The work grows from a five note motif: C, D, E flat, B and C sharp, which contains the four pitch-classes of the composer's musical monogram: DSCH (E flat being S and B being H in German). This motif appears in a number of his other string quartets, including the Eighth, as well as his Tenth Symphony.

Date of composition 1952
Premiered November 1953 in Saint Petersburg, Russia
Dedicated to Dedicated to Beethoven Quartet
Type String Quartet
Tonality B-flat Major
Catalogue Op. 92
Approx. duration 30 minutes
Instruments String Quartet
Autotranslations beta Dmitri Chostakovitch: Quatuor à cordes n°5 en si bémol majeur, Op. 92
Dmitrij Šostakovič: Quartetto d'archi n. 5 in si bemolle maggiore, Op. 92
Dmitri Dmitrijewitsch Schostakowitsch: Streichquartett Nr. 5 B-dur, Op. 92