String Quartet No. 2 in B-Flat Major, B. 17

Like Dvořák’s third and fourth quartets (in D major and E minor respectively), String Quartet No. 2 in B-flat major was probably composed between 1868 and 1870, when the young and still inexperienced composer was openly responding to stimuli from his musical surroundings and excitedly adopting new compositional techniques. All three quartets were long considered lost; it was even said that Dvořák destroyed them. But copies of the parts resurfaced in the archive of the Prague Conservatory and have served as the principal source for this new publication. This edition presents the musical text from the 'Antonín Dvořák Complete Edition', together with a new foreword by Hartmut Schick.