Dvořák: String Quartet No. 12 in F Major, Op. 96 (American) for Wind Quintet

Antonin¦Dvorak composed¦the quartet in F Major, op. 96 “The American” in the summer of 1893 during his¦summer vacation in Spillvale, Iowa. From 1892-1895, Dvorak served as director of the National Conservatory of Music in NYC. He had been interested in “American¦Music” and felt that Native American and Afro-American music could inspire an¦“American Music” distinct from European influences. He was inspired by (Henry¦Thacker) Harry Burleigh, his student in New York and one of the first¦Afro-American composers.

While it is¦impossible to know why Georges Barrere chose Dvorak's F Major Quartet to¦transcribe for Woodwind Quintet, we may easily hazard several guesses. Firstly,¦it was a work much beloved by the public and very respected by professional¦musicians. As an immigrant himself, Barrere could easily sympathize with¦Dvorak's desire to create a distinctly American work. A work in the key of F¦Major, it lent itself easily to wind transcription. While known as the Barrere¦transcription, it turns out that Samuel Baron, one of Barrere's most famous¦students and a long time member of the New York Woodwind Quintet, who has to¦his credit a long list of wonderful transcriptions for woodwind quintet, played¦a significant role in the transcription.