Antonín Dvořák composed the String Quartet in F major (op. 96, the ‘American’) in June 1893 while visiting the town of Spillville, Iowa, USA. Based on accounts from Dvořák's secretary Josef Kovařík, portions of the quartet's Scherzo movement were inspired by birdsong Dvořák heard in Spillville. Kovařík's account included both Dvořák's visual description of the bird that inspired him and a transcribed fragment of the birdsong Dvořák reportedly used. In 1954, Clapham identified the bird as a scarlet tanager (Piranga olivacea), based mainly on the visual description. This widely accepted identification was questionable because of the poor match of the tanager's song to musical material in the Scherzo. In 2016, Floyd proposed the red-eyed vireo (Vireo olivaceus) as Dvořák's inspiration, based on song rather than appearance. The vireo's song is clearly identifiable in the Scherzo as well in the birdsong fragment recorded by Kovařík. The mismatch between the visual description and the transcribed song fragment could have occurred when Dvořák heard and recorded the persistent singing of a cryptic red-eyed vireo, but misidentified the song's source when he caught sight of a brightly coloured tanager. Correct identification of the birdsong changes the interpretation of the movement. Previously, birdsong has been considered the source of a short secondary motif. But red-eyed vireo songs are highly variable, and a slight variation of Kovařík's song fragment could be the basis of the main theme of the Scherzo. Therefore, Dvořák may have used American birdsong in the movement considerably more than previously appreciated.

中文翻译：

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1893 年启发安东宁·德沃夏克的美国弦乐四重奏的爱荷华鸟：关于物种身份及其重要性的争议

1893 年 6 月，安东尼·德沃夏克在访问美国爱荷华州的斯皮尔维尔镇时创作了 F 大调弦乐四重奏（op. 96，“美国”）。根据德沃夏克的秘书约瑟夫·科瓦日克的叙述，四重奏的谐谑曲部分受到了德沃夏克在斯皮尔维尔听到的鸟鸣的启发。科瓦日克的叙述包括德沃夏克对激发他灵感的鸟的视觉描述和据报道使用的德沃夏克鸟鸣的转录片段。1954 年，克拉彭确定这只鸟是猩红色的唐纳雀（橄榄海棠)，主要基于视觉描述。由于唐纳雀的歌曲与谐谑曲中的音乐素材不匹配，这种被广泛接受的识别是有问题的。2016 年，弗洛伊德提出了红眼 vireo（橄榄弧菌）作为德沃夏克的灵感，基于歌曲而不是外表。维雷奥的歌声在谐谑曲中清晰可见，在科瓦日克录制的鸟鸣片段中也清晰可见。视觉描述和转录的歌曲片段之间的不匹配可能是在德沃夏克听到并录制了一段神秘的红眼 vireo 的持续歌唱时发生的，但当他看到一只颜色鲜艳的唐纳雀时错误地识别了歌曲的来源。正确识别鸟鸣改变了运动的解释。以前，鸟鸣被认为是短的次要主题的来源。但是红眼的维雷奥歌曲变化很大，科瓦日克歌曲片段的细微变化可能是谐谑曲主题的基础。所以，