String Quartet No. 12 in F major "American", Op. 96, B. 179
by Antonín Dvořák
Composed in just two weeks in June 1893 during Dvořák's summer stay in Spillville, Iowa, the 'American' Quartet is the most beloved and most frequently performed string quartet of the Romantic era. Its distinctive character — pentatonic melodic cells, syncopated rhythms recalling African American and Native American music, and an open-air freshness of texture — emerged from Dvořák's immersion in the sounds of the American Midwest, though the music remains quintessentially Bohemian in spirit and craftsmanship. Written at white heat, it possesses an immediacy and lyrical spontaneity that has made it the most accessible entry point to the string quartet repertoire for generations of audiences.
Editions
Henle Verlag
Milan Pospíšil, 1999
Critical Urtext edition based on the autograph and first edition, the primary scholarly and performing text for professional ensembles.
Bärenreiter
Klaus Döge, 2001
Edition from the Dvořák Complete Works series with extensive critical commentary on the sources and compositional genesis.
Simrock
Editorial staff, 1894
First edition, published the year after composition; the historical source text still useful for comparative study of early performance traditions.