Dvořák: String Quartet No. 4 in E Minor

Description

String quartet compositions are among the most frequent of Dvořák's early works. The String Quartet in A major from March 1862 is followed by a trio of works set in B-flat major, D major and E minor, written sometime around 1869-71. When Dvořák returned to his older works in later times, his manuscript list placed these quartets among the works he had destroyed. Mayhap he did so with the sketches or scores. However, Dvořák's handwritten copies of the parts survived apparently thanks to the director of the Prague Conservatory Antonín Bennewitz, first violinist of the well-known string quartet. Dvořák might have given him the pieces for a performance that, as far as we know, did not take place. Dvořák, who was at the time still a violist at the Provisional Theatre, was greatly enthused by the compositional methods of Wagner, and these inspirations are reflected in the String Quartet in E Minor.