String Quartet No. 6 (Shostakovich)

Dmitri Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 6 in G major (Op. 101) was composed in 1956. It was premiered by the Beethoven Quartet but carries no dedication. The Beethoven Quartet recorded this work on the Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga label.

Structure

It consists of four movements:

1. Allegretto
2. Moderato con moto
3. Lento -
4. Lento - Allegretto

Playing time is approximately 22 minutes.

The Allegretto first movement creates a carefree mood using nursery tunes. The second movement is a cheerful round dance in E-flat major, the third movement a chaconne in B-flat minor. The final movement leads into a complex Allegretto showing the influence of both Alban Berg’s Lyric Suite and Richard Strauss’s Metamorphosen. The quartet also features the only vertical appearance of the DSCH motive (the notes D, E-flat, C, and B played at the same time). This happens at the cadence at the end of each movement.

The quartet was written in Komarovo, Russia.

External links

• Griffiths, Paul (2012). "Quartet No. 6 in G major for Strings, Op. 101". The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. 
• Harris, Stephen (2014). "Shostakovich: the string quartets, Quartet No. 6". Shostakovich: the string quartets. 
• Parloff, Michael (25 March 2013). "Lecture on Shostakovich Quartets Nos. 1, 5, 6, & 12". YouTube. 

Dmitri Shostakovich
Operas and operetta	Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District Moscow, Cheryomushki The Nose Orango (unfinished) The Big Lightning (unfinished) The Twelve Chairs (unfinished) The Gamblers (unfinished)
Ballets	The Bolt The Golden Age The Limpid Stream
Symphonies	No. 1 in F minor No. 2 in B major (To October) No. 3 in E♭ major (The First of May) No. 4 in C minor No. 5 in D minor No. 6 in B minor No. 7 in C major (Leningrad) No. 8 in C minor No. 9 in E♭ major No. 10 in E minor No. 11 in G minor (The Year 1905) No. 12 in D minor (The Year 1917) No. 13 in B♭ minor (Babi-Yar) No. 14 No. 15 in A major
Concertos	Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor Violin Concerto No. 2 in C♯ minor Cello Concerto No. 1 in E♭ major Cello Concerto No. 2 in G major
Orchestral works	Suite from The Nose Suite from The Golden Age Suite from The Bolt Suite from The Limpid Stream Suite from Encounter at the Elbe Suite from The Gadfly Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 1 Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 2 Suite for Variety Orchestra Tahiti Trot Festive Overture in A major for Orchestra Novorossiisk Chimes, the Flame of Eternal Glory for Orchestra
Film music	The New Babylon Alone Golden Mountains Counterplan The Tale of the Priest and of His Workman Balda The Youth of Maxim Girl Friends The Return of Maxim The Vyborg Side Friends The Great Citizen Zoya Simple People The Young Guard Pirogov Michurin Meeting on the Elbe The Fall of Berlin Belinsky The Unforgettable Year 1919 The Gadfly Five Days, Five Nights Sofiya Perovskaya Hamlet King Lear
Vocal music	Anti-Formalist Rayok The Execution of Stepan Razin From Jewish Folk Poetry Seven Romances on Poems by Alexander Blok Song of the Forests Suite on Finnish Themes Suite on Verses of Michelangelo Buonarroti The Sun Shines over Our Motherland
Chamber music	String quartets No. 1 in C major No. 2 in A major No. 3 in F major No. 4 in D major No. 5 in B♭ major No. 6 in G major No. 7 in F♯ minor No. 8 in C minor No. 9 in E♭ major No. 10 in A♭ major No. 11 in F minor No. 12 in D♭ major No. 13 in B♭ minor No. 14 in F♯ major No. 15 in E♭ minor Other Cello Sonata in D minor Piano Quintet in G minor Piano Trio No. 1 in C minor Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor Quartet Movement in E♭ major (c. 1960s) Viola Sonata Violin Sonata
Piano music	Twenty-Four Piano Preludes and Fugues Children's Notebook (6) Piano Sonata No. 2 in B minor Three Fantastic Dances
Named for Shostakovich	2669 Shostakovich London Shostakovich Orchestra Shostakovich Peninsula
Related articles	List of compositions by Dmitri Shostakovich DSCH motif Leningrad première of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7 Literaturoper Maxim Shostakovich (son) Muddle Instead of Music Neoclassicism Post-romanticism Shostakovich v. Twentieth Century-Fox Testimony The War Symphonies: Shostakovich Against Stalin Wihuri Sibelius Prize
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