Two Pieces for String Quartet (1931c)
Elegy (Adagio)
Polka (Allegretto – Allegro)
It has always been a matter of some regret that Shostakovich the young Socialist Revolutionary never found representation within the canon of fifteen string quartets: by the time he wrote No.1, in 1938, he was already a mature and experienced composer who could boast an impressive catalogue of works, including two operas and five symphonies. Crucially, the modification of style proclaimed in the fifth symphony (1937) – which may or may not have been precipitated by the scathing official attack on the second of those two operas, Lady Macbeth of the Mtzensk District – had already occurred. In 1985, however, the Fitzwilliam Quartet received from VAAP – the USSR State Copyright Agency in Moscow – two interesting pieces which had only recently come to light. Dedicated to the J. Vuillaume Quartet, they are highly significant in that they pre-date Quartet No.1 by seven years. The opening of the first piece actually seems to anticipate the Romance in the second quartet (1944), with its slow moving harmony and Gymnopédie-like accompaniment. The music is identical to the aria “The foal runs after the filly”, which Katerina sings in her bedroom at the end of Act I of Lady Macbeth (this part of the opera was composed at much the same time as the quartet pieces: so which came first … ?). The Polka which follows is familiar in a number of different versions, but originates in his football inspired ballet The Golden Age (Op.22, 1930), where it represents the “Angel of Peace” in Act III. This is, of course, an extremely witty little number, with the solo xylophone part here transcribed for pizzicato violin.
These short pieces can hardly be rated as a revelatory preface to Shostakovich’s great cycle of string quartets; but to have any quartet music at all, from what was in many ways the most exciting and least known period of his career, was welcome indeed. Certainly an extra dimension was added to the repertoire, as well as the suggestion of a quartet sound for those years – and they have since proved themselves to be highly effective and entertaining, particularly as encore pieces.
© Alan George
