String Quartet, Op. 106 No. 13 (Dvořák)
Movements
i Allegro moderato, ii Adagio ma non troppo, iii Molto vivace, iv Finale. Andante sostenuto – Allegro con fuoco
Notes
The String Quartet in G major was the first work to be written entirely in his native country once Dvořák had returned home from the United States, and thus heralds the final stage of the composer’s career. Together with the Quartet in A flat major, completed almost a month later, it is also his last composition in the field of absolute music. The quartet was not written immediately after his return in May 1895, but in the autumn of that year. What was, for Dvořák, an unusually long break from his compositional work – four months – was probably necessary after his demanding two-and-a-half years’ residency in the United States. The composer moved with his family from Prague to his summer house in Vysoká where, surrounded by nature, he was granted the respite that he needed. In a letter to his friend Alois Göbl, he writes: “I am basking in God’s nature and I am contentedly idle, I am not doing anything, which will probably surprise you, but it’s true, it really is, I’m just lazing around and I haven’t touched my pen.” During this period of apparent inactivity, however, he was mulling over the conception of two new works, the String Quartets in G major and A flat major. Dvořák then wrote the score for the Quartet in G major as if in one fell swoop, between 11 November and 9 December 1895.
