Dvorak | Romance in F minor, Op. 11 (Violin & Piano)

While Dvorák was both prolific and thematically fertile, it was not below him to reuse material from earlier compositions. Such is the case with the Romance for violin and piano, a work that borrows the main theme from his String Quartet No. 5. But the quartet, dating to 1873, was barely an earlier work. After chamber ensembles in Prague showed little interest in it, Dvorák wasted little time in fashioning this offshoot for violin and piano, as well as a larger version of the new work for violin and orchestra. As one might expect, the often intimate nature of Dvorák's music is sometimes better suited to the chamber realm, which is the case here. The piano introduces the main theme in sweet, gentle, but somewhat Brahmsian tones, after which the violin takes it up with a graceful lightness of expression. A brighter variant is soon heard, again recalling Brahms, after which the theme is heard in a lighter, more ethereal version. The mood intensifies near the middle, the music turning livelier and muscular, and the violin writing more challenging. The main thematic material is reprised, but with many changes, and this lovely, approximately 12-minute piece quietly ends.