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Welcome to the ANTONIN DVORAK
COMPOSITION NOTES Page of
aMUSIClassical Directory
Our Classical Music website
for good music lovers.
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Brief synopsis' of the most popular
classical music
compositions by
Antonin Leopold Dvorak...
Czech, Muhlhausen,
8 SEP
1841 ~ Prague, 1 MAY 1904
Operas, 9 Symphonies, Concertos, Overtures,
Symphonic Poems, Choral and
Chamber Works
Dvorak Bagatelles
Written for String Trio and harmonium in 1878.
Performed by a reed organ or the
wind driven harmonium, which produces a wheezing or droning sound which should conjure up a picture of
the
bucolic Bohemian countryside. It uses some Czech folksong melodies.
Dvorak Carnival
Overture
Dvorak Dumky
DVORAK Largo from New
World
Sym
The slow movement from this sym was inspired by Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow's poem.
Dvorak Cello
Concerto
Born
8 SEP 1841, d 1 May 1904
Perhaps the greatest of all the cello concertos; this one, in b minor, op
104, was composed during his final years in the United States, 1892 to
1895. Dvorak was
head of the New York Conservatory. The concerto maintains a great deal
of the Bohemian style of his homeland. It was inspired by a cello concerto
written by Victor Herbert in 1894. In fact, Brahms often wished he had
written something like it. It is very demanding for the soloist. Noted
cellest Gregor Piatagorsky made his debut in Carnegie Hall on Dec. 29th
1929 and chose this work to perform, and it has become one of the most
performend cello concertos.
Dvorak Golden
Spinning
Wheel
Dvorak My Home Overture
Much of his work was written in the United States while he was director of
the National Concervatory of music in NYC or at the American Czech
community at Spillville. His My Home Overture is based on Czech folk
themes and emphasizes a statement he made on many occassions. "All great
musicians have borrowed from the songs of the common people.
Dvorak
Nature, Life and
Love
Dvorak
Noonday Witch is a folk ballad
from a
collection composed in 1896 and inspired
by some Czech fairy tales. A pouting child is surprised by the nooday
witch who wants to kidnap him. Father finds
his
son in
the
lap of
the
mother who has
unconsiously suffocated him in her motherly embrace. Gross
er tham Grimm,
these Czech fairy tales.
Dvorak Serenade For
Strings
Op. 22, This popular serenade by Dvorak was written in ten days in May of
1875.
It was written as a wedding gift for his bride
and it is scored in 5 MMTS.
Dvorak
'Slavonic
Dances'
These are among the most popular of all orchestral dances, composed in two
set...Op46 originally a piano suite for four hands in 1878...and became
known around the world; and op. 72 in
1886-87. The music is rooted in Czech
dance forms.
Dvorak Slavonic
Rhapsody
Written and patterned on the Hungarian Rhapsodies of Franz Liszt, the
character of these Dvorak works comes from specific nationalistic songs
and dances. When this work was FP, conductor Hans Richter invited Dvorak
to appear with him on the concert stage and Dvorak received one of the
most memorable ovations of his life.
Dvorak Quartet No 12 in F, Op 96 American
Written on his first summer holiday in America at a Czech retreat in Spillville, Iowa. Started on June 10 and completed on June 23, 1893.
Dvorak Quartet No 14 in A-flat, Op 105
Started in NYC in March of 1895 and finished that December in Bohemia,
spending a happy time with his family for the first time in three years
after returning from his job as director of the NY Conservatory of Music.
Dvorak Sym No 1
Dvorak Sym No 2
in B flat major, op 4. composed in 1865.
Dvorak Sym No
3
Dvorak Sym No 4
Completed in the spring of 1874. FP 25 MAY 1874, Bedrich Smetana conducting.
Won Austrian State Prize for the work and others composed at this time. It
was revised in 1887/88. Dvorak gave the finished version for the first time
in Prague 6 APR 1892 just a few months before he left for America. The work
was published with the revisions in 1912, his son-in-law Josef Suk helped to
get it printed.
Dvorak Sym No 6
Dvorak Sym No
7
Formerly No 2, in d minor op 70. Composed in 1884-85. A period that saw
many financial
rewards for the composer of the popular slavonic dances. Large fees from
concerts conducted in London, and advances for works from his publisher
such as the choral work 'The Spectres Bride'and his 7th symphony regarded
by many as his finist symphony. It was requested by the Royal Philharmonic
Society of London in 1884. The London Philharmonic premired the work in
1884, to great acclaim. It was inspired by the death of Dvorak's mother
and he admitted to being influenced by Brahms third symphony.
Dvorak Sym No
8
Foprmerly No 4, in G, op 88. Composed between August and early November of
1889 in the
peaceful surroundings of his country home. FP in Prague the following
February. His intention was a work of traditional construction but highly
nationalistic overtones. Distinctly Czech in style and disctintly Dvorak.
Dvorak Sym No
9
Formerly No 5, in e minor, Op 95
From
the
New World Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, op. 95
("From the New World")
Brief program
notes by D. Kern Holoman
Dvorak came to the USA in 1892 to work for patroness Jeanette Thurber
as director of her conservatory of music in NYC. He was inspired by the
native American and Negro music
he heard. He combined melodies of his Czech heritage with these themes
for his "New World Symphony".
Dvorak Sonatina Op 100
in
G
The Dvorak Sonatina in G major for violin and piano was written in the
USA while he was director of the National Cnservatory of Music in NYC. It
was the third chamber work he had composed in 1893. It was for his
children and kept simple for them to play.
Dvorak Violin Concerto in
a
This concerto by the Czech composer, violist, teacher and strong champion
of nationalism in music, based most of his music on native folk elements.
He dedicated this work to popular violinist of the time, Joseph Joachim
who never publicly performed the piece.
Dvorak 'Water
Goblin'
Dvorak Wood
Dove
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