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16 SHOSTAKOVICH
As if relivinghis past, the composer quotes his First, FifthandEighteenSymphonies,
his Piano Trio, his First Cello Concerto, and the opera
Lady Macbeth
. There are
also references to Wagner (Funeral March from
Götterdämmerung
), Tchaikovsky
(Symphony no.6), and the revolutionary song ‘Tortured to death in cruel captivity’.
Despite its apparently composite nature, the work is unbroken in its unity and
shows incredible dramatic force. Shostakovich subsequently pepperedmany of his
scores with quotations, thus delivering a coded message. And death continued to
haunt him: gradually he was losing all his friends, deported or dead.
The composer nevertheless concealed the exhibitionismof hisQuartet no.8 behind
a dedication - ‘to the victims of war and facism’ - that reflected the devastation of
his inner self.
The work was first performed on 2 October 1960 by the Beethoven Quartet.