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Dvořák: “American” Quartet

String quartet · about 26–30 minutes

Dvořák: String Quartet in F, Op. 96 “American”

Tuneful, generous to every player, and within reach of a confident amateur group with some practice: a good first Romantic quartet to read together.

Advanced

For 2 violins, viola and cello

Players

2 violins, viola and cello

Difficulty

Advanced, judged by the hardest part

Length

About 26–30 minutes

Written

1893, in Spillville, Iowa

Also known as

String Quartet No. 12 · Op. 96 · B. 179

Free parts

Score and parts on IMSLP

Part by part

The piece is rated by its hardest part. Here is how each part compares, so a group can see who will need to practise most.

Violin 1

Carries most of the tunes, with high passages, a bird call in the scherzo and fast running notes in the finale. The part that decides whether the piece suits your group.

Advanced

Violin 2

Mostly accompaniment in steady, repeated patterns. The difficulty is keeping it light and even for long stretches, not the notes.

Intermediate

Viola

Opens the quartet with the main tune, so the violist is exposed from the start.

Intermediate

Cello

Takes over the long melody of the slow movement from the first violin; elsewhere mostly bass line and rhythm.

Intermediate

The movements

I. Allegro ma non troppo. The viola’s pentatonic tune over a quiet, rustling accompaniment. Keep the accompaniment soft so the tune can float.

II. Lento. A long, singing melody, first in the violin and then the cello. Slow, but it needs a steady bow more than fast fingers.

III. Molto vivace. A lively scherzo with a high bird call in the first violin. Dvořák thought it was a scarlet tanager; it was probably a red-eyed vireo.

IV. Finale: Vivace ma non troppo. Fast, rhythmic and the hardest movement to keep together. “Ma non troppo” means not too fast: agree on a tempo you can all hold.

Reading it together for the first time

Start with the slow movement: everyone gets the tune at some point, and it’s the easiest to read at sight.

Print all four parts from the same edition, so bar numbers and rehearsal letters match when you stop and go back.

Read the finale slower than you think. Groups usually come apart in its running passages, not in the slow music.

The whole quartet takes about half an hour, so a two-hour room leaves time to play it through and work on the tricky bits.

About the piece

Dvořák wrote it in the summer of 1893, during his years running the National Conservatory in New York, while on holiday in Spillville, a Czech-speaking village in Iowa. He sketched it in three days and finished it a little over two weeks after starting.

Much of the melody is built on the five-note (pentatonic) scale, which gives the whole quartet its open, folk-like sound. The first public performances were by the Kneisel Quartet, in Boston on January 1, 1894, and in New York twelve days later.

Hear it live

Upcoming performances in the cities we list.

Sat

Oct

San Francisco Performances

Saturday Mornings: Esmé Quartet with Robert Greenberg

Dvořák · Beach

10:00 AM · Herbst Theatre, Civic Center, San Francisco

Concert hall · Some of each · Ticketed

What to play next

Dvořák · Cypresses

Dvořák again, gentler: short songs arranged for quartet. A good warm-up for the same players.

Intermediate

Haydn · String Quartet in D, Op. 64 No. 5 “The Lark”

Same level, also with a famous first-violin part, and a good contrast in style.

Advanced

Borodin · String Quartet No. 2 in D

Same level and just as melodic; the cello gets the famous Nocturne tune.

Advanced

Tchaikovsky · String Quartet No. 1 in D, Op. 11

Same level; the slow movement is the “Andante cantabile” many players know already.

Advanced

Smetana · String Quartet No. 1 “From My Life”

The step up in Czech quartets: more demanding for everyone, especially the first violin.

Very demanding

More in the full list by difficulty, or browse:

String quartets Violin Viola Cello

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Levels are Rhapsodate’s own rough guide, not an exam grade. Facts checked 2026-10-03 against:

IMSLP: movements, first edition (Simrock, 1894), free parts

Wikipedia: composition, first performances, the bird call

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