Shostakovich essay ideas and notes

Shostakovich Essay Questions

My bets for the “write a critical commentary/informative account” style essay, where you write everything you can remember about that section are:

·         The exposition in the first movement, bars 1-119

·         The development section of the first movement, bars 119-243

Organise your notes around the basic features of each section:

·         Exposition – first subject (D minor, but with Ebs disrupting the tonality), bridge, second subject (Eb minor at first, but constantly changing key), codetta, if there is one at bar 100, moving from Eb major to B minor (bar 106), closing on a discord (bar 107) which hints at Bb minor.

·         Development – which motives are being developed? How? Into which keys? What devices are used to develop the material? 1c turned into a threatening semitone figure at 119, hinting at Bb minor, while the horns play an augmented version of 1d 122. Trumpets enter in canon 132. 140 woodwind enter with 1d and race into dotted rhythm idea at 142 (bridge theme, bars 32-33). 154 piano enters with dominant pedal (A minor), adds Fs to create dissonance (156). 157 second subject now developed, transformed almost into march theme, with rhythmic values shorter (diminution). 165 1a enters, imitation between bassoons/cellos/basses and horns. Starker combination of 1a and 2 at 172. 176 1d hammered out in, woodwind in canon with strings. 188 ironic march, 1d in horns, distorted F major. I-V thumped out by timpani, as they will at the end of the symphony. 202 woodwind bridge theme. 1a at 204. 208 1d and 1a combine, both using diminution to create terrifying dissonances. 217 furious version of 1a, rising in sequences to crank up the terror. 220 trombones and tuba add 2^nd subject. 239 note A finally reached, as “home” dominant of D minor. Dramatic unison signals the start of the recap.

Don’t forget that if you use our terms 1a, 1c etc you will need to explain them. 1=first subject, a=first idea as first seen in bar 1, cellos and basses.

You might also be asked about structure – see my sheet on the structure of the 2^nd movement. If it helps, try to do one yourself for the other movements. If you can’t, ask me and I’ll do one for you, but it helps you more if you do it yourselves!

You might be asked about melodies (and therefore motives) – see my sheet on melodies.

Rhythm is another possibility, so here are some ideas on rhythm:

I

The first subject has 2 strong rhythmic ideas. The first (1a) is double-dotted. This, combined with a wide leap, gives the theme an energetic, aggressive bite. The second idea (1c) – 2 quavers and a crotchet on one note – occurs throughout the symphony, sometimes acting as a fateful motto (following the examples of Beethoven and Tchaikovsky), sometimes helping to unify melodic material.

The second subject uses longer note values and is therefore much calmer, but underneath the accompaniment pattern gently beats the 1c rhythm. Much use is made in the development section of augmentation, eg 1d at bar 208.

II

The triple metre creates a dance-like feel to this movement. (a) is a descending figure, based on 1d from the first movement (bar 6, 1^st violins). Here, instead of being a legato folk-like melody in 4/4, it has become a crude, almost grotesque dance. The crotchet rest in the first bar adds to the clumsy, lurching quality and the rhythm 1c from the 1^st movement is ever present (eg bar 3). Shifting accents in bars 41-44, disturb the metre, created a 2/4 hemiola.(c) (bar 45) has a descending, dotted figure which makes some attempt at gracefulness before rushing upwards in a semiquaver scale. (d) at bar 55 has strong, on the beat rhythms, which, in spite of the ¾ metre, sound like a march. 1c is again present, as it is in the trio theme (e) at bar 86. The use of the single note E here emphasises the rhythmic motto of 1c. Upward glissandi hint at a playful, Viennese waltz quality.

III

The slow movement uses rhythms which add to the legato nature – a 3 crotchet anacrusis, followed by long notes in the bass, with nothing faster than quavers in the melody. These quavers again form the 1c motive and occur on different beats in the bar – 1^st in bar 3, 2^nd in bar 4. These shifting patterns, along with notes tied across the barlines, create the feeling of a Russian folksong, which often has changes of metre. The idea at bar 24 again has 3 crotchets as an anacrusis to another crotchet and then the 1c rhythm. This idea, because of the tenuto markings, has a hesitant quality, a bleak, lamenting cry. The quickening of note values at bars 117-8 helps to build towards the climax at bar 121, where tremolandi, first on the piano and then in the clarinets, are heard.

IV

The first subject of the finale consists of 3 ideas. x has an anacrusis, followed by 3 rising crotchets. y mainly consists of rising quavers and includes a dotted rhythm. Z contains a descending 5 note figure, reminiscent of 1d, followed by another reference to 1c. The Rossini-like idea at bar 12 is accompanied by a quaver motor rhythm. The first appearance of the 2^nd subject at bar 81 is almost masked by swirling semiquavers. A more unadorned version appears at bar 126, where the melody uses long notes values in the way that the 2^nd subject of the 1^st movement does, to create a more lyrical and tranquil atmosphere. Augmentation is again used to develop material, for instance the use of x at bars 196-8. The symphony closes with many bold rhythmic ideas – repeated quavers as a dominant pedal, solid crotchets in the timpani and, at bar 348, final iterations of 1c, augmented, blazing out D major, either defiantly or ironically, according to your point of view!