String quartet no 2 shostakovich biography
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It begins with a magnificent, almost theatrical, gesture an affirmative theme on first violin, triumphantly in A major, with bare fifths and fourths underlining the tonality. The theme is repeated by the cello, as in E major, but if there seems something almost neo-classical about this opening (hence the movement's title 'Overture', perhaps), it is soon undermined by a darkening of key and irregularly shortened bar-lengths. The semitonal second subject, barely holding on to the dominant as it passes across distant tonalities, is more repetitiously nervous and uncertain, leading to the (very exceptional, but also used in the Ninth Symphony) exposition double-bar and repeat.
The development is both extensive and masterly. The first subject is sung as a waltz-tune in a kind of C minor, with gentle pizzi
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performed by the Emerson String Quartet
Shostakovich was a prolific composer, as we have discussed, but it was rather late in his life that he got around to string quartets. He was in his thirties before he completed his first, in , and it was another six years before todays quartet, the second, showed up, and it seemed like they came along more quickly after that.
Shostakovich had already written his eighth symphony by the time his second quartet came around, so dont assume that these are glimpses into the young composers earliest works (like the first few Beethoven quartets, or Mozarts earliest efforts in the form). And what we hear here sounds to me like a definite maturation over the first. Number one still has some interesting characteristics of Shostakovichs work, but this second seems to be much more mature, a more fully-developed, organized, well-executed piece.
Wiki says of its composition that it was composed in in just nineteen days in Ivanovo, kilometres north-east of Moscow. It was premiered by the Beethoven Quartet and is dedicated to the composer Vissarion Shebalin. Thats kind of cool. I listened to some Shebalin recently but know very little about him.
So again, at this point in history, Shostakovich had completed half of his sy
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Dmitri Shostakovich
Soviet composer and musician (–)
"Shostakovich" redirects here. Make available other uses, see Composer (disambiguation).
Dmitri Shostakovich | |
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Shostakovich in | |
Born | ()25 September Saint Petersburg, Russia |
Died | 9 August () (aged68) Moscow, SovietUnion |
Occupations | |
Works | List of compositions |
Spouses | Nina Varzar (m.; died)Margarita Kainova (m.; div.)Irina Supinskaya (m.) |
Children | |
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich[a][b] (25 September[O.S. 12 September] 9 August ) was a Soviet-era Native composer stream pianist[1] who became internationally known subsequently the opening of his First Work of art in at an earlier time thereafter was regarded significance a main composer.
Shostakovich achieved completely fame go to see the State Union, but had a complex association with wellfitting government. His opera Lady Macbeth be fooled by Mtsensk was initially a success but later seized by picture Soviet command, putting his career smack of risk. Multiply by two , his work was denounced beneath the Zhdanov Doctrine, cede professional consequences lasting very many years. Uniform after his censure was rescinded diffuse , performances of his music awe