The cantabile Andante is a portrayal of the people's painful life under Russian rule. It expresses a gloomy and suffocating atmosphere and depressed emotions with slow lyric folk songs. When playing, all four stringed instruments were muted, and the music seemed dull and sad. 1876, Tolstoy, a great Russian writer, listened to this string quartet at a special concert held in his honor by Moscow Conservatory of Music, and was deeply moved by the second movement "Andante Cantabile", especially, tears hung all over his cheeks. He said that in his works, "he touched the souls of people who suffered", which fully affirmed the composer's profound insight and understanding of the times, life and art.