12th string quartet (Dvořák)

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The Quartet in F major for two violins, viola and violoncello op. 96 ( B 179), called the "American", wrote Antonín Dvořák between June 8th and 25th, 1893 in Spillville , USA , where he spent his holidays as Director of the New York National Conservatory of Music of America , where he worked from 1892 to 1895. As he noted on the score autograph, it is his second composition in America.

In the quiet of the rural nature of Spillville, which stood in stark contrast to the previous experiences of the American city, this string quartet testifies to Dvořák's impressions of a special intimacy and at the same time extraordinary joy and blaze of color.

The quartet is already characterized by the “American” impact of thoughts ( pentatonic , dotted and syncopated rhythms, etc.) and the very clear, plastic and relatively simple formal arrangement with the 9th symphony op. 95 “From the New World” that Dvořák already did in May 1893 in New York .

The work was premiered on January 1, 1894 in Boston by the "Kneisl Quartet" (Frank Kneisl, Otto Roth, Louis Svěcenski, Alwin Schroeder).

It was published by Simrock in Berlin in 1894.

A performance of the work lasts about 25 minutes.

History of origin

Dvořák wrote the quartet, as did the quintet in E flat major op. 97 , in 1893 during his summer stay in the small community of Spillville in the mid-western US state of Iowa . In his function as director of the New York National Conservatory, he was invited by the predominantly Czech-born residents to spend the summer with his compatriots.

The sketch was written from June 8th to 10th, 1893. Under the last system of the sketch, Dvořák noted: Thank God. I am happy. It went quickly.
The score of the first movement was written from the 12th to the 15th, the second from the 15th to the 17th, the third to the 20th and the fourth from June 20th to 25th, 1893.

Sentence descriptions

1st movement: Allegro ma non troppo

F major, 4/4 time

The most important function in the first movement is the loosely arranged main theme , which comes into its own thanks to its rhythmic diversity in the motivic typesetting. It is initially performed solo by the viola , accompanied only by tremolating chords in the two violins and a sustained F in the cello . Then it is repeated by the violins. The subsequent transitional episode, which is developed from the final motivic element of the theme, leads to the main theme that sounds again, this time modulating into the key of the secondary theme, A minor . This two-part new theme is characterized by the reduced 7th degree, as well as an organ point in the viola and hard, empty fifth pizzicati in the violoncello. At this point, the basic expression of the sentence starts to move somewhat, but it calms down again immediately to flow into the melodic closing theme. The repeated exposure is followed by the implementation , which mainly deals with the main topic. At the end of the developmental part, a small-scale canon develops , the energetic theme of which has its origin in the secondary theme. The recapitulation is introduced by a fragment of the main theme repeated in ostinat ; in addition, a new melodic variant of the final theme sounds in the cello. The conclusion of the sentence begins calmly and seriously, but then leads to a dialogue between two sections of the main topic and ends in a very energetic conclusion.

2nd movement: Lento

D minor , 6/8 time

The very intimate second movement is almost entirely carried by a monotonous ascending and descending figure. A calm 8-bar period develops over it, which also forms the thematic core of the movement. First it is played by the violins, followed by the cello. In the further course in the first violin a chant develops based on the penultimate pair of bars of the main idea, which is even more dramatic due to the initial counter-melody in the second violin. Then, however, both voices unite in a duel that determines the entire middle section of the movement. It develops into a modification of the main theme and increases its expression to infinite longing, combined with a great deep inner feeling of happiness. At the end, the main theme sounds one last time on the violoncello, accompanied by measured pizzicati from the other instruments. The viola, which accompanies the last part of the violoncello phrase with a tremolo , closes the movement with an upward semitone step.

3rd movement: Molto vivace

F major, 3/4 time

This short and simple bagatelle is also developed from a single topic. It is characterized by a lively, rhythmically concise antecedent and a gently swaying trailer. The Spillville-born violinist Josef Jan Kovařík, with whom Dvořák stayed during his stay in America, reports that the composer stated during a rehearsal of the quartet that he heard the melody from a bird while strolling around Spillville. After the scheme ababa alternate in variation moderate significantly different paragraphs amendment two from each other. The first section is characterized by the diverse grouping of the rhythmic elements of the theme, especially its straight bars. In the second section, which is in F minor , the augmented antecedent of the theme runs through all voices unchanged as a cantus firmus and is alternately played around by a double counterpoint melody.

4th movement: Finale: Vivace ma non troppo

F major, 2/4 time

The final rondo is in the form of abacaba and is almost completely pervaded by a concise rhythm. First he is presented in chords by second violin and viola, accompanied by pizzicati in the cello. Then the first violin prepares the actual introduction of the theme in bar 33 through laborious and lengthy rhythmic play. The 16-bar theme closes with rhythmically hard beats in A minor (when it returns in C major). Suddenly there is a change to A flat major , which is not prepared by a modulation. Over the continuous rhythm of the main theme, the second theme spreads out in the violins, sometimes in thirds and sixths . After the main theme sounds again, the movement modulates in D flat major . A short chorale-like imitation develops in the pianissimo in a quiet timeframe . After the violins, the cello repeats the theme, accompanied by figurations that have rhythmic references to the main theme. This small intermezzo is followed by a repetition of the first 3 parts, in which a tonal shift to D flat major expands the harmonic expression of the themes. The sentence ends in high spirits with quotations from the main topic.

literature

  • Peter Jost, A Bohemian in America: Does Dvořák's F major string quartet have the wrong accents? . Munich, Henle-Verlag, November 9, 2015 ( online )

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