From 1938, it collaborated closely with the composer Dmitri Shostakovich and premiered thirteen of his fifteen string quartets, Nos. 2 through 14.[3] He dedicated his third and fifth quartets to the Beethoven Quartet, while later quartets were dedicated individually to the members: Quartet No. 11 to the memory of Vasily Shirinsky, Quartet No. 12 to Tsyganov, Quartet No. 13 to Borisovsky, and Quartet No. 14 to Sergei Shirinsky.[3][4]
Fyodor Druzhinin took over from Borisovsky in 1964, giving a runthrough of the ninth quartet with the rest of the group.[2] Sergei Shirinsky died during rehearsals of Shostakovich's fifteenth quartet.[5] In 1977, final founding member and first violinist Dmitri Tsyganov departed and was replaced by Oleh Krysa. The group disbanded in 1987.[6][7]
^Lesser, Wendy (2011). Music for Silenced Voices: Shostakovich and His Fifteen Quartets. Yale University Press. Vasily's father had died shortly after he was born, and his mother, an accomplished Viennese pianist, soon married Shirinsky, who gave his last name to her infant son. Sergei was born a few years later.
^"Rijen Shostakovich Page". Archived from the original on 30 October 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-15. list of works by Shostakovich, with dedications where available, to consolidate this information in one place.
