String Quartet No. 13 (Shostakovich)
Encyclopedia
Dmitri Shostakovich's
String Quartet No. 13 in B flat minor (Op. 138) was first conceived in 1969, and completed in 1970 as Shostakovich was undergoing treatment at an orthopedic clinic in Kurgan.
The work consists of one movement:
Playing time is approximately 19 minutes.
The piece was dedicated to Vadim Borisovsky
, violist of the Beethoven Quartet
, and the viola is accordingly given a prominent role in the piece. The quartet opens with a twelve-tone row
played on the viola, and concludes with a long viola solo in the high register. The work also requires the players to tap on the bodies of their instruments with their bows at several points; such techniques had become almost commonplace in the West by this time, but were not typically used in Soviet music of this period.
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
String Quartet No. 13 in B flat minor (Op. 138) was first conceived in 1969, and completed in 1970 as Shostakovich was undergoing treatment at an orthopedic clinic in Kurgan.
The work consists of one movement:
- Adagio - Doppio movimento - Tempo primo
Playing time is approximately 19 minutes.
The piece was dedicated to Vadim Borisovsky
Vadim Borisovsky
Vadim Vasilyevich Borisovsky was a Russian violist.Born in Moscow, Borisovsky entered Moscow Conservatory in 1917 studying the violin with Mikhail Press. A year later, on the advice of violist Vladimir Bakaleinikov, Borisovsky turned his attentions to the viola. He studied with Bakaleinikov and...
, violist of the Beethoven Quartet
Beethoven Quartet
The Beethoven Quartet was founded between 1922 and 1923 by graduates of the Moscow Conservatory: violinists Dmitri Tsyganov and Vasily Shirinsky, violist Vadim Borisovsky and cellist Sergei Shirinsky...
, and the viola is accordingly given a prominent role in the piece. The quartet opens with a twelve-tone row
Tone row
In music, a tone row or note row , also series and set, refers to a non-repetitive ordering of a set of pitch-classes, typically of the twelve notes in musical set theory of the chromatic scale, though both larger and smaller sets are sometimes found.-History and usage:Tone rows are the basis of...
played on the viola, and concludes with a long viola solo in the high register. The work also requires the players to tap on the bodies of their instruments with their bows at several points; such techniques had become almost commonplace in the West by this time, but were not typically used in Soviet music of this period.