Smetana, Dvořák & Janáček: Works for String Quartet

Featuring

Leoš Čepický
Jan Schulmeister
Jakub Čepický
Michal Kaňka
Wihan Quartet
Bedřich Smetana

Antonín Dvořák
Leoš Janáček

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Composer Biography

Leoš Janáček, the composer of String Quartet No. 2 'Intimate Letters', wrote over seven hundred love letters to Kamila Stösslová, a woman nearly forty years his junior, who became his muse.

Composition History

Antonín Dvořák began composing his E flat String Quartet Op. 51 on Christmas Day 1878, encouraged by Johannes Brahms's support which helped his music gain international recognition.

Composition History

Smetana's String Quartet No. 2 was his last completed work, composed strictly against doctor's orders, with his ability to work limited to only a few minutes each day.

Composer Biography

Bedřich Smetana, the composer of the String Quartet No. 2, was seriously ill with syphilis, unable to speak, and had been deaf for eight years when he composed it.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Janáček's String Quartet No. 2 'Intimate Letters' is deeply personal, with its first movement expressing his joy at meeting Kamila Stösslová, his muse.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Smetana intended his String Quartet No. 2 to be autobiographical, representing 'the whirlwind of music in a person who has completely lost his hearing'.

Composition History

Dvořák's E flat String Quartet was commissioned by Jean Becker, the leader of the Florentine Quartet, who specifically requested a work in a Slavonic style.