String Quartet No. 12 (Shostakovich)

Dmitri Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 12 in D-flat major, Op. 133, was composed in 1968. It is dedicated to Dmitri Tsyganov, the first violinist of the Beethoven Quartet, which premiered the work in Moscow on June 14.

Structure

The work lasts approximately 26 minutes and is in two movements:

1. Moderato — Allegretto — Moderato — Allegretto — Moderato
2. Allegretto — Adagio — Moderato — Adagio — Moderato — Allegretto

The piece contains twelve-tone elements, such as the opening in the cello:

Opening of the first movement in the cello () outlines a tone row:
C F C♭ B♭ D G G♭ E♭ F♭ B A♭ D♭

References

Notes

Sources

• Whittall, Arnold (2008). The Cambridge Introduction to Serialism. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-68200-8.

External links

• Cummings, Robert. "String Quartet No. 12 in D flat major, Op. 133". AllMusic.
• Fanning, David (2012). The Soviet Experience: Volume III (PDF) (CD). Cedille Records. CDR 90000 138.
• Griffiths, Paul (2012). "Quartet No. 12 in D-flat major for Strings, Op. 133". The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Archived from the original on 2015-01-01.
• Harris, Stephen (2014). "Shostakovich: the string quartets, Quartet No. 12". Shostakovich: the string quartets.
• Parloff, Michael (25 March 2013). "Lecture on Shostakovich Quartets Nos. 1, 5, 6, & 12". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-19.