Dvořák / String Quartet No. 12 in F major, Op. 96 "American" (Cleveland Quartet)
2,071,573
Published 2013-01-05
String Quartet No. 12 in F major, Op. 96, B. 179 "American" (1893)
00:00 - Allegro ma non troppo
09:08 - Lento
16:14 - Molto vivace
20:00 - Finale. Vivace ma non troppo
Performed by the Cleveland Quartet (Telarc, 1991).
"From its first performance, Dvořák's 'American' Quartet has enjoyed lasting popularity for its tunefulness, its rhythmic verve, and its happy interplay of the four instruments. Given all the publicity afforded Dvořák's ideas on American music, one might reasonably ask just how 'American' Op. 96 really is. A theme in the third movement qualifies as having been borrowed from an American: 'a damned bird (red, only with black wings)' that kept singing where he was working. Dvořák worked the native bird's song into the scherzo (measures 21 and following). Beyond that we are on less firm ground. Many of the themes are entirely or nearly pentatonic, and some have wanted to see in this the influence of the black spiritual. But in fact Bohemian music is just as frequently pentatonic, and similar themes can be found in Dvořák's music long before he came to America. The opening of the work was based on Smetana's First Quartet, though Dvořák's mood is entirely different -- lighter and livelier throughout, with the poignant exception of the lyrical second movement, the plaintive melody of which -- echoed between violin and cello -- is a wonderful foil to the high spirits of the remaining three movements." - Steven Ledbetter
Painting: Airborne (1996), Andrew Wyeth
All Comments (21)
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Look at the nuts on that fella. Truly a majestic pair.
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perfectly chosen picture for this .
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Half of these comments are poetic about the music and the rest are: King Kong balls
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Look at the nuts… beautiful.
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"how could he be a brute beast if music could make him feel this way" - Kafka, The Metamorphasis
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Look at the knuts of this fella
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King kong balls acquired.
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The viola is such a beautiful instrument
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Reminds me of these huge, succulent, beautiful, round nuts
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love the viola solo in the beginning.
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I can see Dvorak on the train writing this quartet when I hear it, anyone else?
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Heard this on the radio for the first time today, gotta say I think it’s now one of my favourites
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THE SECOND MOVEMENT WAS STUCK IN MY HEAD AND NOW I FINALLY FOUND OUT THE NAME AND NOW I'M LISTENING FOREVER
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It's hard to describe why Dvorak's music is so resonant in the mind, why it has such the emotional impact that it does. I just know it must be some of the most beautiful music of all time.
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I don't think I've ever heard a passage in a piece of music as beautiful as the one at 1:31
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Each morning I completely immerse myself in this quartet. It has a seductively meditative title which I often ponder while taking a leisurely stroll down to the waterfront where I indiscriminately shoot seagulls with my custom AR-15. I find it helps me quell the unbelievable bloodlust this masterpiece inspires. This original oil on canvas by William Langley was commissioned in 1989 in order to commemorate a particularly productive morning in late July of that year. Pozdrav!
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This is a certified hood classic.
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I only got here for Greta Gerwig's 'Little women', but the whole quartet is captivating. Good cinema leads you to good music. This sublime piece is the proof of it, specially the second movement. God bless artists, in spite of all their human imperfection...
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Dvořák- The MASTER of melody
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why is it that schlatt of all people is the reason I'm here
