More Than a Key: An Analysis of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 8, Op. 65

Abstract

This thesis offers an analysis of the fifth movement Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 8, Op. 65. Although the work has been discussed in relation to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, Op. 67, no thorough analysis of the work had yet been completed. I argue that, while the key of C minor relates the two keys, the expressive genres of the two works differ, and that Shostakovich’s Eighth Symphony thus utilizes a different narrative than Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. I approach the fifth movement a discussion of the form, using James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy’s Sonata Theory. Sonata Theory offers a terminology to discuss the form, as well as a means of discussing formal deformations that are central to my narrative analysis of the work. I also incorporate Robert Hatten’s discussion of both the pastoral genre and expressive genres, which establish the final movement of Shostakovich’s Eighth Symphony as a pastoral. This leads to a comparison of the narrative implications of Shostakovich’s pastoral finale and Beethoven’s tragic-to-triumphant Fifth Symphony, and a discussion of the novel versus the epic, drawing on the work of Mikhail Bakhtin.