Dmitri Shostakovich - String Quartet No. 15, Op. 144 (1974)

Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (Дми́трий Дми́триевич Шостако́вич, tr. Dmitriy Dmitrievich Shostakovich 25 September 1906 – 9 August 1975) was a Soviet composer and pianist, and a prominent figure of 20th-century music. Please support my channel: Sting Quartet No. 15 in E-flat major, Op. 144 (May 1974) I. Elegy: Adagio (0:00) II. Serenade: Adagio (11:47) III. Intermezzo: Adagio (17:12) IV. Nocturne: Adagio (18:42) V. Funeral march: Adagio molto (23:21) VI. Epilogue: Adagio (28:05) Fitzwilliam Quartet The Fitzwilliam Quartet gave the first performance outside the Soviet Union which took place in Coventry, England on March 11, 1975, at the University of Warwick’s Arts Centre. According to Sofia Khentova, the Fifteenth Quartet was intended as a “milestone“ heralding the next nine string quartets that Shostakovich intended to compose for the Beethoven Quartet. He had previously promised them a cycle of 24 quartets in all major and minor keys. Shostakovich told the quartet’s leader, Dmitri Tsyganov, that the next quartet would be dedicated to the Beethoven Quartet as a testament to his loyalty to the ensemble. Shostakovich’s Fifteenth Quartet was modeled on the Third Quartet by his former pupil, Boris Tchaikovsky, which is composed entirely of slow movements. On May 2, 1974, Shostakovich telephoned Isaak Glikman and told him he had begun work on a new string quartet. Despite difficulties with his right hand, he continued to compose while convalescing in a Moscow hospital. After being discharged, he and his wife traveled to their dacha in Repino for the summer. He completed the quartet on May 17, 1974. On June 3, Glikman visited Shostakovich, who told him he had completed the quartet: “I don’t know how good it is, but I had some joy in writing it.“ The Fifteenth was his first quartet since the Sixth and one of only three that did not bear a dedication. It was also only one of two that were not premiered by the Beethoven Quartet. In September, Shostakovich returned to Moscow and presented his new quartet to the members of the Beethoven Quartet. By that point, poor health left Shostakovich unable to give a preliminary performance on the piano as he had with his previous quartets. He handed the score to Tsyganov and told him, “I cannot play it. Just see it for yourself.“ The quartet’s cellist, Sergei Shirinsky, one of the group’s two remaining founding members, had a heart attack earlier that year and was also having health problems at the time. As a result, the Beethoven Quartet delayed rehearsals for the Fifteenth’s premiere, which worried Shostakovich. During the rehearsals, he asked the members to play the opening movement “so that flies drop dead in mid-air and the audience start leaving the hall from sheer boredom.“ After rehearsals on the morning of October 18, Shirinsky died. Shostakovich asked the Taneyev Quartet, whom he had already familiarized with the score, to take over the responsibility of the world premiere, an offer which they accepted. Prior to the Moscow premiere, Dmitri Tsyganov, the Beethoven Quartet’s last surviving founding member, visited Shostakovich in the hospital for interpretive advice. The composer said to him that he had begun to think over his next quartet, then added: “You know, Mitya, I will not be able to finish the cycle of 24 quartets I had promised you.“