Music I Like, #24, String Quartet, No. 12 in F Major, Op. 96 "American" (Antonin Dvorak)

Today is Thanksgiving, so let's have some music inspired by the United States.

The Czech composer Antonín Leopold Dvořák composed his string quartet in F Major, Op. 96, in  the summer of 1893, which he spent in Spillville, Iowa. Scholars have struggled to identify specific folk music or songs in the quartet, but Dvořák himself spoke of his fascination with American music, especially Black American music. The Black composer Harry Thacker Burleigh, who studied at the National Conservatory in New York City, met Dvořák there during the composer's visit to the United States, and introduced him to spirituals, the religious folk songs created by Black Americans during enslavement.

I played this quartet in college--it is some of the most fun I've ever had learning and performing a piece of music. In honour of that experience, here is a performance by an excellent student quartet at the American chamber music festival Kneisel Hall.