Antonin Dvořák
(1841 - 1904)
September 8th 1841, Nelahozeves CZ – † May 1st 1904, Prague
Antonin Dvorak employed the idioms and melodies of folk music of his native Bohemia and Moravia in symphonic, oratorial, chamber and operatic works.
When Dvořák composed his second string quintet in 1875, and in 1877 it attracted the attention of Johannes Brahms, whom he later befriended.
When asked later in his life why he did not write a cello concerto, Brahms answered “Dvorak has already written it!”
On Brahms’ recommendation he contacted a publisher, who as a result commissioned Dvořák’sSlavonic Dances. Published in 1878, these were an immediate success.
Dvořák’s Stabat Mater 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. His Symphony No. 7 was written for London; it premiered there in 1885.
His most popular piece is his New World Symphony composed mostly during his stay in New York during 1892 to 1895 where Dvořák was the director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York City. In 1891 Dvořák received an honorary degree from Cambridge University, and his Requiempremiered later that year in Birmingham at the Triennial Music Festival.
Biography
Dvoøák 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 Bedoich Smetana.
From 1892 to 1895, Dvoøák 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 Dvoøák, 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 Dvoøák formed a friendship with Harry Burleigh, who became an important African-American composer. Dvoøák taught Burleigh composition, and in return, Burleigh spent hours on end singing traditional American Spirituals to Dvoøák. 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.
Dvoøák 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 cementery in Prague.
Musical Style and Influence
Dvoøák'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, Dvoøák wrote operas (the best known of which is Rusalka), chamber music (including a number of string quartets, the American among them) and piano music.
Dvoøák's works were catalogued by Jarmil Burghauser in Antonin Dvoøák. 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.
Dvoøák's Symphonies
For a while, the numbering of Dvoøák'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). Dvoøák 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 Dvoøák died before completing a tenth.
Unlike many other composers who shied away from the symphony until their mature years (notably his mentor Johannes Brahms), Dvoøák 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 Dvoøák'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 Ludwin 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 Dvoøák'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 Dvoøák's early symphonies is also widely regarded as the best. Again the scherzo is the highlight, but already Dvoøák shows his absolute mastery of all formal aspects.
Dvoøák'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, though many consider them just as good. The Fifth is the more pastoral work, although there is a dark slow movement which borrows (or, rather, steals) the first four notes of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto for the main theme. The Sixth shows a very strong resemblance to the Symphony No. 2 of Brahms, particularly the outer movements.
Symphony No. 7 in D minor of 1885 is the most Romantic era symphonies by the composer. The work draws inspiration from Brahms and Tchaikovsky reflecting in the political struggle in Prague. In that sense, it is an intensely patriotic work that balances intense calm with an underlying turmoil. The work, however, is not a programmatic work. The structure is the most ambiguous of his symphonies. 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 Rafaek Kubelik) compares to Gustav Mahler. Together with his last symphony, these two are regarded as the peak of Dvoøák's symphonic writing and among the finest symphonies of the 19th century.
By far the most popular, however, is Dvoøák'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 Dvoøák's arrival in America. At the time of its composition, Dvoøák 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. Dvoøák 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.' It is generally accepted that the work has more in common with the folk music of Dvoøák'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.
