The Fifteenth Quartet consists entirely of six Adagio movements, all in the funereal key of E flat minor, with titles like 'Elegy' and 'Funeral March' indicating the theme of death.
Composer Biography
Dmitri Shostakovich, the composer, continued to compose even as his health drastically deteriorated, learning to write with his left hand when his right failed him.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Shostakovich had planned to compose a cycle of twenty-four string quartets, one in every key, but died before he could complete it.
Compositional Technique
In the Fifteenth Quartet's Serenade movement, 'screaming crescendos' form a twelve-note row that spells out the combined monograms of BACH and DSCH (Dmitri Shostakovich's initials).
Composition History
Shostakovich's last three string quartets, written between 1970 and 1974, were composed while he was preoccupied with thoughts of his own mortality.
Composition History
Shostakovich began his Fourteenth Quartet during a visit to Benjamin Britten in the UK, where they shared their works-in-progress.
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