Rhetorical Analysis Benchmarks in the First Part of Shostakovich’s Quartet no. 8

Abstract

Quartet No. 8 in C minor, op.110 is perhaps the most appropriate direct testimony of the composer, having a special status among his 15 quartets, which he acquired both through the prism of the conjuncture in which it was conceived, as well as through the symbolic charge of the self-readings in its content. We will assume a rhetorical perspective over the opening part of this work, in order to trace, at the level of the score, the immediate manifestation of the composer’s intimate persona through scientific means of classification.