String Sextet in A major, Op.48
Allegro moderato
Dumka (Elegie): Poco allegretto
Furiant: Presto
Finale (Tema con variazioni): Allegretto grazioso, quasi andantino
"[Dvorák’s Sextet] is endlessly beautiful; I always have the feeling that people don’t admire this piece enough. This splendid invention, freshness, and sonorous beauty…"
Johannes Brahms, in a letter to Richard Heuberger, 1896
Dvorák’s String Sextet predates the Terzetto by just under a decade, and was the first of his chamber works to become famous beyond Bohemia. In May 1878 he was in the first flush of professional success, newly signed to Simrock and finally creating freely in the personal yet national idiom he had worked so hard to achieve. He had begun his first set of Slavonic Dances (Op.46) that March, and the worldwide success which greeted their publication the following November meant that demand for his music was high. The Sextet came in the same surge of inspiration and was rapidly seized upon by players and audiences – perhaps hearing more what they expected to hear than what was actually played - as a typically "Slavonic" work. Impressed by Brahms’ repeated and generous recommendations, the great violinist Joachim led the first performance of the Sextet on November 9 1879 at his own house in Berlin, as part of a private concert in Dvorák’s honour. The evening, which also included a performance of the string quartet in E flat (Op.51), was a triumph and the Sextet was instantly taken up across Europe, receiving two London performances in front of sizeable audiences the following spring.
The Sextet has continued to hold its place in the repertoire - while it was later displaced in popularity (like far too much of Dvorák’s chamber music) by the "American" String Quartet (Op.96) it is still one of the most frequently-played works in the admittedly small repertoire for six strings. The six-player ensemble is notoriously difficult for a composer to balance. Cloying textures and "noisy" over-writing are easy traps for the inexperienced, and Brahms’ comment reflects as much his respect for Dvorák’s technical prowess in avoiding them as admiration at the quality of his inspiration. His own two Sextets (Op.18, 1860 and Op.36,1865) provided Dvorák with excellent models in this regard; however, the veteran viola-player Dvorák had an innate feeling for string writing – and, what is more, had nine string quartets to his credit before he even started work on the Sextet. This shows from the very opening bars; the warm, euphonious ensemble sound sets the tone for the whole work. The first subject group is predominantly songlike (some commentators have compared it to Schubert), and only after the first climax, in which dotted-rhythm figures cascade through the texture, does the music take on a more dance-like character. Dvorák develops his material at some length in the remainder of this expansive and sunny movement. He dubs the slow movement Dumka (Elegie). The Dumka is a Ukrainian dance, used by Dvorák in many of his chamber works but this movement, although beautifully written and certainly melancholy in mood, is very different from the Slav laments to which he usually gave this title, and lacks the sharply contrasting fast sections which usually characterise his dumky. It is more reminiscent of the scherzo in Brahms’ second Sextet, and has a hint of polka rhythm about it. Likewise the Furiant that follows completely lacks the typical cross rhythms of this Czech dance and is simply a brilliant triple-time scherzo and trio. Perhaps with these two movements Dvorák is gently mocking those – Simrock prime amongst them – who expected him simply to turn out an endless stream of Slavonic Dances. As if to demonstrate that he had no shortage of wholly original ideas, he begins the Finale with a whimsical theme that wavers between the keys of A major and B minor. From this he creates a sequence of five variations; these are rounded off with a stretto in which he finally unleashes the string sextet’s potential for sheer volume and brings the work to a close in vigorous high-spirits.
R.G.Bratby, 2001
Copyright Classical Notes.co.uk 2000
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