Miniatures for Two Violins and Viola, Op. 75a, B149
Opus number
75a
Burghauser catalogue number
149
Date of composition
January 1887
Premiere - date and place
private performance: January 1887, Prague
public performance: (?) 24 February 1938, Prague
Premiere performer(s)
private performance: Josef Kruis, Jan Pelikán, Antonín Dvořák
public performance: Prague Quartet members (Vilibald Schwejda, Herbert Berger, Ladislav Černý)
First edition
Hudební matice Umělecké besedy, 1945, Prague
Parts / movements
1. Cavatina. Moderato
2. Capriccio. Poco allegro
3. Romanza. Allegro
4. Elegia. Larghetto
Duration
approx 15. min.
composition history
Dvořák’s former colleague from the Provisional Theatre Orchestra Jan Pelikán gave private violin lessons to student Josef Kruis, who rented accommodation in the same house as the Dvořáks. The composer occasionally played the viola with them and initially wrote his Terzetto in C major for their modest ensemble. He was unfamiliar with Kruis’s violin skills at the time, thus, when the piece proved too difficult, he wrote a simpler trio, today familiar as Miniatures, which he then rewrote in a more attractive arrangement for violin and piano. Dvořák labelled the trio in its original instrumentation for two violins and viola as “Bagatelles”, however, the work was published only in 1945 under the title Miniatures, in order to avoid confusion with the composer’s Bagatelles for Two Violins, Cello and Harmonium. A version for violin and piano was published by Simrock back in 1887 entitled Romantic Pieces.
general characteristics
The formal arrangement of the piece is simplicity itself, a sequence of four short contrasting movements in which no attempt has been made to tie them in as a cycle. Each movement is constructed upon a single theme and has a consistent mood which is also expressed in the chosen subtitles: Cavatina, Capriccio, Romanza and Elegia. Dvořák is extremely economical with his themes, above all, in the fourth movement, the entire content of which is essentially based on a single, three-note motif, whose masterful treatment is powerfully eloquent. The essence of the work is probably best captured by Dvořák himself in a letter to his publisher Simrock: “I am writing some short Bagatelles at the moment, just think, for two violins and viola. My work brings me as much pleasure as if I were writing a major symphony – what do you say to that? They are, of course, aimed at amateur musicians, but didn’t Beethoven and Schumann also once write little pieces, and look what they came up with!”