Dvorak: String Quartets No. 10, Op. 51 And No. 14, Op. 105

Vlach 4T

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Cat No: 8553374

Release Date: 12 January 1999

Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 730099437424

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: DVORAK

Description
Antonfn Dvorak (1841 -1904)String Quartets V 01. 4String Quartet No.10 in E flat Major, Op. 51String Quartet No.14 in A flat major, Op. 105 Antonin Dvorak was born in 1841, the son of a butcher andinnkeeper in the village of Nelahozeves, near Kralupy in Bohemia and some fortymiles north of Prague. It was natural that he should follow the example of hisfather and grandfather by learning the family trade, and to this end he leftschool at the age of eleven. There is no reliable record of his competence inbutchery, but his musical abilities were early apparent, and in 1853 he wassent to lodge with an uncle in Zlonice, where he continued an apprenticeshipstarted at home, learning German and improving his know ledge of music,rudimentary skill in which he had already acquired at home and in the villageband and church.Further study of German and of music at Kamenice, a townin northern Bohemia, led to his admission, in 1857, to the Prague Organ School,from which he graduated two years later. In the years that followed, Dvorak earned his living as aviola-player in a band under the direction of Karel Komzak which was to formthe nucleus of the Provisional Theatre Orchestra, established in 1862. Fouryears later Smetana was appointed conductor of the opera-house, where his Czechoperas The Brandenburgers in Bohemia and The Bartered Bride hadalready been performed. It was not until 1871 that Dvorak resigned from thetheatre orchestra, to devote more time to composition, as his music began todraw some favourable local attention. Two years later he married and early in1874 became organist of the church of St Adalbert. During this period hecontinued to support himself by private teaching, while busy on a series ofcompositions that gradually became known to a wider circle. Further recognition came with the award of a Ministry ofEducation stipendium by a committee in Vienna that included the critic Eduard Hanslickand Brahms for a number of compositions submitted to the committee in 1874. Thefollowing year Dvorak failed to win the award, but was successful in 1876 andagain in 1877. His fourth application brought the personal interest of Hanslickand Brahms and a connection with Simrock, the latter's publisher, who expresseda wish to publish the Moraviiln Duets and commissioned a set of SlavonicDances for piano duet. These compositions won particular popularity. Therewere visits to Germany, as well as to England, where he was always receivedwith greater enthusiasm than a Czech composer would ever at that time have wonin Vienna. The series of compositions that followed secured him an unassailableposition in Czech music and a place of honour in the larger world. Early in 1891 Dvorak became professor of composition atPrague Conservatory. In the summer of the same year he was invited to become directorof the National Conservatory of Music in New York, a venture which, it washoped, would lay the foundations for American national music. The very Bohemianmus
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