The String Quartet No. 8 by Dmitri Shostakovich was written during three days (July 12–14) in 1960. It is in the key of C minor. Dmitri Dmitrievich Shostakovich   listen? (Russian: , Dmitrij Dmitrievič Å ostakovič) (September 25, 1906 – August 9, 1975) was a Russian composer of the Soviet period. ... July 12 is the 193rd day (194th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 172 days remaining. ... July 14 is the 195th day (196th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 170 days remaining. ... 1960 was a leap year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... In music theory, the key identifies the tonic triad, the chord, major or minor, which represents the final point of rest for a piece, or the focal point of a section. ...

The piece was written shortly after two traumatic events: the composer's diagnosis with myelitis, and his joining the Communist Party. According to the score, it is dedicated "to the victims of fascism and war"; his son, Maxim, interprets this as a reference to the victims of all totalitarianism, while his daughter Galina says that he dedicated it to himself, and that the published dedication was imposed by the authorities. Shostakovich's friend, Lev Lebedinsky, said that Shostakovich thought of the work as his epitaph and that he planned to commit suicide around this time. The work is one of his most private; he described it as "an ideologically deficient quartet nobody needs." Myelitis is a human disease involving swelling of the spinal cord, which disrupts central nervous system functions linking brain and limbs. ... The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Russian: Коммунисти́ческая Па́ртия Сове́тского Сою́за = КПСС) was the name used by the successors of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party from 1952 to 1991, but the wording Communist Party was present in the partys name since 1918 when the Bolsheviks became the All... Fascism (in Italian, fascismo), capitalized, was the authoritarian political movement which ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943 under the leadership of Benito Mussolini. ... An act of war - the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan during World War II War is a state of widespread conflict between states, organisations, or relatively large groups of people, which is characterised by the use of lethal violence between combatants or upon civilians. ... Totalitarianism is a typology employed by political scientists to describe modern regimes in which the state regulates nearly every aspect of public and private behavior. ... Suicide (from Latin sui caedere, to kill oneself) is the act of willfully ending ones own life; it is sometimes a noun for one who has committed or attempted the act. ...

The work was written in Dresden, where Shostakovich was to write music for the film Five Days, Five Nights, a joint Cold War propaganda project by Russian and East German filmmakers. The quartet, extremely compact and focused, is in five interconnected movements and lasts twenty minutes: Brühls Terrace Brühlsche Terrasse and the Frauenkirche   Dresden[?] IPA: is the capital city of the German federal state of Saxony, is situated in a valley on the river Elbe. ...

1. Largo
2. Allegro molto
3. Allegretto
4. Largo
5. Largo

The first movement opens with the DSCH motif which was Shostakovich's musical signature. DSCH is a musical motif used by the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich to represent himself, in the manner of the BACH motif of Johann Sebastian Bach. ...

The work is filled with quotes of other pieces by Shostakovich: the first movement quotes his Symphony No. 1 and Symphony No. 5; the second movement uses a Jewish theme first used by Shostakovich in his Piano Trio No. 2; the third movement quotes the Cello Concerto No. 1; and the fourth movement quotes the 19th century revolutionary song "Tormented by Grevious Bondage" and Shostakovich's opera, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. The Symphony No. ... The Symphony No. ... The word Jew (Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity; and often a combination of these attributes. ... The Cello Concerto No. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (Леди Макбет Мценского уезда in Russian, Ledi Makbet Mtsenskovo Uyezda in transliteration) is an opera in four acts by the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich to a Russian libretto by Alexander Preis and the composer, inspired by and named after the famous story by Nikolai Leskov. ...

Further reading

• Ardov, Michael; Memories of Shostakovich; Short Books 2004. ISBN 190409564X
• Fay, Laurel; Shostakovich: A Life; Oxford University Press 1999. ISBN 0195134389