Dvorak's 9th String Quartet is one his first mature works in the genre and is contemporary with Dvorak's first international compositional success, the Slavonic Dances. Dvorak dedicated the quartet to Johannes Brahms in gratitude for his support in bringing Dvorak's music to the attention of his publisher and the rest of the world.
The 9th String Quartet is notable for its outer movements being in D minor, and for the 2nd movement scherzo which is in the style of a polka.
