Antonín Dvořák
Antonín Dvořák
Antonín Dvořák
Antonín Dvořák
Antonín Leopold Dvořák (English pronunciation: /ˈdvɔrʒɑːk/ DVOR-zhahk or /ˈdɨvɔrʒæk/
DVOR-zhak; Czech: [ˈantoɲiːn ˈlɛopolt ˈdvor̝aːk] ( listen); September 8, 1841 – May 1,
1904) was a Czech composer of Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of
Moravia and his native Bohemia. His works include operas, symphonic, choral and chamber
music. His best-known works include his New World Symphony, the Slavonic Dances,
"American" String Quartet, and Cello Concerto in B minor.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 Early career
• 2 United States (1892–1895)
• 3 Later career
• 4 Works
○ 4.1 Numbering
○ 4.2 Symphonies
○ 4.3 Symphonic poems
○ 4.4 Choral works
○ 4.5 Concerti
○ 4.6 Chamber music
○ 4.7 Operas
• 5 Notable students
• 6 References
• 7 External links
Statue of Dvořák in Stuyvesant Square, Manhattan near the site of his house
[edit] United States (1892–1895)
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,[3][4] but was demolished in 1911 and replaced by what is now a high school.
Dvořák’s main goal in America was to discover “American Music” and engage in it, much as he
had utilized 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 nationalist music.[5] 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 Perlman Place. [6] It was in
this home that the Ninth Symphony was written. Despite protests, from then Czech President
Václav Havel amongst others, who wanted the house preserved as a historical site, it was
demolished to make room for a Beth Israel Medical Center residence for people with AIDS.[7] To
honor Dvořák, however, a statue of him was erected in Stuyvesant Square.[4][8]
[edit] Later career
After returning home from America, Dvořák at first spent most of his time resting and spending
time with his family in the country. During his final years, Dvořák concentrated on composing
opera and chamber music. In 1896 he visited London for the last time to hear the premiere of his
Cello Concerto in B minor. In 1897 his daughter married a pupil of his – the composer Josef Suk.
Dvořák was appointed a member of the jury for the Viennese Artist’s Stipendium, and later was
honored with a medal. Dvořák succeeded Antonín Bennewitz as director of the Conservatory in
Prague in November 1901 until his death from heart failure in 1904.[9]. His 60th birthday was
celebrated as a national event, with organized concerts and even a banquet in his honor. He died
from heart failure on May 1, 1904, following five weeks of illness. His funeral was on May 5. He
is interred in the Vyšehrad cemetery in Prague, under his bust by Czech sculptor Ladislav
Šaloun.
He left many unfinished works, including the early Cello Concerto in A major (see Concerti
below).
[edit] Works
See also: List of compositions by Antonín Dvořák
Song to the Moon (Měsíčku na nebi hlubokém)
From Rusalka (1901). Performed in German by Czech soprano Emmy Destinn in
1915.
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
form and the influence of Richard Wagner is apparent in some works. Many of his works also
show the influence of Czech 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. 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.
[edit] 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 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.[10]
This way it could happen that the same opus number was given to more than one of Dvořák's
works.[11] In yet other cases, a work was given as many as three different opus numbers by
different publishers. The 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.
[12]
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.
[edit] Symphonies
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[13],
and in 2009 it was voted the favourite symphony in a poll run by ABC Classic FM in Australia.
[14]
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.
[edit] Symphonic poems
Dvořák's symphonic poems (tone poems) are among his most original symphonic works. [15] 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
Wood Dove, Op. 110; and The Hero's Song, Op. 111. The first four of these works are based
upon ballads by the Czech folklorist Karel Erben. The Hero's Song is based on a program of
Dvořák's devising and is believed to be autobiographical.[16]
[edit] Choral works
The greatest of Dvořák's choral works are his Requiem, Op. 89, his Te Deum, his Mass in D
major, and his Stabat Mater, the longest extant setting of that work.[17] The recording of the
Requiem by conductor Karel Ančerl with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, the Czech
Philharmonic Chorus and soloists (1959) was awarded the prestigious "Grand Prix du disque de
L'Académie Charles Cros". Other choral works include: Amid Nature, The Spectre’s Bride,
Hymn of the Czech Peasants, St. Ludmila, The American Flag, Festival Song and many more.
[edit] 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".[18] 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.
[edit] Chamber music
Romance Op. 75, No. 1
Performed by Roxana Pavel Goldstein (violin) and Monica Goldstein
(piano)
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.[19]
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
having a summer holiday spent 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.[20]
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.[21] 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.[22]
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.[23] 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.[24] 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, viola, and harmonium, Romanza for the violin
and piano, two waltzes for string quartet, 10 love songs entitled Cypresses and a Gavotte for
three violins.
[edit] 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.[25]
List of operas[26]
• 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
[edit] Notable students
This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and
removed. (January 2010)
• Harry T. Burleigh
• Will Marion Cook
• William Arms Fisher
• Rubin Goldmark (who taught Aaron Copland and George Gershwin)
• Oskar Nedbal
• Vítězslav Novák
• Harry Rowe Shelley (who taught Charles Ives)
• Josef Suk
[edit] References
Notes
1. ^ Suk has related in his memoirs about a visit to Brahms in March 1896, that Brahms, in referring
to Schopenhauer, talked of his own agnosticism. This may not have been the first time that
Dvořák had heard his friend express such views, but he left his flat in shocked silence. When at
last he spoke, he said: 'Such a man, such a fine soul-and he believes in nothing, he believes in
nothing!' (John Clapham: Dvořák, Musician and Craftsman, page 23)
2. ^ a b c New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians: Dvořák, Antonín
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