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Dmitri Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 10 in A-flat major, Op. 118, was composed from 9-20 July, 1964. It was premiered by the Beethoven Quartet in Moscow and is dedicated to composer Mieczysław (Moisei) Weinberg, a close friend of Shostakovich. It has been described as cultivating the uncertain mood of his earlier Stalin-era quartets.

The work has four movements: 1. Andante

2. Allegretto furioso

3. Adagio (attacca)

4. Allegretto — Andante

Playing time is approximately 22 minutes.

I. Andante
The first movement is in sonata-rondo form and makes use of soft dynamics. Opening with a four-note motif on solo violin, the movement is largely written in E minor, a minor sixth away from the main key of Ab major. It also features sul ponticello playing, an extended technique involving use of the upper harmonics of the strings, and makes use of an anapest rhythm which recurs throughout Shostakovich’s oeuvre. A typical performance takes around 5 minutes .The movement contains a derivation of Shostakovich’s ‘musical signature’, DSCH, a cryptogram of the composer’s name using the German lettering system.

II. Allegretto furioso
The second movement is in E minor and makes extensive use of the Locrian mode. A typical performance takes around 5 minutes.

III. Adagio (attacca)
The third movement is written in A minor, a semitone away from the tonic Ab major. It employs the passacaglia form, which is frequently used in Shostakovich’s music and has been described as an example of the influence of Baroque period composition on his work. The movement is marked attacca, indicating an attacking, accented playing style. A typical performance takes around 7 minutes.

IV. Allegretto – Andante
The fourth movement is continuous from the third, played with no pause in between. It is written in Ab major, the tonic key of the work. It also employs D minor, creating dissonance a tritone away from the tonic. It is written in sonata rondo form. In this movement, the themes of each of the preceding three movements are heard again, against the new ‘rondo’ theme. A typical performance takes around 9 minutes. The DSCH cryptogram also returns in this movement.

Composition
The string quartet was dedicated to Polish composer Mieczysław Weinberg, a close friend and pupil of Shostakovich. The composers had a mutually influential relationship, as well as a degree of rivalry, which, in part, motivated the dedication. In 1964, Shostakovich wrote:"‘[Weinberg] wrote nine quartets and with the last of them overtook me, since at the time I only had eight. I therefore set myself the challenge of catching up and overtaking Weinberg, which I have now done.’"The string quartet is written in the traditional four movements, unlike Shostakovich’s other quartets at the time, which deviated from tradition by using a variety of movement structures. Its juxtaposition of chromatic and triadic melodies has been noted for its similarity to his Eighth String Quartet, and the melody in the first movement has been said to recall the theme of the first movement of his Fifth Symphony. The structure of the quartet, particularly its combination of calm, relatively quiet introduction and fast, urgent second movement resembles his Tenth Symphony (Macdonald, 1990). Its melodies have been described as emblematic of Shostakovich’s preference for intervals such as the major and minor third.

Featuring more minims and semibreves than any of the composer’s previous work, it anticipates an interest in silence and slow development that characterises the composer’s late period. Its extensive use of glissandi, sforzandi, and oscillating semitones has also been described as emblematic of his late style. It employs the rhythm of the ‘betrayal’ motif from Shostakovich’s opera, Lady Macbeth.

The work was composed over ten days at the Dilijan Composers’ Retreat in Armenia.

Some of Shostakovich’s works at the time had been subject to condemnation by the Communist Party. Opera Katerina Ismaelova was a 1962 revision of Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, which had been banned by the Communist government in 1936. Because of this controversy, it premiered with no publicity. Similarly, his Thirteenth Symphony was censored for its sympathy to the Jewish survivors of the Babi Yar massacres. Ian MacDonald wrote that an attitude of ‘disgust’ to this reception shaped the ‘puritanical fury’ found in the Tenth String Quartet.

Reception
Its anxious mood has also been linked to Shostakovich’s declining physical health at the time of composition. Its sparseness has also been suggested to in part result from his health issues and a consequent inability to handwrite complex lines.

Approaches which view the work through the lens of Shostakovich’s health or relationship to the government have been described as reductive, such as by critic Thomas May, who wrote that this criticism ‘tends to obscure the musical and artistic experience’ and doesn’t account for the ‘profound sense of ambivalence’ the work contains in spite of its aggressive moments.The quartet has also been interpreted as a representation of the struggle between evil, represented by the theme of the second ‘furioso’ movement, and human emotions. In this interpretation, the lack of this theme in the fourth movement, where all the other themes are restated, symbolises the possibility of overcoming evil. This interpretation has, however, also been criticised as reductive. The quartet’s similarity in structure and melodies to other Shostakovich works has led some critics to describe it as a relatively insignificant composition, such as Ian MacDonald, who wrote in The New Shostakovich that it lacks ‘the depth or breadth of [its] finest predecessors’.

Influence
The work was arranged for orchestra by Rudolf Barshai in his ‘Symphony for Strings’ and a reduction for four hands piano was arranged by Anatoli Dmitriev.

Performances and recordings
The work was premiered by the Beethoven Quartet in Moscow in 1964. Following this, it was premiered in the UK by the Alberni Quartet in 1966. Over twenty recordings of the work have been made, the first by the Weller Quartet in 1965. These also include recordings by the Borodin, Beethoven, and Fitzwilliam Quartets, ensembles whom Shostakovich knew and worked with.