Dvořák’s fourteen string quartets cover most of his creative output – the first was written when he was just twenty-one and the 14th when he was fifty-four.
Like so many composers, Dvořák was a viola player, and so it’s hardly surprising that, from his very earliest compositions, his string writing is of a very high order. Here’s that first quartet:
00:00 Andante. Allegro
08:20 Adagio affettuoso ed appassionato
16:58 Allegro scherzando
22:13 Allegro animato
Influences? Schubert and Mendelssohn maybe, but there’s a very healthy dollop of Dvořák in there as well!
Compare that with his last published work for the medium (the 14th was actually published before it), the thirteenth quartet:
Allegro moderato – 0:00
Adagio ma non troppo – 9:15
Molto vivace – 19:29
Finale. Andante sostenuto — Allegro con fuoco – 25:52
It’s mature Dvořák at its best.
Maybe the first quartet is too overflowing with ideas and its shape doesn’t cohere well when compared to the later quartet, but it’s still a very fine piece of writing. And the 13th quartet? I would contend it’s among the finest works for the medium written in the second half of the 19th century.
What do you think?