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String Quartet #12 in F Major, op. 96 "American" (score & parts) - WW5

Composer: Dvorak, Antonin

Publisher: Southern Music (USA)

Edition: 66574

$65.00

Quintet, op. 96 "American"
for woodwind quintet: flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon
by Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904) - Czech composer
I. Allegro ma non troppo
II. Lento
III. Molto vivace
IV. Finale: Vivace ma non troppo

This set includes both score and parts. This is Dvorak's "American" Quartet, Op 96, transcribed for Woodwind Quintet by William Purvis

Antonin Dvorak composed the quartet in F Major, op. 96 “The American” in the summer of 1893 during his summer vacation in Spillvale, Iowa. From 1892-1895, Dvorak served as director of the National Conservatory of Music in NYC. He had been interested in “American Music” and felt that Native American and Afro-American music could inspire an “American Music” distinct from European influences. He was inspired by (Henry Thacker) Harry Burleigh, his student in New York and one of the first Afro-American composers.

While it is impossible to know why Georges Barrere chose Dvorak's F Major Quartet to transcribe for Woodwind Quintet, we may easily hazard several guesses. Firstly, it was a work much beloved by the public and very respected by professional musicians. As an immigrant himself, Barrere could easily sympathize with Dvorak's desire to create a distinctly American work. A work in the key of F Major, it lent itself easily to wind transcription. While known as the Barrere transcription, it turns out that Samuel Baron, one of Barrere's most famous students and a long time member of the New York Woodwind Quintet, who has to his credit a long list of wonderful transcriptions for woodwind quintet, played a significant role in the transcription.


Duration: 21:00