Prague Quartet - Dvořák String Quartet #14, Ab

Описание: Recorded in 1937. Willibald Schweyda, 1st vln; Herbert Berger, 2nd vln; Ladislav Černý, vla; Ivan Večtomov, cello

1. Adagio ma non troppo—Allegro appassionato
2. Molto vivace 7:43
3. Lento e molto cantabile 12:31
4. Finale. Allegro non tanto 20:39

The String Quartet No. 14 in A-flat major, op. 105, B. 193, was the last string quartet completed by Antonín Dvořák, even though it was published before his Thirteenth Quartet (which appeared with the higher opus number 106). Dvořák finished his Fourteenth Quartet in 1895, when he had returned to Bohemia after his visit to America. The gestation of the Quartet had actually begun in America and lasted six months, which was rather protracted for the composer. This Quartet marked an important point in Dvořák's development because he would devote himself almost exclusively to writing explicit program music, namely symphonic poems and operas, afterwards.

The Quartet premiered on October 20, 1896.


The Prague Quartet (Czech: Pražské kvarteto; German: Prager Quartett) was a string quartet based in Prague that was in existence from 1920 to 1955. Along with the Ševčík Quartet and Bohemian Quartet, it was one of the most important chamber ensembles of the interwar years

The beginnings of the ensemble date back to 1919, when Richard Zika (1st violin) together with his brother Ladislav Zika (cello), Mirek Dezel (viola) and Ivo Trost (2nd violin) founded the Jugoslavenski Quartet. The members of the quartet played in the orchestra of the Slovene National Theatre in Ljubljana. Ladislav Černý later replaced Dezel on viola and Slovene violinist Karel Sancin took the post of Ivo Trost. Zika brothers and Černý, expatriate Czechs working in Ljubljana, founded the Zika Quartet (Zikovo kvarteto) together with Karel Sancin in 1920. The first performance took place in Ptuj on 22 March 1920. The Quartet relocated to Prague in 1921 where it was called the Czechoslovak Quartet (Československé kvarteto), and from 1929, the Prague Quartet. During the 1920s, the ensemble travelled and performed extensively around Czechoslovakia and Europe. In 1927, the Prague Quartet undertook a six month-tour of South America. During World War II when the Germans forbade nationalistic titles, it was known as the Černý Quartet (Černé kvarteto, 1943–1944).

The quartet toured extensively and helped to promote the music of Paul Hindemith, with whom Černý was associated. Playing with exceptional rhythmic vitality, tonal quality and technical address, the group influenced generations of Czech musicians. The quartet made several recordings including works of Antonín Dvořák, Bedřich Smetana, Leoš Janáček, Johannes Brahms and Robert Schumann.[3]

The quartet disbanded in 1955 and soon, with Černý's encouragement, Břetislav Novotný, the quartet's final second violinist, founded the "City of Prague Quartet" (Kvarteto města Prahy), known as the Prague String Quartet (Prager Streichquartett).