Classical Music | Violin Music

Recorded on 09/27/2017, uploaded on 03/11/2019

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Romance is an arrangement of the slow movement from Dvořák’s 1873 String Quartet in F Minor, which remained unpublished during the composer’s lifetime. Soon after he completed the quartet, Dvořák reset the movement for violin and piano. The Romance begins in the piano with a series of entrances of a lilting melody. The texture thickens then thins as the violin enters with this same graceful theme. A subtle slide to the major mode ushers in a new melody in the violin while the accompaniment retains hints of the original theme. A series of cadenza-like flourishes introduce new tonal areas, none of which are stable. The music continues to slip and slide until finally taking a turn toward the dramatic with a marching rhythm. Both themes then return to restore a sense of melancholy ease as the piece draws to a close.Notes by Elizabeth Bergman

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.