Page 145 - PDF Flip TR Program Demo

The second movement, called a Dumka, alternates a somnolent refrain with up-tempo verses. The Dumka is a form of Slavic folk ballad defined by the contrast of slow and fast; Dvořák adapted it as a hallmark in several of his chamber pieces. This one prominently features the viola (Dvořák was a violist).
The Scherzo is a quick dash with a more relaxed middle section. The Finale is bracing and winsome, with a coda that feels like a bittersweet farewell.
Dvořák wrote the Piano Quintet No. 2 in the late summer and fall of 1887, but it actually began as a project to revise his earlier Piano Quintet No. 1 in A Major, Op. 5, from 1872. Dvořák had destroyed that score after its premiere, but had second thoughts and reconstructed it from a friend’s copy 15 years later. Even after revisions, he was still unhappy with it, so he wrote the Quintet No. 2 in A Major, a fresh piece that has almost entirely superseded its predecessor.
2018 Summer Season 145