Art Collage JANG: 105. Classical Music: 20. Antonín Dvořák, ACJ Music Academy

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This week's lecture is “Antonín Dvořák”, the 20th topic of “Classical Music”, which is a summary of the contents of “105. Classical Music: 20. Antonín Dvořák” introduced on September 30th, 2017.

Antonín Dvořák, born on September 8, 1841 and died on May 1, 1904, was a Czech composer, one of the first internationally recognized.

Dvořák's birthplace in Nelahozeves

Following the Romantic-era nationalist example of his predecessor Bedřich Smetana, Dvořák frequently used rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia.

Bedřich Smetana

He showed his musical talent from an early age, learning the violin at the age of six. The first public performances of his works were in Prague in 1872, and was particularly successful in 1873 when he was 31 years old. To gain recognition beyond the Prague region, he submitted a score of his First Symphony to a German competition, but did not win, and the unreturned manuscript remained lost until rediscovered many decades later.

In 1874 he made a submission to the Austrian State Prize for Composition, including two symphonies and other works. Although he did not know it at the time, Johannes Brahms, who was the leading jury member of the contest, was very impressed with his work and Dvořák was awarded the prize. Brahms recommended Dvořák to his publisher, Simrock, who soon afterward commissioned Dvořák for a work what became the “Slavonic Dances, Op. 46.” In 1878, the Berlin music critic Louis Ehlert praised the piece, and the score had excellent sales, and Dvořák's international fame finally began.

Johannes Brahms

Dvořák's first work of a religious character, "Stabat Mater", was premiered in Prague in 1880 and had a successful performance in London in 1883, followed by many other performances in the United Kingdom and the United States. Dvořák often performed his own pieces in nine invited performances in England, and his Seventh Symphony was composed for London. On a visit to Russia in March 1890, he had concerts with his own music in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. In 1891, Dvořák was appointed as a professor at the Prague Conservatory, and in 1890–91 he composed his “Dumky Trio”, one of his most successful chamber music works.

Prague Conservatory

In 1892, Dvořák moved to the United States, where he became the director of the National Conservatory of Music of America in New York City. While in the United States, Dvořák wrote his two most successful orchestral works: the Symphony “From the New World”, which spread his fame worldwide, and his “Cello Concerto”, one of the most highly regarded of all cello concerti.

The title page of the autograph score of Dvořák's ninth
symphony, From the New World

In the summer of 1893, Dvořák moved from New York City to Spillville, Iowa, where his most famous piece of chamber music, "String Quartet in F major, Op. 96", which was later earned the nickname the "American Quartet”, was written.

Dvořák's funeral on 5 May 1904

Shortly after moving to Iowa, Dvorák extended his contract with the National Conservatory for two more years, but the financial crisis of April 1893 worsened the Conservatory's financial situation. Unable to receive his salary, Dvorák, along with increasing recognition in Europe and an onset of homesickness, returned to Bohemia in 1895.

Dvořák's grave in the Vyšehrad cemetery

Except his first opera, All of Dvořák's nine operas have librettos in Czech and, like some of his choral works, were intended to convey the Czech national spirit. The most successful of his operas to date is “Rusalka”, and his seventh Humoresque and the song “Songs My Mother Taught Me” are also widely performed and recorded.