The Chamber Music of Dmitri Shostakovich
Introduction: The Nature and History of Chamber Music
The term "Chamber Music" is used to describe a broad category of music that is meant to be performed in a chamber or private residence. Obviously, with the space limitations, these works had to be written with a limited instrumentation in mind. Although the term does not apply today in the literal sense, chamber music is still music written for a limited number of players. A chamber work can be written for anywhere from one to thirty and beyond performers. The most famous kind of chamber music is the String Quartet, which was made famous by Franz Josef Haydn. Haydn's quartets, each one instrumentated for two violins, viola, and cello, set the standards for the string quartet that would largely be followed by composers until present day. Haydn also set the standards for the movements of a chamber music work. All of Haydn's quartets follow a four movement form. Although many composers have experimented with the number of movements of their works, the popular number of movements for a new work written today is still four movements. Over the next two hundred years, almost all of the great composers would contribute to the chamber music repertoire. Mozart wrote chamber music with ease and his works today remain cherished by countless musicians. Beethoven is well known for his chamber music, a study of which reveals the characteristics of his musical evolution. The chamber music of Brahms is also well loved today. Bartok sparked a twentieth century revival of the string quartet, with his six quartets reviving a genre that the late Romantic Period of the nineteenth century had come to ignore. After the master works of Bartok had achieved notoriety, the stage was open for a new composer to make history in the chamber music genre. That composer would be Dmitri Shostakovich of Russia.
Dmitri Dmitrievich Shostakovich was a very prolific composer who lived and worked in Russia from 1906 to 1975. Much of Shostakovich’s music was written under the oppressive Soviet Regime led by Josef Stalin. Stalin put sanctions on the subjects of art and music that limited what the artist was able to express. Throughout the 1930's and 40's, Shostakovich had to live in constant fear of being put in jail merely for the kind of music he wrote. Because of the attention focused on his large scale works, Shostakovich was forced to write his symphonies in such a way as to please the Soviet Government. This involved writing only "Russian" style music and not using any "radical" compositional techniques such as 12-tone and serialism. Shostakovich was given more liberty with his chamber music, which by its very nature could not attract large-scale recognition, at least on the level of the Symphonies. It is this relative freedom that makes Shostakovich's chamber music the clearest depiction of his compositional style.
When studying Shostakovich's chamber music output, one fascinating aspect that comes to light is the evolution of his musical style. Much like Beethoven, Shostakovich's early works contrast greatly with his late works. His early quartets were written in a late Romantic style, with a certain "perkiness" present. The quartets sounded somewhat upbeat, and there were traces of tonality. Shostakovich wrote many fast movements and there is a very youthful, energetic feel to the works; even though the works still contain an element of grotesque that makes Shostakovich's works so unique. Towards the end of his career, Shostakovich's quartets acquired a tired, depressing feel. Almost all concepts of tonality were thrown out as Shostakovich began to experiment with such modern compositional techniques as 12 tone and Serialism. In his late period, Shostakovich preferred to write slow movements. His String Quartet number Fourteen is comprised entirely of slow movements. Also, while Shostakovich's earlier works are written in keys that are easy to play such as C Major and G Minor, the late quartets are written in such unwieldy keys as E-flat Minor and F-sharp Major. It is an interesting note that each of Shostakovich's String Quartets is written in a different key, a characteristic that is certainly not accidental.
Shostakovich's chamber music repertoire is primarily comprised of string quartets. He wrote fifteen works for the genre between the years of 1938 and 1974. Shostakovich’s first string quartet was written in 1938 as an experimental work in the genre. Although Shostakovich had sketched some chamber music in college, he had not yet written a serious work in the genre. Shostakovich said in a letter while he was composing the quartet that chamber music is one of the hardest genres to compose for and that his work was merely an experiment. As Shostakovich progressed, he became more and more skilled in writing for the string quartet. Of Shostakovich’s quartets, numbers four and eight are generally thought to be his greatest. It is in his string quartets that the most accurate portrait of Shostakovich's compositional style presents itself. In the late quartets especially, Shostakovich experimented with many different compositional techniques. For example, String Quartet no.13 features 12-tone rows. He also experimented with the number and form of the movements of his String Quartets. String Quartet no.8 is written in five movements that are played without pauses between the movements. The String Quartet no.13 is written in one very long movement. There are many other examples of this experimentation in Shostakovich's other works.
Shostakovich had a set group of performers who premiered almost all of his music throughout his career. With the exception of the first string quartet, premiered by the Glazunov Quartet in 1938, and String Quartet no.15, premiered by the Taneyev Quartet in 1974, all of Shostakovich’s string quartets were premiered by the Beethoven Quartet. Although Shostakovich had been acquainted with the members of the Beethoven Quartet since 1925, their professional relationship blossomed in 1938. In this year, the composer attended the Beethoven Quartet’s extremely successful Moscow premiere performance of his first string quartet. Shostakovich would go on to dedicated many of his works to the the Quartet as a whole or as individuals. Quartets number Three and Five were dedicated to the quartet, while Quartets number Eleven through Fourteen honored specific members of the quartet. Shostakovich admired the Beethoven Quartet to such an extent that he wrote a Piano Quintet for the express purpose of being able to perform and tour with the group. Written in 1940, the work is one of Shostakovich's most frequently performed works today.
Shostakovich (second from left) with the members of the Beethoven String Quartet. Photo courtesy http://home.worldonline.nl/ovar/beeth.htm
Shostakovich also wrote two string trios and three sonatas. The first string trio is a student piece and is not performed often today. The second trio is notable for the Hebrew themes in the last movement. These Hebrew melodies stand as a statement of Shostakovich’s criticism of anti-Semitism and reveal his interest in Jewish folk tunes. Shostakovich wrote the trio in 1944, making a profound statement in the process. The three sonatas are written for cello and piano, violin and piano, and viola and piano respectively. The Sonata for Viola and Piano Op. 147 was the last piece Shostakovich completed before he passed away less than a week later. The Sonata was premiered in October of 1975, two months after Shostakovich's death.
List of Shostakovich's chamber music works, with Opus number and Date of Composition
Piano Trio #1 in C Minor (1923) Op. 8
Two Pieces for string octet (1924-25) Op. 11
Sonata for cello and piano in D minor (1934) Op. 40
String Quartet #1 in C Major (1938) Op. 49
Piano Quintet in G Minor (1940) Op. 57
Piano Trio #2 in E Minor (1944) Op. 67
String Quartet #2 in A Major (1944) Op. 68
String Quartet #3 in F Major (1946) Op. 73
String Quartet #4 in D Major (1949) Op. 83
String Quartet #5 in B-flat Major (1952) Op. 92
String Quartet #6 in G Major (1956) Op. 101
String Quartet #7 in F-sharp Minor (1960) Op. 108
String Quartet #8 in C Minor (1960) Op. 110
String Quartet #9 in E-Flat Major (1964) Op. 117
String Quartet #10 in A-Flat Major (1964) Op. 118
String Quartet #11 in F Minor (1966) Op. 122
String Quartet #12 in D-Flat Major (1968) Op. 133
Sonata for Violin and Piano (1968) Op. 134
String Quartet #13 in B-Flat Major (1970) Op. 138
String Quartet #14 in F-Sharp Major (1973) Op. 142
String Quartet #15 in E-Flat Minor (1974) Op. 144
Sonata for Viola and Piano (1975) Op. 147
Works Cited
Dmitri Shostakovich. accessed 15 May 2006 http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/jlozos/shostakovich/index.html
Fay, Laurel E. Shostakovich: A Life. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Rijen, Otto. Soviet Composers. accessed 25, May 2006. http://home.worldonline.nl/ovar/pictures.htm