Dvorak, A :: Romance in F minor, op. 11

Romance in F minor, op. 11

Dvorak, A

International Music Company presents Dvorak's Romance in F minor, op. 11 for flute and piano transcribed and edited by Robert Stallman.

'Dvorak originally composed this music in September and October 1873 as the slow movement of a string quartet in F minor; he rescored it for violin and orchestra sometime before December 1877. The date of the first performance is not known. The orchestra consists of pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, and horns, with strings. Performance time is approximately twelve minutes. When no one would play the F minor string quartet that he had written in 1873, he salvaged the lyrical slow movement and rescored it for violin solo and piano as a perfect miniature for the home parlor. He also made a version for violin and orchestra, confident despite the evidence that symphony orchestras would be eager to play his music. In Dvorak s original movement, marked Andante con moto, a lovely, virtually seamless violin melody rides over gentle chords and rocking arpeggios. In the Romance, Dvorak expanded its gracious dimensions, adding a generous introduction, and colored the accompaniment with the warm tones of winds and horns. It s still a small work in scale and intention, but it s without doubt one of his most glorious melodic creations.'

- Phillip Huscher