Janácek's 2nd String Quartet Intimate Letters is regarded as a highlight of the modern string quartet literature. It was written during the composer?s last year of life between 29 January and 19 February 1928 inspired by the ageing Janáèek's exceptional love for Kamila Stösslová. The Moravian Quartet devoted themselves to this impressive work; Janácek attended a total of three of their rehearsals in May and June 1928. This had several consequences including his abandoning his original idea of using a viola d'amore. After Janácek's unexpected death (12 August 1928) the uncertain genesis of the work became the greatest problem of the IntimateLetters : the surviving copies were not definitively authorised. The editors of this new edition have reverted to Janácek's autograph sketches as the main most reliable source and using these as a basis have reconstructed the work as it stood at the point of Janácek's death. The musical text taken from the Critical Complete Edition of the Works of Leo? Janácek (Vol. E/4) therefore contains clear differences in comparison with older editions.

The String Quintet in E-flat major Op.97 (with two Violas) is the third work Dvo ák composed during his stay in America. ?This quintet may be said in three of its movements to show the influence of American life and American music upon the composer? wrote the American music critic Henry Krehbiel on 7 January 1894. The use of particular melodic and rhythmic elements in his American compositions as typically found in Afro-American gospels strengthened the gathering conception considering Dvo ák to be the founder of an American national style of music. The String Quintet in E-flat major was premiered on 12 January 1894 at the Carnegie Halland was published shortly afterwards in score and parts by Simrock. This first edition is the main source for this publication.Reprint from the Complete Edition of the Works of Anton n Dvo ák Vol. IV/8New foreword (Cz/Eng/Ger) by David Beveridge with an evaluation of the origin of the composition.