User:Sjones23/Antonín Dvořák

Antonín Leopold Dvořák (/ˈdvɔːrʒɑːk/ DVOR-zhahk or /dˈvɔːrʒæk/ di-VOR-zhak; Czech: [ˈantoɲiːn ˈlɛopolt ˈdvor̝aːk] ; September 8, 1841 – May 1, 1904) was a Czech composer. Following the nationalist example of Bedřich Smetana, Dvořák frequently employed features of the folk musics of Moravia and his native Bohemia, (then parts of the Austrian Empire and now constituting the Czech Republic). Dvořák's own style has been described as 'the fullest recreation of a national idiom with that of the symphonic tradition, absorbing folk influences and finding effective ways of using them'.

Born in Nelahozeves, Dvořák displayed his musical gifts at an early age. After graduating from an organ school in Prague, he began writing his first composition at the age of 20. In the 1860s, he played as a violist in the Bohemian Provisional Theater Orchestra and taught piano lessons. In 1873, he married Anna Čermáková, and left the orchestra to pursue another career as a church organist. He wrote several compositions during this period. Dvořák's music attracted the interest of Johannes Brahms, who assisted his career; he was also supported by the critic Eduard Hanslick.

After the premiere of his cantata Stabat Mater (1880), Dvořák visited the United Kingdom and became popular there; his Seventh Symphony was written for London. After a brief conducting stint in Russia in 1890, Dvořák was appointed as a professor at the Prague Conservatory in 1891. In 1892, Dvořák moved to the United States and became the director of the National Conservatory of Music of America in New York City, where he also composed. However, a salary dispute, along with increasing recognition in Europe and an onset of homesickness made him decide to return to Bohemia. From 1895 until his death, he composed mainly operatic and chamber music. At his death, he left several unfinished works.

Among Dvořák's best known works are his New World Symphony, the "American" String Quartet, the opera Rusalka and his Cello Concerto in B minor. Among his smaller works, the seventh Humoresque and the song 'Songs my mother taught me' are also widely performed and recorded. He composed operas, choral music, a wide variety of chamber music, concerti and many other orchestral and vocal and instrumental pieces. He has been described as 'arguably the most versatile...composer of his time'.

Biography

Early years

Dvořák was born in Nelahozeves, near Prague (then part of Bohemia in the Austrian Empire, now Czech Republic), the eldest son of František Dvořák (1814–1894) and his wife Anna, née Zdeňková (1820–1882). František was an innkeeper, professional player of the zither, and a butcher. Dvořák was the first of nine children. He was baptized as a Roman Catholic in the church of St. Andrew in the village. Dvořák's years in Nelahozeves nurtured the strong Christian faith and love for his Bohemian heritage that so strongly influenced his music. In 1847, Dvořák entered primary school and learned to play violin from his teacher Joseph Spitz. František was pleased with his son's gifts. At the age of 13, through the influence of his father, Dvořák was sent to Zlonice to live with his uncle, working as an apprentice butcher, studying the German language, and eventually graduating to become a journeyman after two years.

Dvořák took organ, piano and violin lessons from his German language teacher Anton Liehmann. Liehmann was also taught music theory and was introduced to the composers of the time, for whom Dvořák gave much regard for despite Liehmann's violent temper. Dvořák took further organ and music theory lessons with Franz Hanke at Česká Kamenice, who encouraged his musical talents even further and was more sympathetic. At the age of 16, through the urging of Liehmann and his uncle, Dvořák was allowed by František to become a musician, on the condition that the young boy must build a career as an organist, and Dvořák left for Prague. From 1857 to 1859 he studied music in Prague's only organ school, and gradually developed into an accomplished player of the violin and the viola. He wrote his String Quartet No. 1 when he was 20 years old, two years after graduating.

By the time he was 18 years old, Dvořák was a full-time musician. In 1858, he joined Karel Komzák's orchestra, with whom he performed in Prague's restaurants and at balls. The high professional level of the ensemble attracted the attention of Jan Nepomuk Maýr, who engaged the whole orchestra in the Bohemian Provisional Theater Orchestra. From 1866, Maýr was replaced as chief conductor by Bedřich Smetana. Dvořák played viola in the orchestra since 1862. He was making about $7.50 a month. The constant need to supplement his income pushed him to give piano lessons. It was through these piano lessons that he met his wife. He originally fell in love with his pupil and colleague from the Provisional Theater, Josefína Čermáková, for whom he apparently composed the song cycle "Cypress Trees". However, she never returned his love and ended up marrying another man. In 1873 Dvořák married Josefina's younger sister, Anna Čermáková (1854–1931). They had nine children together, three of whom died in infancy.

Composer and organist

Dvořák's composing career is first documented in the String Quintet in A Minor (1861) and in his First String Quartet (1862). In the early 1860s, he also made his first symphonic attempts, however, he self-critically burned some of those compositions. His first composing attempts passed without critical reception or public performances.

The first press mention of Antonín Dvořák appeared in the Hudební listy journal in June 1871, and the first publicly performed composition was the song Vzpomínání (October 1871, musical evenings of L. Procházka). The performance of his cantata Hymnus in 1873 (conducted by his friend and supporter Karel Bendl) brought him first success, however, the opera King and Charcoal Burner was returned to Dvořák from Provisional Theatre, saying it was unperformable. Dvořák later reworked it. At that time, he also excluded more than a half of his compositions from his oeuvre.

On leaving the National Theater Orchestra after his marriage, Dvořák secured the job of organist at St. Adalbert's Church in Prague under Josef Förster, the father of the composer Josef Bohuslav Foerster. This provided him with financial security, higher social status, and enough free time to focus on composing. Dvořák composed his second string quintet in 1875, the same year that his first son was born. It was during this year that he produced a multitude of works, including his 5th Symphony, String Quintet No. 2, Piano Trio No. 1 and Serenade for Strings in E.

International reputation

In 1877, the year in which Dvořák wrote the Symphonic Variations and Ludevít Procházka conducted its premiere in Prague, the music critic Eduard Hanslick informed him that his music had attracted the attention of the famous Johannes Brahms, whom Dvořák admired greatly. Brahms had a great influence over Dvořák's work; clear examples are the latter's Slavonic Dances, opp. 46 and 72 (1878 and 1886), on the model of Brahms's Hungarian Dances. Brahms contacted the major European musical publisher Simrock, advising him to contract with Dvořák.

Dvořák's Stabat Mater (1880) was performed abroad, and after a successful performance in London in 1883, Dvořák was invited to visit England where he appeared to great acclaim in 1884. The conductor Hans Richter asked to compose his Symphony No. 6 for the Vienna Philharmonic intending to premiere it in December 1880. However, Dvořák later discovered that, despite this intention, members of the orchestra objected to performing works by the composer in two consecutive seasons. Adolf Čech therefore conducted the premiere of the symphony at a concert of the Philharmonia society (in Czech: spolek Filharmonie, predecessor of the Czech Philharmonic) on March 25, 1881, in Prague. Richter did eventually conduct the piece in London in 1882 and still retained an interest in Dvořák’s compositions.

The Royal Philharmonic Society of London commissioned Dvořák to conduct concerts in London, and his performances was well received there. In response to the commission, Dvořák wrote his Symphony No. 7 and conducted the premiere of the symphony at St. James's Hall on April 22, 1885. Dvořák visited England nine times in total, often conducting his own works there. In 1887, Richter conducted the Symphonic Variations in London and Vienna to great acclaim (they had been written ten years earlier and Dvořák had allowed them to languish after initial lack of interest from his publishers).

In 1890, influenced by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Dvořák also visited Russia, and conducted the orchestras in Moscow and in St. Petersburg. In 1891, Dvořák received an honorary degree from the University of Cambridge, and was offered a position at the Prague Conservatory as professor of composition and instrumentation. At first he refused the offer, but then later accepted; this change of mind was seemingly a result of a quarrel with his publisher, Simrock, over payment for his Eighth Symphony. His Requiem premiered later that year in Birmingham at the Triennial Music Festival.

New York City

From 1892 to 1895, Dvořák was the director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York City, at a then-staggering $15,000 annual salary. The Conservatory had been founded by a wealthy and philanthropic socialite, Jeannette Thurber; it was located at 126–128 East 17th Street, but was demolished in 1911 and replaced by what is today a high school.

Dvořák’s main goal in America was to discover “American Music” and engage in it, much as he had used Czech folk idioms within his music. Shortly after his arrival in America in 1892, Dvořák wrote a series of newspaper articles reflecting on the state of American music. He supported the concept that African-American and Native American music should be used as a foundation for the growth of American music. He felt that through the music of Native Americans and African-Americans, Americans would find their own national style of music. Here Dvořák met with Harry Burleigh, his pupil at the time and one of the earliest African-American composers. Burleigh introduced Dvořák to traditional American spirituals at Dvořák's request.

In the winter and spring of 1893, while in New York, Dvořák wrote Symphony No.9, "From the New World". On December 15, 1893, Henry Edward Krehbiel wrote a complete analysis in the New York Daily Tribune regarding Dvořák's symphony. He spent the summer of 1893 with his family in the Czech-speaking community of Spillville, Iowa, to which some of his cousins had earlier immigrated. While there he composed the String Quartet in F (the "American"), and the String Quintet in E flat, as well as a Sonatina for violin and piano. He also conducted a performance of his Eighth Symphony at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago that same year.

Over the course of three months in 1895, Dvořák wrote his Cello Concerto in B minor. However, problems with Mrs. Thurber about his salary, together with increasing recognition in Europe – he had been made an honorary member of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna – and a remarkable amount of homesickness made him decide to return to Bohemia. He informed Mrs. Thurber, who still owed him his salary, that he was leaving. Dvořák and his wife left New York before the end of the spring term with no intention of returning.

Dvořák's New York home was located at 327 East 17th Street, near the intersection of what is today called Perlman Place. It was in this house that both the B minor Cello Concerto and the New World Symphony were written within a few years. Despite protests, from Czech President Václav Havel amongst others, who wanted the house preserved as a historical site, it was demolished in 1991 to make room for a Beth Israel Medical Center residence for people with AIDS. To honor Dvořák, however, a statue of him was erected in nearby Stuyvesant Square.

Later years

After returning home from the United States, Dvořák at first spent most of his time resting with his family in Bohemia. During his final years, he concentrated on composing opera and chamber music. In October 1895, he resumed his professorship at the Prague Conservatory. Between 1895 to 1897, he completed his string quartets in A-flat major and G major, and also worked on the cycle of symphonic poems inspired by the collection Kytice by Karel Jaromír Erben. His chamber works directly influenced the establishment of the Czech Quartet (1891). In his last artistic period (from 1898 to 1904), he focused mainly on opera. He created some of his most valuable operatic works, such as The Devil and Kate (1898/99), Rusalka (1900) and Armida (1902/3). His works were now promoted and celebrated both in his native country and abroad. Gustav Mahler and Hans Richter contributed to his popularity with concerts in Vienna, Joseph Joachim and Hans von Bülow popularized his works in Germany, Joseph Barnby and Alexander Mackenzie in England.

In 1896 he visited London for the last time to hear the premiere of his Cello Concerto in B minor.

In 1897 Dvořák's daughter Otilie married his student, the composer Josef Suk. In the same year, Dvořák was appointed a member of the jury for the Viennese Artist's Stipendium, and was later honored with a medal. In April 1901, he became a member of the Austro-Hungarian House of Lords, along with writer Jaroslav Vrchlický. He also succeeded Antonín Bennewitz as director of the Prague Conservatory from November 1901 until his death. His 60th birthday was celebrated as a national event, with concerts and a banquet organized in his honor. His final performance as conductor with the Czech Philharmonic took place on April 4, 1900. Due to illness, he missed the performances of his oratorio Saint Ludmila, the violin concerto (solo part played by František Ondříček), and the New World Symphony at the 'First Czech Music Festival' held in April, 1904 in Prague.

Dvořák died from a stroke on May 1, 1904, following five weeks of illness, at the age of 63, leaving many unfinished works. His funeral service was held on May 5, and his ashes were interred in the Vyšehrad cemetery in Prague, beneath a bust by Czech sculptor Ladislav Šaloun.

Style

Dvořák was passionate about his homeland. Many of his compositions, such as the Slavonic Dances and large collection of songs, were directly inspired by Czech traditional music. His major works reflect his heritage and the love he had for his native land. Dvořák followed in the footsteps of Bedřich Smetana, the composer who created a Czech musical style.

While Dvořák is well known for his lively national melodies, he also had a prominent role to play in the development of American music, as his New World Symphony and other works attest. The second half of the nineteenth century saw a blossoming of national styles, as countries looked to their cultural roots to celebrate their heritage through music that evoked these themes and folk melodies. Dvořák supported Cecil Sharp in England in his efforts to collect and encourage English Folk Music as a conduit for national renewal. He found the inspiration he needed for American music in the melodies of Native and African Americans. In his opinion, these were the melodies that would contribute most heavily to the foundation of an American musical style. Dvořák was introduced to African American spirituals through his friendship with Harry Burleigh, one of his students who later became his personal assistant. Burleigh shared with Dvořák many of the songs his grandfather used to sing to him, and Dvořák encouraged Burleigh to transcribe and perform many of these melodies. Burleigh's performances of these native melodies would later influence musicians like Marian Anderson.

Antonín Dvořák's career in America served as an impetus in the development of an American style of music that influenced future generations. His challenge to American musicians, as well as his American-inspired pieces, served as a model for many composers. Some of these, such as Amy Beach and William Grant Still, took his suggestion to heart and tried to find their own manner of creating an American music. He simply helped in the formation of an American style, a process that would continue through the students he instructed and into the ensuing decades as American music developed its own identity.

Works

Main article: List of compositions by Antonín Dvořák

Dvořák wrote in a variety of forms: his nine symphonies generally stick to classical models that Beethoven would have recognised, but he also worked in the newly developed symphonic poem. Many of his works also show the influence of Czech genuine folk music, both in terms of elements such as rhythms and melodic shapes; perhaps the best known examples are the two sets of Slavonic Dances, the Symphonic Variations, and the overwhelming majority of his songs, but we can find echoes of that influence also in his major choral works. His interest in nationalist ideas carried over to his work in the United States. Dvořák also wrote operas (of which the best known is Rusalka); serenades for string orchestra and wind ensemble; chamber music (including a number of string quartets and quintets); songs; choral music; and piano music.

Numbering

While a large number of Dvořák's works were given opus numbers, these did not always bear a logical relationship to the order in which they were either written or published. To achieve better sales, some publishers such as N. Simrock preferred to present budding composers as being well established, by giving some relatively early works much higher opus numbers than their chronological order would merit. In other cases, Dvořák deliberately provided new works with lower opus numbers to be able to sell them outside contract obligations to other publishers. This way it could happen that the same opus number was given to more than one of Dvořák's works. In yet other cases, a work was given as many as three different opus numbers by different publishers.

The sequential numbering of his symphonies has also been confused: (a) they were initially numbered by order of publication, not composition; (b) the first four symphonies to be composed were published after the last five; and (c) the last five symphonies were not published in order of composition. This explains why, for example, the New World Symphony was originally published as No. 5, was later known as No. 8, and definitively renumbered as No. 9 in the critical editions published in the 1950s.

The order of publication of the symphonies was:

• No. 6 (1881) – published as "No. 1", although Dvořák called it "No. 5"
• No. 7 (1885) – published as "No. 2", although Dvořák called it "No. 6"
• No. 5 (1888) – published as "No. 3, Op. 76", although Dvořák called it "No. 4, Op. 24" on the score
• No. 8 (1890) – published as "No. 4", although Dvořák called it "No. 7"
• No. 9 (1894) – published as "No. 5", although Dvořák called it "No. 8"
• No. 3 (1912)
• No. 4 (1912)
• No. 2 (1959)
• No. 1 (1961)

The symphonies were first performed in a different order again:

• No. 3 (1874)
• No. 5 (1879)
• No. 6 (1881)
• No. 7 (1885)
• No. 2 (1888)
• No. 8 (1890)
• No. 4 (1892)
• No. 9 (1893)
• No. 1 (1936)

All of Dvořák's works were chronologically catalogued by Jarmil Burghauser in Antonín Dvořák. Thematic Catalogue. Bibliography. Survey of Life and Work (Export Artia, Prague, 1960). As an example, in the Burghauser catalogue, the New World Symphony, Op. 95 is B.178. Scholars today often refer to Dvořák's works by their B numbers (for Burghauser), although references to the traditional opus numbers are still common, in part because the opus numbers have historical continuity with earlier scores and printed programs. The opus numbers are still more likely to appear in printed programs for performances.

Symphonies

During Dvořák's life, only five of his symphonies were widely known. The first published was his sixth, dedicated to Hans Richter. After Dvořák's death, research uncovered four unpublished symphonies, of which the manuscript of the first had even been lost to the composer himself. This led to an unclear situation in which the New World Symphony has alternately been called the 5th, 8th and 9th. This article uses the modern numbering system, according to the order in which they were written.

Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 3, was written when Dvořák was 24 years old. Later subtitled The Bells of Zlonice after a village in Dvořák's native Bohemia, it shows inexperience but also genius with its many attractive qualities. It has many formal similarities with Beethoven's 5th Symphony (for example, the movements follow the same keys: C minor, A flat major, C minor, C major), yet in harmony and instrumentation, Dvořák's First follows the style of Franz Schubert. (Some material from this symphony was reused in the Silhouettes, Opus 8, for piano solo.)

Symphony No. 2 in B flat major, Op. 4, still takes Beethoven as a model, though this time in a brighter, more pastoral light.

Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 10, clearly shows the sudden and profound impact of Dvořák's recent acquaintance with the music of Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt; there is no scherzo. (A portion of the slow movement was reused in the sixth of the Legends, Opus 59, for piano duet or orchestra.)

Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op. 13, still shows a strong influence of Wagner, particularly the second movement, which is reminiscent of the overture to Tannhäuser. In contrast, the scherzo is strongly Czech in character.

Symphony No. 5 in F major, Op. 76, and Symphony No. 6 in D major, Op. 60, are largely pastoral in nature, and brush away nearly all the last traces of Wagnerian style. The Sixth, published in 1880, shows a very strong resemblance to the Symphony No. 2 of Brahms, particularly in the outer movements, though this similarity is belied by the third-movement furiant, a vivid Czech dance. This was the symphony that made him internationally known as a symphonic composer.

Symphony No. 7 in D minor of 1885, Op. 70, is sometimes reckoned to exhibit more formal tautness and greater intensity than the more famous 9th Symphony. There is emotional torment in the Seventh that may reflect personal troubles: around this time, Dvořák was struggling to have his Czech operas accepted in Vienna, feeling pressure to write operas in German, and arguing with his publisher. His sketches show that the Seventh cost him much hard work and soul-searching.

Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88, is, in contrast with the Seventh, characterized by a warmer and more optimistic tone. Karl Schumann (in booklet notes for a recording of all the symphonies by Rafael Kubelík) compares it to the works of Gustav Mahler. As with the Seventh, some feel the Eighth is the best of the symphonies. That some critics feel it necessary to promote a symphony as "better than the Ninth" shows how the immense popularity of the Ninth has overshadowed the earlier works.

Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95, may be better known by its subtitle, From the New World, and is also called the New World Symphony. Dvořák wrote it between January and May 1893, while he was in New York. At the time of its first performance, he claimed that he used elements from American music such as spirituals and Native American music in this work, but he later denied this. The first movement has a solo flute passage reminiscent of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot", and one of his students later reported that the second movement depicted, programmatically, the sobbing of Hiawatha. The second movement was so reminiscent of a negro spiritual that William Arms Fisher wrote lyrics for it and called it "Goin' Home". Dvořák was interested in indigenous American music, but in an article published in the New York Herald on December 15, 1893, he wrote, "[In the 9th symphony] I have simply written original themes embodying the peculiarities of the Indian music." Neil Armstrong took a recording of the New World Symphony to the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission, the first Moon landing, in 1969, and in 2009 it was voted the favourite symphony in a poll run by ABC Classic FM in Australia.

Many conductors have recorded cycles of the symphonies, including Karel Ančerl, István Kertész, Rafael Kubelík, Otmar Suitner, Libor Pešek, Zdeněk Mácal, Václav Neumann, Witold Rowicki, Neeme Järvi and Stephen Gunzenhauser.

Symphonic poems

Dvořák's symphonic poems (tone poems) are among his most original symphonic works. He wrote five symphonic poems, all in 1896–1897, and they have sequential opus numbers: The Water Goblin, Op. 107; The Noon Witch, Op. 108; The Golden Spinning Wheel, Op. 109; The Wild Dove, Op. 110; and A Hero's Song, Op. 111. The first four of these works are based upon ballads from the collection Kytice by the Czech folklorist Karel Jaromír Erben. A Hero's Song is based on a program of Dvořák's devising and is believed to be autobiographical.

Choral works

To Dvořák's main choral works belong Stabat Mater (the longest extant setting of that work), Requiem, Te Deum and Mass in D major.

Stabat Mater, Op. 58, is an extensive (cca 90 minutes) vocal-instrumental sacred work for soli (soprano, alto, tenor and bass), choir and orchestra based on the text of an old church hymn with the same name. The first inspiration for creating this piece was the death of the composer's daughter, Josefa. The work was written in several settings, with the final version completed in the end of 1877. The first performance took place on December 23, 1880 at the Jednota umělců hudebních (Association of Musical Artists) in Prague. The composition is usually performed in the Czech Republic during Easter time.

Antonín Dvořák composed the Requiem in 1890, at the beginning of the peak period of his career. The composition does not refer to any specific person or event, it is a reflective work of basic existentialist human questions: of the grief and consolation in death, the meaning of living and dying, as well as hope. Dvořák was a deeply religious man, and this work reflects his faith and spirituality. The premiere of the opus took place on the October 9, 1891 in Birmingham, which Dvořák himself conducted. Surprisingly, the greatest success was probably its performance in Vienna in 1900, where Dvořák attained utter triumph, in contrast to a previously hostile Viennese audience.

Te Deum, op.103, is a cantata for soprano and baritone solo, choir and orchestra to the Latin text of the famous spiritual hymn "Te Deum laudamus" (God, we laud You). It was composed in 1892 and dedicated to the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America. The composition had been completed before Dvořák moved to America and was commissioned by the director of the National Conservatory of Music of America in New York, Jeanette Thurber in 1891, when the composer accepted a position as director of her school. Originally, the text of the poem by Joseph Rodman Drake, "The American Flag" was to have been used for the opus, which Dvořák had not received in time and instead used the words of the medieval church hymn "Te Deum laudamus" written by Saint Ambrose. The composition was premiered as Dvořák's first concert in New York on October 21, 1892. "Te Deum" is not so monumental and extensive as Requiem and Stabat Mater, yet still encompasses similar deep meditative statements and expressive nobility.

Mass in D major, (originally numbered as op.76, finally as op.86) is a well-concentrated, structured composition originally intended for organ, solo voices and small choir. The work was given its final shape in the year 1892 when, in response to a request from the Novello publishers of London, Dvořák arranged his Mass for a symphony orchestra.

Other choral works include: The Spectre’s Bride, Saint Ludmila, Hymn of the Czech Peasants, The American Flag, Festival Song and many more.

Concerti

Music critic Harold C. Schonberg expressed common critical opinion when he wrote that Dvořák wrote "an attractive Piano Concerto in G minor with a rather ineffective piano part, a beautiful Violin Concerto in A minor, and a supreme Cello Concerto in B minor". All the concertos are in the classical three-movement form.

The Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in G minor, Op. 33 was the first of three concertos that Dvořák composed and orchestrated, and it is perhaps the least known of those three. Dvořák composed his piano concerto from late August through September 14, 1876. Its autograph version contains many corrections, erasures, cuts and additions, the bulk of these made in the piano part. The work was premiered in Prague on March 24, 1878, with the orchestra of the Prague Provisional Theatre conducted by Adolf Čech, and the Czech pianist Karel Slavkovský as soloist. As Dvořák wrote: "I see I am unable to write a Concerto for a virtuoso; I must think of other things." Instead, what Dvořák thought of and created was a concerto with remarkable symphonic values in which the piano plays a leading part in the orchestra rather than opposed to it. The Czech pianist and piano teacher Professor Vilém Kurz subsequently wrote an alternative, somewhat more virtuosic piano part for the concerto, which may, depending on the performer's preference, be played either partially or entirely in lieu of Dvořák's part. In 1919 concert pianist Ilona Kurzová played the first performance of the Kurz version, conducted by Václav Talich.

The Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in A minor, Op. 53 was the second of the three concertos that Dvořák composed and orchestrated. He had met the great violinist Joseph Joachim in 1878 and decided to write a concerto for him. He finished it in 1879, but Joachim was skeptical of the work. He objected to Dvořák's abrupt truncation of the first movement's orchestral tutti, and he also did not approve its truncated recapitulation and its leading directly to the slow movement. He never played the piece. The concerto was premiered in 1883 in Prague by the violinist František Ondříček, who also gave its first performances in Vienna and London.

The Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in B minor, Op. 104 was the last composed of Dvořák's concertos. He wrote it in 1894–1895 for his friend the cellist Hanuš Wihan. Wihan and others had asked for a cello concerto for some time, but Dvořák always refused, stating that the cello was a fine orchestral instrument but completely insufficient for a solo concerto.

Dvořák composed the concerto in New York while serving as the Director of the National Conservatory. In 1894 Victor Herbert, who was also teaching at the Conservatory, had written a cello concerto and presented it in a series of concerts. Dvořák attended at least two performances of Victor Herbert's cello concerto and was inspired to fulfill Wihan's request for a cello concerto. Dvořák's concerto received its premiere in London on March 16, 1896, with the English cellist Leo Stern. The work was well received. Brahms said of the work: "Had I known that one could write a cello concerto like this, I would have written one long ago!"

Over thirty years earlier in 1865, Dvořák had composed a Cello Concerto in A major, but with accompaniment by piano rather than orchestra. It is believed Dvořák had intended to orchestrate it, but abandoned it. It was orchestrated by the German composer Günter Raphael between 1925 and 1929, and again by his cataloguer Jarmil Burghauser and was published in this form in 1952 as B.10.

Chamber music

Over a period of almost 30 years, Dvořák's output of chamber music was prolific and diverse, composing more than 40 works for ensembles with strings.
In 1860 just after he finished his education at the Organ school, Dvořák composed his String Quintet No. 1 in A minor, Op. 1. Two more would follow, of which the String Quintet No. 2 in G major, Op. 77 from early 1875, is noteworthy for the use of a double bass. It was written for a chamber music competition sponsored by the Umelecká beseda (Artistic Circle), where it was unanimously awarded the prize of five ducats for the "distinction of theme, the technical skill in polyphonic composition, the mastery of form and the knowledge of the instruments" displayed. The String Quintet No.3 in E♭major "American", Op. 97, with a second viola added, was written near the end of his output for chamber ensemble during his American period in 1893, when he spent a summer holiday in Spillville, Iowa.

Within a year after completing his first string quintet, Dvořák completed his String Quartet No. 1 in A major, Op. 2, the first of his fourteen string quartets. Though his grasp of compositoral skills is better than the previous quintet shows, another problem presents itself: Dvořák has difficulty restraining himself in his musical output, which results in very long compositions. Many years later Dvořák cut out many of these over abundant measures for a first performance of his first string quartet in 1888. In that same period Dvořák made a list of compositions he had destroyed, which lists two quartets and 2 other quartets. Most probably he did tear up and burn them, but not after the different parts for three string quartets had been copied out. The number of errors in the parts makes it highly unbelievable that he actually had them played. His String Quartet No. 2 in B♭ major, B.17, bears no name nor annotation, but Dvořák's biographer Burghauser assumes it was the first of these three written, and therefore changed its place in the list of Dvořák's first biographer Otakar Šourek, who had placed it as the fourth. This mix-up seems very academical, but is fed by the annotations of the other two quartets, for Dvořák's String Quartet No. 3 in D major, B.18, bears the name Quartetto II, again no date, and the String Quartet No. 4 in E minor, B.19, was named Quartetto III and finished in December 1870. These three quartets were probably composed between 1868 and 1870 and bear one common factor, which is their strong influence by the music of Richard Wagner. Although Dvořák threw away these quartets, he saved an Andante religioso from his fourth quartet, to which he gave a new life five years later in his second string quintet, Op. 77, as a second movement named Intermezzo: Nocturne, adding a double bass, making this a five-movement composition. However in 1883 he withdrew it from the quintet, expanded it and had it published in three different versions as Nocturne in B major, Op. 40 for string orchestra, piano 4 hands and violin and piano.

In 1873 Dvořák's life turned for the better: he married Anna Čermáková, and he had his first great success with his Cantata Dědicové bilé hory (The Heirs of the White Mountain). The two Quartets he wrote in this year give a feeling of more determined theme writing.

The composing of his String Quartet No. 5 in F minor, Op. 9, B.37, happened in this time of mood extremes: The happiness of success with the cantata, the acceptance of his second opera for rehearsal by Smetana and the marriage, but also the setback of the total failure of these opera rehearsals, and the ultimate rejection of the work. Though the influence of Wagner is still prominent, a new style is emerging: A Chopinesque waltz in the Scherzo and an almost Slavonic theme in the finale, which looks forward to the first set of Slavonic dances. Still the work isn't of the standard that Dvořák expected from himself, so he discarded it. But again some parts were too dear to forget about completely, and in 1877 he reworked the Andantino from the second movement into the Romance, Op. 11 for violin and piano, which he even orchestrated.

His most popular quartet is his 12th, the American, Op. 96. He also composed two piano quintets, both in A major, of which the 2nd, Op. 81, is better known. He left a terzetto for two violins and viola (Op. 74); two piano quartets, a string sextet; Op. 48; and four piano trios, including the Piano Trio No. 4 (subtitled Dumky), Op. 90. He also wrote a set of Bagatelles, Op. 47, for the unusual instrumentation of two violins, cello, and harmonium, Romanza for the violin and piano, two waltzes for string quartet, 10 love songs entitled Cypresses and a Gavotte for three violins.

Operas

Dvořák's critical acclaim as a composer of symphonies and concertos gave him a strong desire to write opera. Of all his operas, only Rusalka, Op. 114, and, to a much lesser extent, The Devil and Kate, Op. 112, are played on contemporary opera stages with any frequency outside the Czech Republic. This is attributable to their uneven invention and libretti, and perhaps also their staging requirements—The Jacobin, Armida, Vanda and Dimitrij need stages large enough to portray invading armies.

One of his more frequently performed arias from Rusalka is "Měsíčku na nebi hlubokém" (or, "Song to the Moon").

There is speculation by Dvořák scholars such as Michael Beckerman that portions of his Symphony No. 9 "From the New World", notably the second movement, were adapted from studies for a never-written opera about Hiawatha.

List of operas

• Alfred (unpublished), 1870
• King and Charcoal Burner (Král a uhlíř), 1871, recomposed 1874, revised 1887, Op. 14
• The Stubborn Lovers (Tvrdé palice), 1874, Op. 17
• Vanda, 1875, revised 1879 and 1883, Op. 25
• The Cunning Peasant (Šelma sedlák), 1877, Op. 35
• Dimitrij, 1881/1882, revised 1883, 1885, 1894/1895, Op. 64
• The Jacobin, 1887/1888, revised 1897, Op. 84
• The Devil and Kate (Čert a Káča), 1898/1889, Op. 112
• Rusalka, 1900, Op. 114
• Armida, 1902/1903, Op. 115

Songs

His best known song cycle is the 10 Biblical songs, op.99 were written in March 1894. It was during this time he was informed of the death of the famous conductor, and close personal friend, Hans von Bülow. Just a month earlier, Dvořák was grieved to hear that his father was near death, far away in Bohemia. This time, Dvořák would console himself in the Psalms. The resulting work, considered the finest of his song cycles, is none other than the ten Biblical Songs on the text of Czech Bible of Kralice. As fate would have it, his father expired 2 days after the completion of the work.

Another well known cycle are the 7 "Gypsy songs" (Czech Cikánské melodie) which include Songs My Mother Taught Me (Dvořák).

Dvořák created many songs, inspired by Czech national traditional music, as are "Love Songs", "Evening Songs", etc.

Other works

From other important works, that show also the influence of Czech folk music, both in terms of rhythms and melodic shapes; perhaps the best known examples are the two sets of Slavonic Dances, written in two series. The first book, Op. 46 (1878), is predominantly Czech in respect to the forms represented. They were created for piano duet (one piano, four hands), but Dvořák proceeded to orchestrate the entire set, completing that version the same year. The second book, Op. 72 (as well as previous composed originally for piano) which came along nine years later, includes forms native to such other Slavic lands as Serbia, Poland and Ukraine.

Dvořák, however, in dealing with his own native idiom, did not use actual folk tunes in his dances, but created his own themes in the authentic style of traditional folk music, using only rhythms of original folk dances; that there has been any misunderstanding on this point only attests to his success in capturing the authentic folk spirit entirely through the fortunate combination of being immersed in that spirit and having the creative imagination to expand upon it. Each of them, and particularly in the orchestral setting, may well strike the listener as a concise ethnic rhapsody in the guise of an idealized dance form.

Beyond fulfilling a commission, Dvořák's Slavonic Dances were, for him, a political statement; an opportunity to celebrate in music the Slavic cultures of Central Europe, then under the repressive control of the Austrian Empire.

Another very popular work that does not fit into any of the above caregories is the Symphonic Variations of 1877. The work was initially disregarded, being revived only after ten years, but has since become a concert and recording favourite.

Dvořák and musical criticism

Dvořák was a knowledgeable writer on music. His arguments have stood the time as insightful, passionate and persuasive, as this article on Schubert, from July 1894, clearly demonstrates.

References

Notes

References

Sources

• Beckerman, Michael B. (1993). Dvořák and His World. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-03386-2.
• Beckerman, Michael B. (2003). New Worlds of Dvořák: Searching in America for the Composer's Inner Life. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-04706-7.
• Burghauser, Jarmil (2006). Antonín Dvořák (in Czech). Prague: Koniasch Latin Press. ISBN 80-86791-26-2.
• Butterworth, Neil (1980). Dvořák, his life and times. Midas Books. ISBN 0-859-36142-X.
• Brown, A. Peter (2003). The symphonic repertoire, Volume 3, Part 1. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. pp. 410–436. ISBN 0-253-33488-8.
• Clapham, John (1979). Dvořák, Musician and Craftsman. London: David and Charles. ISBN 0-393-01204-2.
• Clapham, John. (1995) 'Dvořák, Antonín (Leopold)', in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. London:MacMillan ISBN 0-333-23111-2. Vol. 5, pp. 765–792.
• Černušák, Gracián (ed.) (1963). Československý hudební slovník I. A-L (in Czech). Prague: Státní hudební vydavatelství. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Dvořák, Antonín (2009). Biblické písně (in Czech, German, English, and French). Prague: Editio Bärenreiter. ISBN 979-0-2601-0463-1. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid group id (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Goepp, Philip Henry (1913). Symphonies and their meaning: Third series: Modern symphonies. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company.
• Honolka, Kurt (2004). Dvořák. London: Haus Publishing. ISBN 1-904341-52-7.
• Horowitz, Joseph (2003). Dvořák in America: In Search of the New World. Cricket Books. ISBN 0-812-62681-8.
• Hurwitz, David (2005). Dvořák: Romantic Music's Most Versatile Genius. Unlocking the Masters. Milwaukee: Amadeus Press. ISBN 1-574-67107-0. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: checksum (help)
• Peress, Maurice (2004). Dvorák to Duke Ellington: A Conductor Explores America's Music and Its African American Roots. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509822-6.
• Smaczny, Jan. (2003) 'Grand Opera Amongst the Czechs' in The Cambridge Companion to Grand Opera ed. David Charlton, pp. 366-382. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-052-164683-3
• Steinberg, Michael (1995). The Symphony: A Listener's Guide. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-5061777-2. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: length (help)
• Taruskin, Richard (2010). Music in the Nineteenth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-019-538483-3.