Dvorak celebrated "American" quartet is one of 15 that remain popular to this day on chamber music performance programs. Dvorak's writing seems to make not only string players happy but also audiences! The "Amercian" is no exception to this rule. You can read about the details of its composition and the context in which it evolved here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_Quartet_No._12_(Dvo%C5%99%C3%A1k) For me one of the most fun things about this writing is the way Dvorak makes folk music not just a matter of quoting then "popular" tunes but the way the style of the music overall absorbs and develops the ideas in those tunes. The result is a performance opportunity that beckons not ony accomplished classical violinist, but also draws those who have a solid bacground as fiddle players in. Of this piece, Madoc Quartet's Sebastian Sallans says, "I love playing it in Madoc and Centre Hastings because I can play the parts that cry out to be played like fiddle music like fiddle music! Everyone loves it and so does the music itself. Sometimes clsasical violinists don't quite feel comfortable with that style of playing, but I do, So do our rural audiences, and, I think, also so would Dvorak!" Pay attention in the last movement: If you listen with open ears, focussing on the 2nd violin and viola part you will hear the chugga chugga of the train Dvorak used to travel the country when he visited America. At least that's what some listeners hear! That's the beauty of art: so much comes to each listener that is unique to their own experience that transcends description. Yet we all come away from it's live performance having shared a common encounter with drama, joy, sadness, beauty that rings in our hearts as one experience, regardless of what the sound conjures for each of us.
Comments