Notes for: August 6, 2013
In January 1887, Dvořák composed two “terzettos” for the unusual combination of two violins and viola. The first was performed publicly and published within a few months; the second was not performed publicly until 1938 and not published until 1945. This evening we hear two movements from the second of these works.
Both pieces were composed for three friends – a young student who lived in the same building as Dvořák, his teacher, and Dvořák himself – to play together in the evening. He designed the works to be simple and intimate, but apparently the first terzetto overtaxed the technical skills of the student. So within four days of completing the first, he completed the second, relaxing its demands and entitling it Drobnosti (“Miniatures”) to emphasize its informality and ease of performance.
But Dvořák had further second thoughts. His publisher Simrock in Berlin, he reasoned, could publish one piece with such an unusual instrumentation, but not two. So a week later he arranged the second terzetto, with a few minor changes, for violin and piano, under the title Romantické kusy (“Romantic Pieces”). Dvořák himself played the violin at the first public performance.
The composer then sent the first terzetto and the Romantic Pieces to Simrock, who published them with consecutive opus numbers – 74 and 75. In 1938, the Prague Quartet revived the second terzetto under its title “Miniatures,” and in 1945 the work was published in Prague as Op. 75a under the title “Romantic Pieces”. It has since found its way into the repertory along with the other two pieces.
The Cavatina, allegro moderato, is the first of the four movements. It opens with a calm, pensive theme presented by the first violin. In the more passionate middle section, the first violin develops the melody over the sustained bass notes of the viola and the ostinato rhythm of the second violin.
The Capriccio is the second movement. It begins with a folk-like theme, allegro maestoso, which is then subjected to three carefree variations.