String Quartet No. 12 in F Major, Op. 96 (American) for Wind Quintet [HL:124645]

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.