String Quartet No.8 in C minor Op.110

Shostakovich was a master of the art of having it both ways. There is no better example than the Eighth String Quartet: with its dedication “to the memory of the victims of fascism and war” and its prominent allusion to Lenin’s favourite song, it won immediate approval from the Soviet authorities; at the same time, however, it can be taken entirely the other way, as an attack on the tyranny of the Soviet system. The old prison song that Lenin liked so much, “Tormented by grievous bondage,” could apply as much to citizens of the Soviet Union as to the victims of Nazi fascism.

What we do know about the Eighth Quartet is that it was written in depressing circumstances near the still devastated city of Dresden in May 1960. According to a close friend, he seriously contemplated suicide at the time - which perhaps explains what he wrote to another friend: “When I die it’s hardly likely that someone will write a quartet dedicated to my memory. So I decided to write it myself. One could write on the frontispiece, Dedicated to the author of this quartet.”

Certainly, it is a very personal work. Its main theme, introduced in the opening bars, is Shostakovich’s four-note musical monogram D E flat C B which is heard in all kinds of transpositions and rhythmic variants and occurs on numerous occasions in all but one of the five movements. And it is far from being the only reference to himself in a work abundant in allusions to his own and other composers’ music. The sombre echo on second violin of Siegfried’s Funeral Music from Götterdämmerung at the end of the first movement is particularly significant.

If the main theme of the Allegro molto, aggressively crunched on the G-string of the first violin over fiercely articulated chords on the rest of the ensemble, is Shostakovich’s denunciation of violence, who is the perpetrator? It is clear enough from the second subject - the Jewish tune from the Second Piano Trio passionately projected by the violins two octaves apart and at the top of their voices - who the victims are. But who is accused of the crime, the Nazis, the Stalinist Soviets, or both?

Effectively offset by ironic scherzo based on an impish version of the Shostakovich motto, the Largo fourth movement is a grim episode featuring not only what the composer’s son Maxim has identified as the dreaded KGB’s three knocks on the door but also “Tormented by grievous bondage” sung in unison by all but the first violin. The Shostakovich motto reappears here only as a link to another Largo where it is combined in meditative counterpoint with two other fragmentary themes, one of them being the sombre echo of Siegfried’s Funeral Music.

Shostakovich was a master of the art of having it both ways. There is no better example than the Eighth String Quartet: with its dedication “to the memory of the victims of fascism and war” and its prominent allusion to Lenin’s favourite song, it won immediate approval from the Soviet authorities; at the same time, however, it could be taken entirely the other way, as an attack on the tyranny of the Soviet system. You don’t have to accept the hotly disputed claims of Solomon Volkov’s Testimony - where the composer is quoted as saying that you would have to “blind and deaf” to believe that the work is devoted to “exposing fascism” - to take the dissident point of view. After all, the old prison song that Lenin liked so much, “Tormented by grievous bondage,” could apply as much to citizens of the Soviet Union as to the victims of Nazi fascism.

What we do know about the Eighth Quartet is that it was written in no more than three days in a resort just outside Dresden - where Shostakovich was supposed to be writing music for a film about that devastated city - in May 1960. Ostensibly at least, the immediate inspiration was the still shocking evidence of the destruction wrought by British bombing raids in 1945, which is said to have reminded the composer of what had happened to his own city in the battle of Leningrad. So far so good for the Soviet point of view. But we also know that Shostakovich had recently been more or less compelled to apply to join the Communist party. That enforced betrayal of his principles seems to have depressed him just as much as Dresden. According to a close friend, he seriously contemplated suicide at the time - which perhaps explains what he wrote to another friend about the Eighth Quartet: “When I die it’s hardly likely that someone will write a quartet dedicated to my memory. So I decided to write it myself. One could write on the frontispiece, Dedicated to the author of this quartet.”

Certainly, it is a very personal work. Its main theme, introduced in the first bar of the first movement, is Shostakovich’s four-note musical monogram D E flat C B (a kind of BACH equivalent) which he already used to identify himself in his Tenth Symphony and First Violin Concerto. It is heard in all kinds of transpositions and rhythmic variants and occurs on numerous occasions in all but one of the five movements. But it is far from being the only reference to himself. Shortly after the motto theme has worked its way up from cello to first violin, there is a very clear allusion to the beginning of First Symphony and a little later the first violin refers to the Fifth. The movement ends with a sombre echo on second violin of Siegfried’s Funeral Music from Götterdämmerung.

Although the Allegro molto (which, like all the succeeding movements, follows without a break) has its own main theme, aggressively crunched on the G-string of the first violin over fiercely articulated chords on the rest of the ensemble, the Shostakovich motto is recalled at an early stage and integrated firmly in the contrapuntal texture. If this is his denunciation of violence, as it seems, who is the perpetrator? It is clear enough from the second subject - the Jewish tune from the Second Piano Trio passionately projected by the violins two octaves apart and at the top of their voices - who the victims are. But who is accused of the crime, the Nazis, the Stalinist Soviets, or both?

The outer sections of the third movement, an ironic scherzo, are based on an impish version of the Shostakovich motto, introduced by first violin over waltz-time rhythms on viola and cello, and a tune borrowed from the Eighth Symphony. The motto is also heard in its original form and, just after a passing allusion on first violin to the First Cello Concerto, in a tuneful variant presented high on the A-string of the cello as the melodic material of the comparatively short middle section.

The three percussive chords at the beginning of the Largo fourth movement have been identified by Shostakovich’s son Maxim with the dreaded three knocks on the door signalling a visit from the KGB. Taking it the other way, however, it could be an echo of the “Muss es sein?” beginning of the last movement of Beethoven’s Quartet in F major, Op.135. Either way it is a grim episode, featuring “Tormented by grievous bondage” sung in unison by all but the first violin and, after more knocks on the door, an allusion to the Tenth Symphony on the two violins over a drone on viola and cello, and a quotation from the ill-fated opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk high on the cello.

The Shostakovich motto reappears here only as a link into another Largo where it is combined in meditative counterpoint with two other fragmentary themes, one of them being the echo of Siegfried’s Funeral Music which first appeared at the end of the first movement and which brings a similarly sombre ending to the whole work.