Dmitrij Dmitrievič Šostakovič的第十五號交響曲研究

Abstract

Symphony No.15 in A major Op.141, the last symphony of Shostakovich (1906-1975), was composed in two months during the summer of 1971 in Repino. Shostakovich tried to reflect on his life through this purely instrumental symphony. In the first movement of the symphony, Shostakovich used a quote from Rossini’s Guillaume Tell Overture to recall the favorite music when he was a child, and to draw a sense of child-like innocence. The pitches‘D-S-C-H’ (D-E♭-C-B) from the composer’s signature, a theme used in the third movement here as elsewhere in his works. The 4th movement through the Fate leitmotif of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen implies the death was coming. The works of himself and other composers in 15th symphony can be the index of music language, which connect his perception and creative thinking in the late period. The first chapter of this thesis is a prolegomenon to the research. The second chapter is orientated to study the fifteen symphonies of Sostakovic and make an introduction of his symphonic output. The music analysis of 15th symphony is present in the third chapter. And then, the two chapters are focus on the aesthetic of quotations, and the meaning of‘D-S-C-H’ motive.