Dvorak: Slavonic Rhapsodies Op. 45, Nos. 1 - 3

Description

Antonin Dvorak (1841 - 1904) Rhapsody Op. 14 Slavonic Rhapsodies Op. 45, Nos. 1, 2 & 3 Antonin Dvorak must be considered the greatest of the Czechnationalist composers of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, and he certainlyenjoys the widest international popularity. His achievement was to bring together musicthat derived its inspiration from Bohemia's woods and fields with the classical traditionscontinued by Brahms in Vienna.Dvorak was born in 1841 in a village of Bohemia, where hisfather combined the trades of inn-keeper and butcher, which it was expected that his sonwould later follow. As a child he played in his father's village band, his early trainingwas as a violinist in the hands of the village schoolmaster. Schooling in Zlonice, wherehe was sent at the age of twelve, lodging with an uncle, allowed instruction in therudiments of music from Antonin Liehmann. Two years later he was sent to Kamenice to learnGerman, but the following year the needs of his family made it necessary for him to returnto Zlonice, where his parents had now settled, to help in the butcher's shop. Liehmanncontinued his lessons and persuaded his father to allow him to study in Prague. In 1857 heentered the Prague Organ School, where he was able to remain for two years.Dvorak at first earned his living in Prague playing the violain a band led by Karel Komsak, which was later to form part of the Provisional Theatreorchestra, established in 1862. He was to become principal viola-player and to continue asan orchestral player for the next nine years, for some time under the direction ofSmetana, who exercised considerable influence on Dvorak’s parallel work as acomposer.In 1871 Dvorak found himself able to resign from theProvisional Theatre orchestra and to marry. He took a position as organist at the churchof St. Adalbert, taught a few pupils and otherwise devoted himself to composition. It wasthrough the encouragement of Brahms, four years later, that his music was broughtgradually to the attention of a much wider public. In particular Brahms was able topersuade Simrock to publish Dvorak's Moravian Duets.Their success was followed by the publisher's request for a further set, the first seriesof Slavonic Dances, Opus 46, also composedfor piano duet, but orchestrated at the same time by the composer. The same year, 1878,saw the composition of the three Slavonic Rhapsodies,Opus 45. From this time onwards Dvorak's fame was to grow and he was towin particular popularity in Germany and in England, visiting the latter country onseveral occasions and fulfilling commissions for choral works for Birmingham and Leeds. In1891 he was appointed professor of composition at Prague Conservatory and the followingyear accepted an invitation to go to New York as director of the new NationalConservatory. The period in America gave rise to one of his best known works, the Symphony"From the New World". By 1895 he was back again in Prague, teaching at theConservatory, of which he be