String Quartet No. 1 (Dvořák)

Background#

Dvořák’s fourteen string quartets cover the bulk of his composing career, from 1862 (No. 1) to 1895 (No. 14). The first string quartet was not his first chamber composition: he had written the String Quintet in A minor (Op. 1) in Summer 1861. In 1887 Dvořák decided to rework the long-forgotten quartet. He removed a good deal of what he by then considered to be unnecessary “filler” in the original version. The composition was dedicated to the director of Prague Conservatory, , who was Dvořák’s teacher of music theory at the Prague Organ School. No actual performance has been documented before 1888, when the revised version of the work was played at a concert of the (Arts Discussion Group) in the Rudolfinum in Prague. The players were members of the orchestra of the National Theatre: Karel Ondříček, Jan Pelikán, Petr Mareš and Alois Neruda.

Structure#

The work is composed in four movements: The approximate duration is 48 minutes. The strongest pointer to Dvořák’s future mastership is in the three-part trio section of the third movement, which is the forerunner of the many future furiants.

External links#

• “String Quartet No. 1”, antonin-dvorak.cz
• “String Quartet No. 1 in A major, Op. 2”, Bärenreiter