Dvořák: Slavonic Dances

Author: (Czech) Antonín Dvo?ák
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: Antonín Dvo?ák was born on September 8, 1841, in the village of Nelahozeves near Prague, the son of a small innkeeper who also worked as a butcher. From 1857, he studied at the Prague Organ School for two years. After graduation, he worked in orchestras in Prague and the "Provisional Theatre" until 1871. In 1871, Dvo?ák resigned from his theater orchestra job and supported himself by teaching after marriage. In the 1870s, his two works—the patriotic choral cantata Son of the White Mountains and the vocal cycle Moravian Duets—marked his entry into a mature creative period and his emergence as a national artist. Son of the White Mountains was successfully premiered by the famous "Prague Choral Society" in 1873, becoming a major event or turning point in Dvo?ák's creative life, after which some of his works, such as the Symphony No. 3 in B-flat major, were performed successively. In 1875, while applying for the Austrian government's "State Grant for Destitute Young Artists," his submitted works were appreciated by the German composer Johannes Brahms, who was serving on the grant evaluation committee. As a result, these two composers maintained a deep and profound friendship throughout their lives. In 1878, Dvo?ák held a concert of his works in Prague, conducting his orchestra for the first time, opening up a new realm for his artistic activities.
Apart from the works mentioned above and the set of Slavonic Dances, three Slavonic Rhapsodies, and the Requiem written in the late 1870s, most of Dvo?ák's major compositions were created in the 1880s, including the Symphonies No. 6 to No. 8, the Violin Concerto in A minor, the operas Dmitri and The Jacobites, the Hussite Overture, and the second set of Slavonic Dances. The 1880s were also a decade when Dvo?ák gained immense fame both domestically and internationally. He traveled to England five times to perform. In England, he conducted his own works, premiering the oratorio St. Ludmila, the cantata The Bride of the Ghosts, and the Symphony No. 7—his Symphony No. 7 in D minor was specifically written for the closely associated London Philharmonic Society. His Symphony No. 8 in G major, which was first published in England, was even titled The English Symphony. To express the highest respect for Dvo?ák, the University of Cambridge in England awarded him an honorary doctorate in music in 1891—Tchaikovsky and Grieg also received the same honor in the late 19th century. In 1888, Dvo?ák's meeting with Tchaikovsky was a significant event in his life; at Tchaikovsky's invitation, Dvo?ák traveled to Moscow and St. Petersburg to perform his works, achieving great success. In the early 1890s, Dvo?ák traveled multiple times to London, Berlin, Budapest, New York, and other cities in Europe and America, conducting and performing his own works. In the autumn of 1892, Dvo?ák accepted an invitation from the United States, temporarily leaving his position as a professor at the Prague Conservatory since 1890, to become the president of the National Conservatory of Music in New York. During his time in the U.S., he composed his most famous works: the Symphony No. 9 "From the New World" and the Cello Concerto in D minor. In the late spring of 1894, Dvo?ák returned to Bohemia, to his homeland and the Czech people who had always cared for him. He continued teaching at the Prague Conservatory and was appointed its president in 1901, mentoring over fifty musicians, including the renowned composers Vítězslav Novák (1870–1949), Josef Suk (1874–1935), and the Bulgarian Dobri Hristov (1875–1941). After returning home, Dvo?ák composed four symphonic poems and three operas, among which The Water (or The Water Maid) received long-lasting and widespread acclaim upon its premiere in 1901, not inferior to Smetana's The Bartered Bride. In 1901, when Dvo?ák turned sixty, grand celebrations were held in Prague, London, and Vienna in his honor. However, during this period, Dvo?ák began suffering from an incurable illness affecting his kidneys and other organs. He passed away suddenly in Prague on May 1, 1904, due to a cerebral hemorrhage.