1. Moderato
2. Allegretto–Adagio–Allegretto

Shostakovich completed his Twelfth Quartet on 11 March 1968 and the same day he wrote to Dmitri Tsyganov, first violinist of the Beethoven Quartet, which had, since 1938, worked very closely with the composer, and given the first performances of all his quartets apart from the first. In his letter to Tsyganov, Shostakovich wrote: ‘Tomorrow is your sixtieth birthday. I have just completed a quartet and I ask you not to refuse the honour of accepting my dedication to you.’ This quartet is cast in two movements which demonstrate the composer’s increasing fascination with incorporating twelve-tone techniques into his musical language, while remaining anchored in traditional keys: Shostakovich himself described the work as being in D flat major. The opening Moderato begins with a ghostly cello theme which opens with a 12-note row, but this immediately resolves on to the home key of D flat. Much of the musical argument in this movement involves finding ways of reconciling the tension between atonal themes and conventional tonality. The writing is often sparse, and the opening idea is contrasted with a rather nervous and tortured waltz-like second theme. There is a sense of the composer relishing the creative challenges posed by using elements of twelve-tone writing, and of finding ways to subsume those techniques into his own musical language. This becomes even more apparent in the very expansive second movement. The result has been described by Elizabeth Wilson as music of ‘unrelenting force and intensity’; and to create this extraordinary movement, Shostakovich made extreme demands on his players: not only in terms of technical virtuosity but also the range of colours and effects required.  

Any kind of overt espousal of twelve-tone techniques was likely to attract the wrong kind of attention from the authorities: the Soviet position on the Second Viennese School was hostile. Probably feeling the need to forestall official criticism, Shostakovich explained his intentions in an article about the new work, writing that ‘if a composer sets himself the aim of writing purely dodecaphonic music at all costs, then he is artificially limiting himself. But using elements of this system can be fully justified when dictated by the actual compositional concept.’  

Shostakovich was particularly pleased with what he had achieved in this remarkable quartet. He told Tsyganov that it worked ‘splendidly’, and that it was ‘more of a symphony than a chamber work.’ The private premiere was given by the Beethoven Quartet on 14 June 1968 at the USSR Composers’ Club in Moscow, followed by the official first performance at the Moscow Conservatory a few months later, on 5 November 1968. On that occasion, Shostakovich presented Tsyganov with the autograph manuscript.   

Nigel Simone 2025