Terzetto in C major, Op.74 for 2 violins and viola.
Introduzione: Allegro, ma non troppo
Larghetto
Scherzo: Vivace
Tema con variazioni: Poco adagio – Molto allegro
"EMERGENCY NUMBER TWO – The cellist isn’t coming; the cello has been damaged as it was being brought in the bus.
A serious case but not quite hopeless. In the first place there is Dvorák’s Terzetto Op.74, a perfectly splendid, melodious and rich-sounding work."
Ernst Heimeran: The Well-Tempered String Quartet
Such has been the fate of Dvorák’s Terzetto. While the majority even of Dvorák’s string quartets are still too little-known, the composer has compounded the problem by pouring some of his loveliest music into works of unusual form (the "Cypresses" for string quartet) or unusual instrumentation (the Bagatelles Op.47 for two violins, cello and harmonium) – thus guaranteeing that it would be performed rarely, if ever. And so with the Terzetto we have the problem of a beautiful and inspired piece of music written for a combination of instruments that generally occurs only when a string quartet misplaces its cellist!
The loss is all ours, as the Terzetto dates from the peak of Dvorák’s career. With performances abroad and at home, and constant pressure for new works from his publisher Simrock, his own success seems briefly to have got on top of him. In January 1887, having despatched a new set of Slavonic Dances (Op.72) to Simrock, he put aside a request from the Birmingham Festival (they suggested an oratorio on Newman’s "Dream of Gerontius"…) and looked closer to home. He started something for himself to play with Josef Kruis, an amateur violinist who shared his house in Prague, and his teacher Jan Pelikán. The piece that resulted is thus in no sense a "cello-less quartet"; conceived from the start for just these three instruments, its melodies and textures are tailored to their characters, and the individual lines are written with the sensitivity and sympathy of a composer who was himself a viola player. At this point in his career Dvorák was incapable of writing uninspired music, and so we have sweetly lyrical first and second movements that evoke both domestic intimacy and the peace of the Bohemian countryside, a folk-dance scherzo featuring the distinctive cross-rhythms of the Czech Furiant, and a meditative, rather serious variation-finale, ending in a melancholy C minor.
It seems that the Terzetto proved too difficult for Kruis, who was, after all, a chemistry student rather than a professional violinist, and Dvorák instead wrote four rather simpler Bagatelles (Op.75a) for the trio, leaving the Terzetto to a future of infrequent professional performances and unprepared run-throughs when amateur quartet-cellists fail to show up. That it deserves better should, we hope, be abundantly clear today; there is everything to enjoy in this intimate and lovingly crafted portrait of the composer at home with friends.
R.G.Bratby, 2001
Copyright Classical Notes.co.uk 2000
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