Piano Quartet in E-flat major Op.87 (Score & Parts)

Dvorak Piano Quartet in E-flat major Op.87 (Score & Parts)
for Piano, Violin, Viola & Violoncello

Towards the end of the 19th century the piano quartet was established as a separate, sophisticated chamber music genre. It is accordingly not surprising that the publisher Fritz Simrock asked Dvorak for a further contribution to the genre.
 
The Second Piano Quartet in E-flat Major Op. 87 was composed during the summer of 1889 during a torrent of creativity: “My head is so full, if a human being could only write it all down straight away! [...] It is unexpectedly easy, and the melodies simply flow towards me. Thanks be to God!”

These words distinguish the quartet itself, a work that can be described by its characteristic carefree tone and its clear nationalistic colouring. The primary source for the publication was the first edition (1890).

The cello parts have previously been published in older editions in the treble clef requiring them to be played an octave down. In these new editions the parts are written in bass and tenor clefs which makes them easier to read by the cellist.