Towards the end of the 19th century the piano quartet was established as a separate, sophisticated chamber music genre. It is accordingly not surprising that the publisher Fritz Simrock asked Dvorak for a further contribution to the genre. The Second Piano Quartet in E-flat Major op. 87 was composed during the summer of 1889 during a torrent of creativity: Â"My head is so full, if a human being could only write it all down straight away! [...] It is unexpectedly easy, and the melodies simply flow towards me. Thanks be to God!Â" These words distinguish the quartet itself, a work that can be described by its characteristic carefree tone and its clear nationalistic colouring. The primary source for the publication was the first edition (1890).