Violin Concerto No. 1 (Shostakovich) - Analysis

Analysis

The First Violin Concerto is not only a major individual accomplishment from Shostakovich but it is also a major contributor to the form of the violin concerto in its four-movement form.

Because of the delay in its premiere, it is unknown whether or not the concerto was composed before the Tenth Symphony (1953). While the Symphony is generally thought to have been the first work that introduces Shostakovich's famous DSCH motif, it is possible that the First Violin Concerto was actually the first instance of the motif. The letters DSCH are arranged in a German 'spelling' of the composer's initials on the staff in an inversion of a tetrachord and are usually arranged as close together pitch-wise as possible. It appears in the Violin Concerto's second movement . Shostakovich uses this theme in many of his works to represent himself.

The Concerto is symphonic in form, adopting the four movements from the symphony and adopting the programmatic movement titles from Brahms. The first movement, a nocturne, is, formally speaking, an elaboration on a fantasy form. The violin solo is prefaced by a brief orchestral interlude that serves to propose the melodic sentence upon which the violin solo later meditates, adding rhythmic and melodic motifs as the movement goes on. The movement starts pianissimo, and by the time it reaches its first dynamic peak, all of the substantial melodic and rhythmic information has already been presented.

The second movement is the diabolic scherzo, featuring uneven metric stresses set against a steady rhythmic pulse. The solo violin in this movement has the freedom to be wildly virtuosic, and much of the movement, due to its upbeat tempo (when played at the metronome marking Shostakovich suggests, as Oistrakh does in his recordings, the movement remains true to its name, jokingly upbeat) and rhythmic plays, seems to be derived from popular folk or peasant music. It is a complexly naïve movement: the mechanical feel of the rhythmic pulse, the support beam for the entire movement, suggest the Russian peasant, while the exhibitionism in the solo violin is anything but simple. This peasant motif will be later explored in the finale, where it is presented more obviously, without the fireworks of the solo layered on top of it, but less convincingly, for the same reason.

The Passacaglia, perhaps the most famous movement of the concerto, is quite the opposite of the lively Scherzo, but it serves to reinstate melody to the concerto. The Nocturne and the Passacaglia are related not only in speed and length but also in melodic growth and symphonic quality. The Passacaglia has the most emotional depth of the entire concerto and allows for much expression on the part of the soloist. This movement ends in an exceptionally long cadenza which also allows for exceptional emotional quality and leads seamlessly into the Burlesque finale.