Antonin Dvořák (1841-1904) Piano Quintet Op. 81

Allegro, ma non tanto Dumka: Andante con moto Scherzo (Furiant): molto vivace Finale: Allegro

Dvořák’s Piano Quintet Op. 81 was written in just seven weeks during 1887 at the composer's country cottage at Vysoká. Chronologically it falls between two of his greatest symphonies, the Seventh and the Eighth, marking it as the work of a fully mature composer as well as one of his most characteristic and idiomatic compositions. Dvořák’s biographer, John Clapham, writes that the quintet "probably epitomizes more completely the genuine Dvořák style in most of its facets than any other work of his." Indeed, it is ranked, along with the quintets of Schumann and Brahms, as one of the finest works of its kind.

The work was actually composed as the result of the composer’s attempt to revise an earlier work, his Piano Quintet in A major Op. 5. Dvořák had been dissatisfied with this work and destroyed the manuscript not long after its première. Fifteen years later, he reconsidered and started making revisions to a score he retrieved from a friend. He then decided that, rather than submitting the revised work for publication, he would create an entirely new composition. The new quintet, Op. 81, is a successful fusion of Dvořák’s personal form of expressive lyricism with elements from his native Czech folk music. Characteristically those elements include styles and forms of song and dance in the authentic folk style but not actual folk tunes. The wealth of inspired, romantic melody is matched by a fullness of texture which at times comes close to being symphonic.

The lyricism of the first movement is established immediately by the cello with a soulful melody, over a murmuring piano accompaniment, which is taken up by all the voices in a rich development. The viola announces the second theme, as fully lyrical as the first but much busier than the cello's stately line. The entire movement alternates between major and minor covering a broad range of emotions from melancholy to buoyant optimism, anxiety to serenity. These frequent shifts of mood characterise not only this movement but the entire work. A brilliant development section demonstrates Dvořák’s mastery of classic sonata form and variation, no doubt achieved through his intimate knowledge of Brahms’ scores. The movement closes dramatically as the opening theme is further animated by assertive octaves in the piano part.

The next movement is a dumka, originally a type of Ukrainian ballad, characteristically melancholic and full of nostalgic brooding over heroic deeds of the past. Dvořák adapts the dumka to his own needs, using it as a backdrop onto which he juxtaposes passages of a cheerful and even exuberant nature. Hence, the music is characterised by abrupt changes of mood and episodic construction. The movement unfolds unhurriedly in rondo form, with the principal nostalgic theme announced in the upper range of the piano, followed by a sombre response from the viola. The first contrasting theme consists initially of a dialogue for the two violins, followed by a return of the opening material. Another new theme and a new mood bursts in with a vivace episode of vigorous character and sunny disposition. Then the dumka theme returns, now with an enriched texture, and the movement closes in deep quiet.

Dvořák called the third movement a furiant, which is a fast Bohemian folk dance. The opening scherzo takes on the spirit of this dance, though not its customary displaced accents. The cello and viola alternate a rhythmic pizzicato underneath the main tune of the first violin, the music capturing the vivacity of its original rustic inspiration but here more refined and stylised. The central portion of this ternary form movement, marked poco tranquillo, has a more subdued nature. Dvořák marks the contrast with the first section by transforming the main theme from a lively dance to a rather gentle waltz, and then a simple two-step, with the piano and violin alternating between the main melodies. The fast Bohemian folk dance then returns and the movement finishes forcefully, setting up for the polka to come.

The light-hearted and spirited finale, written in sonata form with three themes, sparkles with melodic vitality and lively rhythms. A striking fugato led by the second violin is constructed from the first theme during the development. In the coda, a chorale-like section marked tranquillo, features the theme of the movement, this time with lengthened notes and played pianissimo. It appears that Dvořák might close quietly in a dreamlike manner but the contrasting slower pace only serves to emphasise the exuberance of the main theme and a quickening accelerando brings the quintet to a jubilant finish with an irrepressible burst of energy.

Elizabeth Dalton, 2019