[CLASSICAL MUSIC] On Shostakovich's Seventh String Quartet 🎻

The Seventh String Quartet from 1960 is dedicated to Dmitri Shostakovich's (1906-1975) first wife, Nina. She unexpectedly succumbed to cancer in 1954 and would have turned 50 the year it was published. At around 13 minutes, it's one of the shortest of his 15 quartets, but no less intense and reflects a personal crisis in the life of the composer. The relationship between Dmitri and Nina had been complicated; they were both having extramarital affairs on and off. They divorced in 1935 when Shostakovich initiated a fling with the 24 year old pianist and translator Elena Konstantinovskaya, but remarried again later the same year. Nina and Dmitri had two children, Galina and Maxim, the latter a celebrated conductor.

The choice of of the F sharp minor key, often associated with pain and suffering, was no coincidence. Originally Shostakovich had planned to compose 24 string quartets, one in each of the major and minor keys, but from 1938 to 1974 he had time to complete "only" 15 quartets. During most of this time he was under strong political pressure, especially during the Stalin period, but also beyond. Shortly after the death of Nina in 1954, his mother also passed away. In 1956 Shostakovich married Margarita Kaynova, a Communist Youth League worker, but they divorced only three years later. After the divorce he proposed to his former student Galina Ustvolskaya several times, but was rejected. As if this wasn't enough he started to have problems with his right hand, which turned out to be the effects of polio.

In the Seventh Quartet he makes a departure from the strict key schedule, but returns to it again in the subsequent Eighth Quartet in C minor. The string quartets reflect Shostakovich's development as a composer, in the same manner as the symphonies, even though the quartets don't contain as many style changes as the much more large-scale symphonies. However, the string quartets contain a world of profound expressions and strong emotions. Also formally, they are quite varied - the number, the length and the structure of the movements varies widely between and within the quartets.

The three movements in the brief Seventh Quartet are to be played attacca, that is without a pause between the movements. The first movement begins with an ironic and witty theme before it goes over into a slightly more intense passage with pizzicato (the plucking of strings.) The slow second movement is characterized by elegiac moods. The final movement begins intensely and energetically, but ends in a more contemplative mood, which reflects on the second movement: an odd and spooky little waltz where Nina seems to haunt the memory of the composer.

The three quartets, nos. seven, eight and nine, with the centerpiece that is the Eighth Quartet, are some of the most significant pieces ever composed for string quartet. Enjoy the impassioned performance of the Seventh by the The New Zealand String Quartet below.

 @SteemSwede

String Quartet No. 7 in F-sharp minor (Op. 108)

1. Allegretto -
2. Lento -
3. Allegro - Allegretto - [Adagio]

The New Zealand String Quartet

Helene Pohl, violin
Douglas Beilman, violins
Gillian Ansell, viola
Rolf Gjelsten, cello