Romantic · 1893
String Quartet No. 12 'American' — 1st movement
A. DvořákOp. 96
- Key
- F
- Time
- C
- Tempo
- ♩=88
- AO focus
- AO3
Incipit
Form
Allegro ma non troppo — sonata form. Composed during Dvořák's three-year residency in the United States. Pentatonic main theme; uses spirituals and Native American melodic shapes Dvořák heard in Iowa.
Teaching points
- Pentatonic theme — the F-major opening uses only five notes, evoking American folk style
- Dvořák's American residency (1892-1895) — discuss his manifesto that American composers should look to African-American spirituals and Native American music for material
- AO1: standard university-level string quartet repertoire. Highly idiomatic for amateur quartets too
Full score ↓Public domain
Score: IMSLP (Simrock + Bärenreiter urtext, all public domain).