held in the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, as thousands passed his coffin. Allegretto — Adagio The piece's fourth and final movement begins in E major and transitions to E minor. Staccato repeated notes begin this "Dance of Death" movement, which introduces a Jewish-style melody, and revisits the thematic content of the previous three movements. It ends in a tortured E major chord, almost inaudibly. The Jewish melody from this last movement was quoted in Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 8. Ian MacDonald says in his book The New Shostakovich that the movement was inspired by the composer's horror at reports that SS guards in Nazi death camps had forced Jews to dance by their own graves. Recordings References Citations Notes Sources Books Articles Program Notes Recordings Further reading Chamber music by Dmitri Shostakovich Shostakovich 2c 1944 compositions Funerary and memorial compositions Death in music Compositions in E minor