Dvorak: Slavonic Dances, Opp. 46 And 72

Slov Phil

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Cat No: 8550143

Release Date: 12 January 1999

Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 4891030501430

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: DVORAK

Description
AntoninDvořak (1841 - 1904)Slavonic Dances (First Series), Opus 46 Slavonic Dances (Second Series), Opus 72 AntoninDvořak must be considered the greatest of the Czech nationalist composersof the nineteenth and early twentieth century, and he certainly enjoys thewidest international popularity. His achievement was to bring together musicthat derived its inspiration from Bohemia's woods and fields with the classicaltraditions continued by Brahms in Vienna.Dvořak wasborn in 1841 in a village of Bohemia, where his father combined the trades ofinn-keeper and butcher, which it was expected that his son would later follow.As a child he played in his father's village band, his early training as aviolinist in the hands of the village schoolmaster. Schooling in Zlonice, wherehe was sent at the age of twelve, lodging with an uncle, allowed instruction inthe rudiments of music from Antonin Liehmann. Two years later he was sent toKamenice to learn German, but the following year the needs of his family madeit necessary for him to return to Zlonice, where his parents had now settled,to help in the butcher's shop. Liehmann continued his lessons and persuaded hisfather to allow him to study in Prague. In 1857 he entered the Prague OrganSchool, where he was able to remain for two years.Dvořak atfirst earned his living in Prague playing the viola in a band led by KarelKomsak, which was later to form part of the Provisional Theatre orchestra,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 directionof Smetana, who exercised considerable influence on Dvořak's parallel workas a composer.In 1871Dvořak found himself able to resign from the Provisional Theatre orchestraand to marry. He took a position as organist at the church of St. Adalbert,taught a few pupils and otherwise devoted himself to composition. It wasthrough the encouragement of Brahms, four years later, that his music wasbrought gradually to the attention of a much wider public. In particular Brahmswas able to persuade Simrock to publish Dvořak's Moravian Duets. Their success was followedby the publisher's request for a further set, the first series of SlavonicDances, Opus 46, also composed for piano duet, but orchestrated at the sametime by the composer. The same year, 1878, saw the composition of the three Slavonic Rhapsodies, Opus 45.From this timeonwards Dvořak's fame was to grow and he was to win particular popularityin Germany and in England, visiting the latter country on several occasions andfulfilling commissions for choral works for Birmingham and Leeds.In 1891 he was appointed professor of composition at PragueConservatory and the following year accepted an invitation to go to New York asdirector of the new National Conservatory. The period in America gave rise toone of his best known works, the Symphony "From the New World". By1895 he was back again in Pragu
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