An unfinished work consisting of only one movement. It was conceived as the first movement of a new string quartet commissioned by an ensemble led by Josef Hellmesberger. At the same time a terrible fire broke out at the Vienna Ringtheater and Hellmesberger canceled the planned premiere.
Dvořák stopped working on this quartet and switched to composing Quartet No. 11 in C major.
The piece was neither performed nor published during the composer`s lifetime. It was first heard by the public in 1945 and a printed edition was published in 1951.