About the Style of the “Military” Quartets by Mieczyslaw Weinberg

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Natalia L. Sokolvyak

Abstract

The article is devoted to the string quartets by Mieczyslaw Weinberg, the largest Russian
XX century composer, whose fate and creative work have recently been under the closest attention of the wide musical community not only in Russia, but also abroad. The Third, Fourth and Fifth Quartets, created during the Great Patriotic War, the author presents in the form of a quartet trilogy – a chamber and instrumental record of war years. It embodies the tragic beginning of reality through the prism of the artist’s subjective lyrics, who personally faced the war horrors. The article emphasizes the continuity of the three opuses artistic concepts, determines each of them role in a single dramaturgical line of cycles, reveals a complex of instrumental expressiveness means. It is noted that the lyric and dramatic Third Quartet acts as a kind of preamble to the acutely conflicted Fourth Quartet, which is among the most dramatic compositions by M. Weinberg.
The Fifth Quartet, with the absence of pronounced contrasts in it, the predominance of restrained movements and muted timbres is interpreted by the lyrical and philosophical epilogue of the quartet trilogy. Special attention is paid to the analysis of the wide range of the bow ensemble technical and expressive capabilities specifics.
It is summarized that in Weinbergʼs quartets written during the war years, the characteristic features of the composerʼs quartet style are refracted through the prism of their figurative and artistic content specifics. Each cycle unification through the continuous sound of individual parts, the lyrical figurative sphere primacy, the thematism genre nature, as well as the versatile development of string ensemble technical and expressive resources in the complex contributed to a deeply individual embodiment of military themes.


Keywords: Mieczyslaw Weinberg, string quartet, bow ensemble, quartet creation, the 20th century composer.

Article Details

How to Cite
Sokolvyak Н. Л. (2023). About the Style of the “Military” Quartets by Mieczyslaw Weinberg. Music Scholarship / Problemy Muzykal’noj Nauki, 52(3), 47–54. Retrieved from https://musicscholar.ru/index.php/PMN/article/view/1463
Section
Music of the XX–XXI Centuries
Author Biography

Natalia L. Sokolvyak, Magnitogorsk State M.I. Glinka Conservatory (Academy), Magnitogorsk, Russia

Ph.D. (Arts), Professor at the Orchestral String Instruments Department, Rector