Antonín Dvořák composed his string quartet number 6 in A minor, B. 40 Op. 12. in November and December 1873, finishing it on 5/12/1873. He later revised it, but at this stage left the work unfinished. After a reconstruction by Jarmil Burghauser, with minimal additions, a first recording was made by the Prager Streichquartett, for Deutsche Grammophon, in March and April 1977.
Contents
Background
The original version of Dvořák's string quartet B.40 was in one continuous movement. On revising it, probably in 1874, Dvořák began to split the music into the conventional four movements, removing one section, the Andante Appassionato B.40a, completely. He did not complete the task. For its first recording in 1977, Jarmil Burghauser found that certain passages were missing, but was able to use analogous portions from elsewhere in the piece. This process is detailed in the sleeve notes of the CD recording and summarised below. The quartet received its performance premiere on 9 October 1990, in Prague, by the Kocian Quartet.
Structure
In order to complete the work, Burghauser's editorial insertions were as follows
1- Allegro ma non troppo: no recapitulation- adapted from exposition
2- 'scherzo': first half of the opening section- taken from first (rejected) version
4- finale: part of the exposition- taken/drawn from recapitulation, and
transition from development to recapitulation- "Only a few bars in transition from development to recapitulation were added freely".
The quartet was printed in 1983 as part of the complete critical edition of Dvořák's works.