String Quartet No. 12

At a glance

• What it isthe third movement, a quick Vivace, of Dvořák's String Quartet No. 12 in F major, often called the "American."
• Who, when, whyDvořák wrote it in summer 1893 while living in America, on holiday in Spillville, Iowa, a town of Czech immigrants.
• What to listen forthe lively opening with its off-beats, the birdsong-like phrase high in the register, and the turn to the minor key.

Listen for

• The openingthe four instruments trade short rhythms and dance lightly.
• The high phrasethe first violin plays a short figure very high up. It is said to imitate a bird Dvořák heard in Spillville.
• The middlethe same dance turns minor, slows a little and darkens, before the bright dance returns.

When it was written

Having come to New York in 1892 to direct the National Conservatory, Dvořák spent the following summer in Spillville, a rural town where Czech people lived together. Among his own language and food, he reportedly felt very much at ease. He sketched this quartet in just a few days.

Written just after he completed the "New World" Symphony, the quartet is full of the same period's bright, simple melodies. The nickname "American" comes from its having been written in America.