Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 7 in F-sharp minor, Op. 108

Author: (Russian) Shostakovich
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2003-04-01
Features: The Seventh String Quartet is one of Shostakovich's most famous works. In its five movements, the composer uses vivid brushstrokes to tell his life story to the world.
Movement I: In a slow, funeral-like melody played by the four instruments, the composer's famous D-S-C-H (D, E-flat, C, B) motif is clearly presented to the audience. In this movement, Shostakovich also quotes a melody from his famous 1926 symphony at the age of 19.
Movement II: Amidst a burst of intense music, the composer once again uses his D-S-C-H motif to paint a picture of hell: a melody quoted from the Second Piano Trio (1944) – "Dance of Death." This melody is said to have been sung by Jews in Nazi concentration camps, where these poor people were forced to dig their own graves. And how about the composer himself? After the opera "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk County" drew extreme dissatisfaction from the authorities, he too lived in the illusion of his own grave every day.
Movement III: This is a Jewish-style waltz based on the DSCH motif, both sweet and sorrowful. The anti-Jewish elements in Soviet policy had forced thousands of Jews to leave their homes and wander far away. Shostakovich once expressed deep sorrow over this, feeling the cruelty of life. In this piece, the composer quotes a melody once used in his Cello Concerto (1959) – composed after Stalin's death, when the Soviet authorities restored Shostakovich's reputation. In a downward scale that resembles laughter, we seem to see the usually stern composer as if he were laughing heartily with a close friend.
Movement IV: It contains some rough and heavy chords. Some say this is from the in Dresden. Others say it's the midnight knock on the door by Stalin's men. The latter seems more reasonable. This fear of authoritarian power left a deep psychological shadow on Shostakovich in the 1930s, to the point where he sometimes packed his bags and slept outside his home, ready to flee at any moment.