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Antonín Dvorák composed his String Quintet No. 2 in G major, Op.77 in 1875. He was one of the first Czech composer to achieve worldwide recognition. He's regarded as a nationalist composer like his predecessor Bedrich Smetana. He uses rhythms, tunes, or other aspects of the folk music of Moravia and Bohemia in his compositions so that his music has a folk-like quality.

Background
Antonín Dvorák's String Quintet No. 2 in G major, Op.77 is scored for a string quartet, which includes tow violins, viola and cello; plus a double bass. A double bass isn't a commonly used instrument in the chamber music world because the instrument's development wasn't as advance as other string instruments. Due to the rarity of bass being composed into a chamber work, it is a standard chamber piece for bass players nowadays. It was composed in 1875 and premiered in 1876 in Prague. Starting in 1874 Dvorak received stipend from the Austrian government, and Eduard Hanslick and Brahms(in 1875) were on the committee. It was first marked as Op. 18, and was slightly revised in 1888 so that it became Op. 77. This string quintet originally has five movements, due to the length of five movement being too long and difficult for the audience to listen to, Dvorák decided to withdraw the intermezzo(2nd movement) of the piece. Therefore, it more commonly heard in 4 movements--Allegro, Scherzo, Poco Andante, Finale Allegro Assai.

I. Allegro con fuoco
This movement is in 4/4 meter with a fast tempo, con fuoco means with passion or energy. It is structured in sonata form with a slow introduction played by cello and bass. It's mainly formed with two different rhythmic patterns; the first one is a quarter note followed by dotted rhythm and triplet, second is triplet with an eighth note or quarter note.

II. Scherzo
This movement is in 6/8 meter, but it should really feel in one for the players to give the dancing quality. The melody line played by the violins provides a folk element. The scherzo is in an A-B-A form. section B is in the same tempo but with a more lyrical, dolce, sweet sound. The trio is in a slightly slower tempo than the scherzo, and it is in an A-B-A form as well. The first and second violin and viola take turn playing the melody line with bass and cello locking in with the eighth note dotted rhythm throughout.

III. Poco Andante
This movement is in a slow 4. It starts out in C major with the melody played by the first violin with bass playing pizzicato dotted rhythm almost every pick up to downbeats, and then it modulates to A minor and goes back and forth for a little. It keeps modulating, first to E flat major, and then enters the 3/4 section in E major with a slight faster tempo and a brighter color caused by the rhythmic change by the cello and viola. In this section the most important rhythmic figure has changed from dotted rhythm to sixteenth notes followed by a quarter note, and as it develops it becomes continuous sixteenth notes. This movement is in A-B-A form.

IV. Finale. Allegro assai
the finale is a combination of all the elements that showed up in the previous three movement. For example, dotted rhythm, triplets and sixteenth notes. Another notable element of this movement is big amount of octave that's used. The way Dvorák wrote the main melody lines is very similar between the fist movement and the finale. For instance, the melody of the second theme in the first movement( measure 72) has a extremely similar shape to the melody of the first theme in the Finale. They both start with a leap from the first note to the second, and somewhat descend afterwards.

Reception
This quintet is not a standard repertoire for violinists, violist and cellist as it is for the double bassists. Therefore, it isn't as commonly played as Dvorák's other chamber pieces such as the Quartet in F major, Op. 96 "The American."