Cello Concerto in A major (Dvořák)

The Cello Concerto in A major is a conjectured, unfinished cello concerto by Antonín Dvořák. It is distinct from his highly celebrated Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104, B. 191.

Dvořák sketched a cello concerto in A major early in his career, possibly in 1865, while he was still a student. The work remained incomplete and unperformed during his lifetime. Few details about the planned concerto are known, and the existing sketches are fragmented. Unlike the B minor concerto, which showcases a mature and refined compositional style, the A major concerto is considered to be a work of his early period, reflecting his developing voice.

The extant fragments are held in various archives and have occasionally been examined by musicologists. However, a complete, performable version of the concerto has never been reconstructed. The sketches offer a glimpse into Dvořák's early compositional thinking and his initial exploration of the cello as a solo instrument within a large orchestral framework. Due to its fragmentary nature and unfinished state, it is not considered a part of the standard Dvořák repertoire. The vast difference in quality and completion compared to the B minor concerto contributes to its relative obscurity.