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| Also while in the USA he heard a performance of a ] ] by the composer ]. He was so excited by the possibilities of the cello and ] combination displayed in this concerto that he wrote a cello concerto of his own, the ''Cello Concerto in B minor'' (]). Since then the concerto he wrote has grown in popularity and today it is frequently performed. He also left an unfinished work, the ''Cello Concerto in A major'' (]), which was completed and orchestrated by the German composer ] between ] and ]. | Also while in the USA he heard a performance of a ] ] by the composer ]. He was so excited by the possibilities of the cello and ] combination displayed in this concerto that he wrote a cello concerto of his own, the ''Cello Concerto in B minor'' (]). Since then the concerto he wrote has grown in popularity and today it is frequently performed. He also left an unfinished work, the ''Cello Concerto in A major'' (]), which was completed and orchestrated by the German composer ] between ] and ]. | ||
| Dvořák was a colorful personality. In addition to music, there were two particular passions in his life: locomotive engines, and the breeding of pigeons. | |||
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| ⚫ | He eventually returned to Prague where he was director of the conservatoire from 1901 until his death in 1904. He was interred in the ] in Prague. | ||
| ==Musical Style and Influence== | ==Musical Style and Influence== | ||
Revision as of 17:32, 19 December 2004
The correct title of this article is Antonín Dvořák. It appears incorrectly here due to technical restrictions.
Antonín Leopold Dvořák (September 8, 1841—May 1, 1904) was a Czech composer of classical music.
Biography
Dvořák was born in Nelahozeves near Prague where he spent most of his life. He studied music in Prague's Organ School at the end of the 1850s, and through the 1860s played viola in the Bohemian Provisional Theatre Orchestra which was from 1866 conducted by Bedřich Smetana.
From 1892 to 1895, Dvořák was director of the National Conservatory in New York City. The Conservatory was founded by a wealthy socialite, Jeannette Thurber, who wanted a well-known composer as director in order to lend prestige to her institution. She wrote to Dvořák, asking him to accept the position, and he agreed, providing that she were willing to meet his conditions: that talented Native American and African-American students, who could not afford the tuition, must be admitted for free. She agreed to his conditions, and he sailed to America.
It was during his time as director of the Conservatory that Dvořák formed a friendship with Harry Burleigh, who became an important African-American composer. Dvořák taught Burleigh composition, and in return, Burleigh spent hours on end singing traditional American Spirituals to Dvořák. Burleigh went on to compose settings of these Spirituals which compare favorably with European classical composition.
It was during his visit to the United States that he wrote his most popular work, the Symphony No.9 "From the New World".
Also while in the USA he heard a performance of a cello concerto by the composer Victor Herbert. He was so excited by the possibilities of the cello and orchestra combination displayed in this concerto that he wrote a cello concerto of his own, the Cello Concerto in B minor (1895). Since then the concerto he wrote has grown in popularity and today it is frequently performed. He also left an unfinished work, the Cello Concerto in A major (1865), which was completed and orchestrated by the German composer Günter Raphael between 1925 and 1929.
Dvořák was a colorful personality. In addition to music, there were two particular passions in his life: locomotive engines, and the breeding of pigeons.
He eventually returned to Prague where he was director of the conservatoire from 1901 until his death in 1904. He was interred in the Vysehrad cemetery in Prague.
Musical Style and Influence
Dvořák's works are in a variety of forms: his nine symphonies stick to classical models which Ludwig van Beethoven would have recognised and are comparable to Johannes Brahms, 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 rhythms and melodic shapes; perhaps the best known examples are the two sets of Slavonic Dances. As well as his already-mentioned works, Dvořák wrote operas (the best known of which is Rusalka), chamber music (including a number of string quartets, the American among them) and piano music.
Dvořák's works were catalogued by Jarmil Burghauser in Antonin Dvořák. Thematic Catalogue. Bibliography. Survey of Life and Work (Export Artia Prague, Czechoslovakia, 1960). In this catalogue, for example, the New World Symphony (Opus 95) is B178.
Dvořák's Symphonies
For a while, the numbering of Dvořák's symphonies was rather unclear; the "New World" symphony has alternately been called the 5th, 8th and 9th. In this article they are numbered according to the order in which they were written (this is the normal numbering system used today). Dvořák himself numbered his 9th Symphony as "number 5," in a superstitious attempt to cheat the tendency for composers to die after composing their ninth symphonies. The trick did not work, and Dvořák died before completing a tenth.
Unlike many other composers who shied away from the symphony until their mature years (notably his mentor Johannes Brahms), Dvořák wrote his Symphony No. 1 in C minor when he was only 24 years of age. Subtitled The Bells of Zlonice after a village in Dvořák's native Bohemia, it is clearly the work of an inexperienced composer, yet shows a lot of promise. The scherzo is considered to be the strongest movement, but the others are not uninteresting. There are many formal similarities with the 5th Symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven, yet harmonically and in his instrumentation he is more a romantic composer, following Franz Schubert.
Not very remarkable, but not of low quality either, is Symphony No. 2 in B flat major, still looking up to Beethoven. But Symphony No. 3 in E flat major clearly shows the sudden and profound impact of Dvořák's recent acquaintance with the music of Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt.
The influence of Wagner was not lasting, however; it can hardly be heard anymore in Symphony No. 4 in D minor. This last of Dvořák's early symphonies is also widely regarded as the best. Again the scherzo is the highlight, but already Dvořák shows his absolute mastery of all formal aspects.
Dvořák's middle symphonies, Symphony No. 5 in F major (published as No. 3) and Symphony No. 6 in D major (published as No. 1), are happy, pastoral works. They are not as famous as their later cousins.
Symphony No. 7 in D minor (published as No. 2) is an emotionally turbulent work, certainly the most typically romantic symphony Dvořák wrote, reminiscent of Tchaikovsky's Pathétique. In 1884 Dvorak heard and admired Brahms’s new 3rd Symphony, and this prompted him to think of writing of a new symphony himself. So it was fortuitous that in that same year the London Philharmonic society invited him to write a new symphony and elected him as an honorary member. A month later, after his daily walk to the railway station in Prague, he said “the first subject of my new symphony flashed in to my mind on the arrival of the festive train bringing our countrymen from Pest”. The Czechs were in fact coming to the Prague National Theatre, where there was to be a musical evening to support the political struggles of the Czech nation. He resolved that his new symphony would reflect this struggle. In doing so the symphony would also reveal something of his personal struggle in reconciling his simple and peaceful countryman’s feelings with his intense patriotism and his wish to see the Czech nation flourish. He completed a sketch of the 1st movement in 5 days, and he wrote to one of his friends: “I am now busy with this symphony for London, and wherever I go I can think of nothing else. God grant that this Czech music will move the world!!”Ten days later he finished his sketch of the slow movement. He added a footnote “From the sad years”. This refers to the recent death of his mother, and probably also to the previous death of his eldest child, and these events were in his mind especially in this movement. However, there is also a broader horizon - he wrote to a friend ”What is in my mind is Love, God, and my Fatherland”. The movement starts with intense calm and peace, but also includes turmoil and unsettled weather!. He told his publisher that “there is not one superfluous note”. In the next month or so he completed the sketches of the 3rd and 4th movements. Dvorak said that the 4th movement includes a suggestion of the capacity of the Czech people to display stubborn resistance to political oppressors. In 1885 it received its brilliantly successful first performance at St James’s Hall London, with Dvorak himself conducting. . Despite the success of the 7th symphony, the publication of the work was a nightmare! Dvorak’s contracted German publishers, Simrock, seemed to go out of their way to make difficulties and to irritate him. First, they said they would not consider publishing it until a piano duet arrangement was available. Simrock then flatly refused Dvorak to print his Czech name Antonin on the cover - the publisher insisted that it should be Anton, and that the title page should be in German only. Finally, he was told that the dedication to the London Philharmonic Society would have to be omitted. During all of these prolonged arguments, Dvorak asked Simrock for an advance: “I have a lot of expense with my garden, and my potato crop isn’t very good”. Eventually, Simrock offered only 3000 marks for the symphony, which was a low value for such a major work. Dvorak replied that other publishers would readily pay twice as much. After further argument, Simrock grudgingly paid the 6000 marks. This 7th symphony, together with the 8th and 9th, are Dvorak at his best, and they each reveal a somewhat different aspect of his personality. The 7th is the most ambitious in structure, and the most consciously international in its message.
The 7th could hardly be a starker contrast to Symphony No. 8 in G major (published as No. 4), a work which Karl Schumann (in booklet notes to a recording of all the symphonies by Rafael Kubelik) compares to Gustav Mahler. Together with his last symphony, these two are regarded as the peak of Dvořák's symphonic writing and among the finest symphonies of the 19th century.
By far the most popular, however, is Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 in E minor (published as No. 5), better known under its subtitle, From the New World. This was written shortly after Dvořák's arrival in America. At the time of its composition, Dvořák 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 very 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 lyrics were written for it and it became 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 " I have simply written original themes embodying the peculiarities of the Indian music." It is generally accepted that the work has more in common with the folk music of Dvořák's native Bohemia than with American music.
Neil Armstrong took this symphony to the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission, the first Moon landing mission, in 1969.
Two of the most highly regarded recordings of these symphonies are the cycles by Rafael Kubelik and Libor Pešek.
See also
Further reading
- John Clapham, Dvorak (David & Charles, 1979)