Antonín Dvořák finished the composition of his String Quartet No. 9 in d minor, Op. 34, (B. 75) on 18/12/1877, having probably started it in July of that year.
Contents
Background
The work was composed in the months after the deaths of two of Dvořák's children, Ruzena (d. 13 August 1877 at 10 months of age) and Otakar (d. 8 September 1877, 3 and a half years old). It is dedicated to Johannes Brahms: Dvořák had won the Austrian State Prize fellowship prize 3 times in 4 years (1874, 1876, and 1877), and after this third success, Brahms, one of the members of the committee responsible for awarding the stipend, referred Dvořák to his own publisher, Fritz Simrock.
Dvořák revised it in 1879, and Herbert/Truffit suggests that the first performance may have been given by the Quartetto Heller, in Trieste, on 14/12/1881. Sourek, however gives a first performance at a concert of the Musical Section of the Umělecká beseda (Arts Discussion Group) in Prague on February 27th, 1882, by Ferdinand Lachner, Petr Mares, Vaclav Borecky and Alois Neruda.
Structure
The work is composed in four movements:
- Allegro, D minor, 3 / 4
- Alla Polka, Allegretto scherzando, B flat major / g minor, 2 / 4 (with Trio, Quasi I'istesso tempo, E flat major, 3 / 8)
- Adagio, D major, 3 / 4
- Poco allegro, D minor, 6 / 8