Conclusion of Bartok and Shostakovich Essay

One can speculate that the tragic personal experiences of the two composers, especially Shostakovich's, greatly affected the development of their compositional styles, possibly leading them both to write in a darker, more macabre style. An interesting connection between the two composers is that both had trouble getting performances of their works, largely because of government censorship. Much of Bartók and Shostakovich's music was not easily accepted at first. Bartók's famous Miraculous Mandarin was rejected because of its sexual content, and Stalin denounced Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth opera, effectively banning much of his music for a number of years. Sadly, Shostakovich and Bartók were never fully accepted in their native countries during their lives. Continuous rejection and pressure is what caused Bartók to emigrate to America in later life, and Shostakovich was so deeply disturbed by Totalitarian Russia, and the death and imprisonment of so many of his friends and family by Stalin, that he nearly committed suicide. Bartok’s Miraculous Mandarin was meant to depict the ugliness and chaos of the materialistic society in which he lived, a society marred by prostitution and violence. These and other factors contributed to Bartok’s declaration that the Miraculous Mandarin "will be hellish music if I succeed."
Although both quartets mentioned incorporate many of the same general musical elements; use of folk material, arch form, rhythmic ingenuity, each piece is distinctly Bartókian and Shostakovian respectively. The most striking difference between the two quartets is the way they end. Bartók's piece ends in a triumphant Allegro molto. Shostakovich on the other hand, ends his piece with a lamenting Largo. Though both composers were inclined to representing the darker side of human nature, in the case of these two string quartets, Shostakovich certainly “out-bluebeards” Bartók.
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