Dvorak was only twenty years old when he wrote his String Quartet No. 1 in A major, op. 2 (1862). The work is considered to be the composer’s second important work, after the String Quintet in A minor op. 1. Dvorak did not return to working on op. 2 until 1887, when he was revising his early works. He deleted sections from this substantial quartet sparing only the Scherzo; the other movements where all cut by up to a third. The work was finally premiered by orchestral musicians from the National Theatre, but a printed edition was not published until the middle of the 20th century.
This new Barenreiter edition presents the main musical text from the Complete Edition of 1989 which gives the work in its final form, after Dvorak’s revision. The edition is based on the autograph and on hand-written parts.
