Antonin Dvořák ;Strings Quartet No.12 Op.96 (American Quartet)

 Dvorák composed the quartet in 1893 during a summer vacation. He spent his vacation in the town of Spillville, Iowa, which was home to a Czech immigrant community.
    In that environment, and surrounded by beautiful nature. He composed the quartet shortly after the New World Symphony, before that work had been performed. 
Dvorák sketched the quartet in three days and completed it in thirteen more days. It was his second attempt to write a quartet in F major: his first effort, 12 years earlier, produced only one movement. The American Quartet proved a turning point in Dvorák's chamber music output: for decades he had toiled unsuccessfully to find a balance between his overflowing melodic invention and a clear structure.
    Dvorák defended the apparent simplicity of the piece: "When I wrote this quartet in the Czech community of Spillville in 1893, I wanted to write something for once that was very melodious and straightforward 
    For his symphony Dvorák gave the subtitle himself: "From the New World". To the quartet he gave no subtitle himself, but there is the comment "The second composition written in  America.