Dvorak String Quintet in G, Op.82

Dvorák – the inspired craftsman

“Conceiving an idea is, in and of itself, nothing special. It simply comes to you. And if it is beautiful, and great, it is not a human achievement, anyway. On the other hand, executing the idea well and creating something great from it: that is the difficult part – that is art!” Anton.n Dvorak was deeply convinced that compositional craftsmanship was more important than naked inspiration, regardless how brilliant. Clearly resembling his friend Johannes Brahms in this, Dvorak invested much time and energy in the compositional process proper. This extremely intensive involvement with the musical text, this process of sketching, initial notation, rejection, summing up in words, conscious revision and instrumentation, nevertheless remains virtually undetectable behind Dvo?.k’s music, so that the daily strenuous efforts of the composer as he worked at shaping his material goes completely unnoticed to the listener. And it is this very aspect which contributed substantially to a caricaturesque impression of Dvorak as a Bohemian (folk) musician who gave free reign to his musical talent and naivet., a stereotype which long blocked the way to an undistorted view of his compositional achievements, including that in the field of genre development. In addition to his operatic and symphonic works,