources: "String Quartet No. 9" Shostakovich – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2013)

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

The final version of the Ninth Quartet was preceded by another which Shostakovich admitted to partially destroying:

n 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.

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. Dmitri Tsyganov, the first violinist, recalled that Shostakovich had told him that the first Ninth Quartet was based on "themes from childhood", and was "completely different" from the final version.

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

1. Wilson 1995, p. 387.
2. Wilson 1995, p. 388.

Sources

• Wilson, Elizabeth (1995). Shostakovich: A Life Remembered (1st ed.). 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. Archived from the original on 2015-03-07. Retrieved 2015-01-01.
• 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. Archived from the original on 2021-12-19.

v t e Dmitri Shostakovich
List of compositions
Operas and operettas	The Nose Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District/Katerina Izmailova The Big Lightning (unfinished) Orango (unfinished) The Twelve Chairs (unfinished) Katyusha Maslova (unfinished) The Gamblers (unfinished) Moscow, Cheryomushki
Ballets	The Golden Age The Bolt 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) Leningrad première American premieres 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 No. 1 in C minor No. 2 in F major Violin No. 1 in A minor No. 2 in C♯ minor Cello No. 1 in E♭ major No. 2 in G major
Orchestral works	Tahiti Trot Suite from The Golden Age Suite from The Bolt Suite from The Limpid Stream Five Fragments Scherzo (1922) Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 1 Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 2 (orch. McBurney) Suite for Variety Orchestra No. 1 (arr. Atovmyan) Festive Overture Suite from Encounter at the Elbe Suite from The Gadfly (arr. Atovmyan) Novorossiisk Chimes, the Flame of Eternal Glory October "Intervision"
Concert/brass band	"March of the Soviet Militia"
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 Gogoliad (unfinished)
Vocal music	Suite on Finnish Themes Song of the Forests The Sun Shines Over Our Motherland Antiformalist Rayok From Jewish Folk Poetry The Execution of Stepan Razin Seven Romances on Poems by Alexander Blok Loyalty Six Poems by Marina Tsvetayeva Suite on Verses of Michelangelo Buonarroti Four Verses of Captain Lebyadkin
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 No. 16 in B major (unrealized) 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) Violin Sonata Viola Sonata
Piano music	Three Fantastic Dances 24 Preludes Piano Sonata No. 2 in B minor Children's Notebook 24 Preludes and Fugues
Family	Galina Shostakovich (daughter) Maxim Shostakovich (son)
Named for Shostakovich	Dmitri Shostakovich-class ferry Saint Petersburg Academic Philharmonia Named After D. D. Shostakovich 2669 Shostakovich International Shostakovich Chamber Music Competition London Shostakovich Orchestra Shostakovich (1969–1981) Shostakovich Peninsula Shostakovich Quartet
Related articles	Concerto DSCH DSCH motif Europe Central Ian MacDonald Muddle Instead of Music The Noise of Time Shostakovich v. Twentieth Century-Fox Solomon Volkov Testimony: book film The War Symphonies: Shostakovich Against Stalin Wihuri Sibelius Prize
Category

• Classical Music

This article about a composition for a chamber music group is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

• String quartets by Dmitri Shostakovich
• 1964 compositions
• Compositions in E-flat major
• Chamber music composition stubs