Mieczyslaw Weinberg was born in Warsaw. In Poland, he first studied piano with Józef Turczynski before moving to the Soviet Union in 1939. He continued his studies at the Minsk Conservatory with Vassily Solotaryov until 1941, came to Moscow in 1943 and graduated from the composition class of Dmitri Shostakovich there.

Weinberg wrote his 13th String Quartet in 1977. After his Twelfth Quartet (1969-70), the composer took a break from this genre in order to dedicate himself to four operas, three...