Quartet in F major Op.96 "The American"
Allegro ma non troppo
Lento
Molto vivace
Vivace ma non troppo
Antonin Dvorak was at the peak of his career in his native Bohemia when, in 1891, he was invited to become Director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York. He held the position for three years, and his experience of the USA had a remarkable effect upon him. As an artist from the heart of the old European tradition, he found the "New World" fascinating and invigorating, but also strange. As a result, the string of masterpieces he created in the USA have been the object of constant discussion as to their style and musical origins. For years it was commonly accepted that Dvorak used traditional American melodies – African-American spirituals, and Native American dances – in his American works. The famous melody from the slow movement of his Ninth Symphony ("From the New World") was even later transformed into a spiritual, "Goin’ Home". More recently, opinion seems to have shifted to the view that Dvorák’s American works express his homesickness for Bohemia. This certainly seems to have been the case with his ‘Cello Concerto, which quotes poignant melodies dating from the composer’s youth. But the most accurate judgement seems to be that Dvorák was both fascinated by the USA and nostalgic for his homeland; and that the music he wrote under both these influences is above all quintessential Dvorák, some of the most intense and personal he ever wrote.
Dvorak wrote the "American" Quartet in June 1893, on holiday in the settlement of Spillville, Iowa – a colony of Bohemian immigrants, where he felt thoroughly contented and at home. For this reason, perhaps, the work seems perfectly poised in mood between "American" optimism and "Czech" nostalgia; its lively rhythms and rustic, folk-like harmonies are common to the traditional music of both countries. The Quartet is in the traditional four movements, opening with a sonata-form Allegro ma non troppo founded on a characterful syncopated melody for viola, Dvorák’s own instrument. The second movement, Lento, is based around a yearning lament, sung first by violin and later ‘cello over a quiet, rocking accompaniment. The third movement, Molto vivace, is a typically vigorous Dvorák scherzo, which alternates between the major and minor keys in the manner of Czech folk music. An insistent rhythm adds local colour; it is supposed to have been inspired by the song of a bird in the Iowa countryside. The lively finale, Vivace ma non troppo, swings along in irresistible high spirits. It pauses for reflection only briefly in a quiet, hymn-like episode which recurs towards the end of the movement and evokes the music of the Bohemian church in Spillville, in which the devout Dvorák was a keen participant. The Quartet was first performed in Boston on 10 January 1894, and has become one of the most popular of all string quartets. Ernst Heimeran, in The Well-Tempered String Quartet described it as "..the loveliest, most natural music that has been written for chamber performance since the middle of the last century".
R.G.Bratby, 1998
Copyright Classical Notes.co.uk 2000
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