String quartet No. 12 in F major "American", Op. 96, B. 179 - A. Dvorak's string quartet . Written in June 1893 (a draft for three days, from the 8th to the 10th, finished on the 23rd day), during the composer's stay in Spillville, Iowa , visiting the violinist Joseph Kovářik’s family. In Spilville, Dvorak played a quartet several times, taking for himself the part of the first violin and distributing the remaining parts among members of the Kovarzhik family. The first public performance took place on January 12, 1894 in Boston, as part of a program entirely composed of Dvorak's works and also including a quintet and sextet, played the Quanzel Quartet [1] .
The "American" quartet is one of the most popular works of Dvorak. According to the author himself, like his ninth symphony , it is based on American national music. Attempts were repeatedly made to isolate its elements from the quartet, but many musicologists consider such impulses to be mere speculation. The only unconditional reference to the American sound in the quartet is the sharp replicas of the first violin in the third movement, reproducing the singing of the American piranga birdie: the notation of its singing is in the Dvorak workbook [2] . Be that as it may, this quartet served as an example for the later works of American composers themselves.
Music
The quartet consists of four parts:
- I. Allegro ma non troppo.
- Ii. Lento.
- Iii. Molto vivace.
- Iv. Finale. Vivace ma non troppo.
Records
The “American” quartet is the most performed work by Dvorak in the field of chamber music . The number of his records is huge [3] .
Notes
- ↑ Twenty-five Years of Chamber Music // The New York Times , March 13, 1910
- ↑ Lucy Miller. Adams to Zemlinsky. - Concert Artists Guild, 2006. - p. 124. (eng.)
- ↑ Some of them are given, for example, here: http://www.antonin-dvorak.cz/smyccovy-kvartet12-nahravky
Notes
- String Quartet No. 12 by Antonin Dvorak: sheet music on the International Music Score Library Project