SQ15 ... Hommage à DSCH (2021) for string quartet
by Thomas Oboe Lee
String Quartet - Digital Sheet Music

String Quartet String Quartet - Level 4 - Digital Download

SKU: A0.869862

Composed by Thomas Oboe Lee. 20th Century,Contemporary. Score and parts. 35 pages. Thomas Oboe Lee #6448257. Published by Thomas Oboe Lee (A0.869862).

Dmitri Shostakovich wrote 15 string quartets. As a tribute to him and his glorious music, my 15th string quartet is dedicated to his memory.

The first movement takes on a theme that Dmitri Shostakovich has used many times in his music, especially in his String Quartet No. 8 - the DSCH theme.  Bach actually came up with the idea.  In his Art of the Fugue, the letters in his name Bach is translated to the musical notes: Bb, A, C and B-natural.   Dmitri did the same, but in his case the notes are D, Eb, C and B.

My first movement begins with the 2nd violin playing an inversion of the DSCH theme: Eb, D, B and C.   Then the 1st violin enters with the original DSCH, which is eventually followed by the viola playing the same DSCH theme, but submerged in a fog of harmony.  The cello plays a pedal D … for Dimitri.

The idea for the second movement "Serenade" came from his SQ15, second movement, where the 2nd violin and the viola play a fortissimo quadruple stop pizzicati.  I coopted his 8-note chord but used only 6 of them for the ostinato pattern in my movement.  Incidentally, the publisher forgot to add an alto clef for the viola part …

The third movement in the "Nocturne" is a Largo in 5/4 that features the cello and the 1st violin.    It has nothing to do with DSCH’s music, except for the title.

The fourth movement is "Intermezzo."   Both this title and the previous "Nocturne" are from his SQ15.  But the motivic idea is actually something I "stole" from his SQ4, third movement.  In his case it is a repeated C and G in the 2nd violin and viola in 4/4 meter.   I kept the repeated G in the 2nd violin, but I altered the viola part and changed the meter to 3/4.   It doesn’t sound like DSCH at all.

The fifth movement theme is also an idea I grabbed from his SQ4, second movement: A dyad of F and Ab in 3/4, repeated, in an andante movement.   I used the same dyad, F and Ab, but slowed it down to a 6/4 and titled it "Trauer-Marsch" as DSCH did for the fifth movement of his SQ15.

The idea for my sixth movement is stolen from DSCH’s SQ2, third movement, which is titled "Valse."   The 2nd violin and viola play a persistent "pah-pah" of the usual Oom-pah-pah of a fast waltz.  That is what I used (not an uncommon device in all waltzes), but I altered the top line to something more interesting that  just repeating the same notes.  His waltz begins in Eb minor, but mine is in the relative major of Gb.

The last movement is the "Epilogue," as it is in DSCH’s SQ15.  The only thing I borrowed from his "epilogue" is the opening chord of an Eb minor triad.  The music that follows has nothing to do with DSCH.  Mine is a slow, evolving set of chord progressions that sounds like a dirge: gliding through the waters on a gondola in the canals of Venice on its way to Isola di San Michele.