Dvořák, Antonín (Leopold) (b Nelahozeves, Bohemia, 1841; d Prague, 1904). Cz. (Bohem.) composer. Son of a village butcher, Dvořák as a child helped in the shop and also showed talent as a violinist. At 14 he was sent to relatives in Zlonice to learn Ger.; while there he was taught va., org., pf., and counterpoint by A. Liehmann. From 1857 to 1859 he attended the Org. Sch., Prague, leaving to become va. player in a band and later in the orch. of Prague Nat. Th., 1866–73, playing under Smetana. At this time he comp. several works which he later destroyed or withdrew, the most significant being a song-cycle Cypress Trees from which he drew themes in later years (for the Vc. Conc., for example). The cycle was a tale of disappointed love, the result of Dvořák's disappointment that a girl he adored married someone else. (He later married her sister.) Like most young composers of the time, his natural tendencies were complicated by the inescapable influence of Wagner. His first opera, Alfred (1870) was Wagnerian in tone. Three years later he had his first major success with a cantata, Hymnus (The Heirs of the White Mountain), which enabled him to give up his orch. playing. In 1874 his sym. in E♭ won him an Austrian nat. prize, Brahms being on the jury. Two years later the Moravian duets won him the same prize, and Brahms recommended them to the publisher Simrock. The nationalist element in such works as the Slavonic Rhapsodies—the results of Smetana's beneficial influence—earned Dvořák increasing recognition and requests for new works e.g. from Joachim for a vn. conc. and from Hans Richter for a sym. Both Richter and Bülow championed his mus. in their concerts. In 1884 he paid the first of 9 visits to England and cond. his Stabat Mater which had scored a tremendous success the previous year under Barnby. His popularity in Britain was immediate and sustained both as comp. and cond., and he was financially successful enough to be able to buy an estate in S. Bohemia. Several of his works were written for or first perf. in Eng., e.g. the sym. in D minor (No.7), comp. for the Phil. Soc. (1885), the cantata The Spectre's Bride (Birmingham, 1885), the oratorio St Ludmila (Leeds, 1886), the sym. in G major (No.8) (Phil. Soc. 1888), and the Requiem (Birmingham, 1891). Cambridge made him Hon. D.Mus. in 1891 and in the same year he was appointed prof. of comp. at Prague Cons. The Cons. granted him leave to accept the invitation of Mrs Jeanette Thurber, founder in 1885 of the Nat. Cons. of Mus., NY, to become dir. of the cons. He remained in Amer. for 3 years, a fruitful period in which he wrote some of his finest works, incl. the ‘New World’ Sym., the vc. conc., the Biblical Songs, the str. qt. Op.96, and the str. quintet Op.97. His art seems to have been intensified by a combination of the influence of Negro melodies and of a deep homesickness. He returned to his teaching post in Prague in 1895, becoming dir. of Prague Cons. in 1901. His pupils incl. his son-in-law Suk, and Novák. In his last years he devoted his creative energies to symphonic poems and to operas.

Dvořák's mus. is a particularly happy result of the major influences on his art: Wagner, Brahms, and folk mus. His innate gift for melody was Schubertian and his felicitous orchestration, often reflecting natural and pastoral elements, is of an art that conceals art. But a tendency to regard him as blithely naïve would be both unjust and misleading, for his mastery of form and his contrapuntal and harmonic skill are the manifestations of a powerful mus. intellect. The nationalist feeling in his mus. is beautifully integrated into classical structures and his use of Cz. dances and songs, such as the furiant, polka, skočná (reel), dumka, and sousedská (slow waltz), is in no way bizarre. His syms., the vc. conc., and perhaps above all his chamber mus. show the best side of his work; the operas, apart from Rusalka, are only just beginning to travel outside Czechoslovakia; and the choral works which won him such a following in late Victorian Eng. are due for rehabilitation. For many years it was customary to credit him only with the 5 syms. pubd. in his lifetime, but the 4 early examples have now been accepted into the canon and the whole series is numbered chronologically. Prin. works:OPERAS: Alfred (unpubd.) (1870); King and Charcoal Burner (Král a uhliř) (1871, totally re-composed 1874, rev. 1887), Op.14; The Stubborn Lovers (Tvrdé palice) (1874), Op.17; Vanda (1875, rev. 1879, 1883) Op.25; The Peasant a Rogue (Šelma sedlák) (1877), Op.35; Dimitrij (1881–2, revs. 1883, 1885, 1894–5), Op.64; The Jacobin (1887–8, rev. 1897), Op.84; Kate and the Devil (Čert a Káča) (1898–9), Op.112; Rusalka (1900), Op.114; Armida (1902–3), Op.115.SYMPHONIES: No.1 in C minor (The Bells of Zlonice) (1865) (no Op. no., recovered 1923, pubd. 1961); No.2 in B♭ (1865) (no Op. no.); No.3 in E♭ (1873), (no Op. no. but orig. Op.10); No.4 in D minor (1874) (no Op. no. but orig. Op.13, pubd. 1912); No.5 in F major (1875, rev. 1887), Op.76 (orig. Op.24 and formerly No.3); No.6 in D major (1880), Op.60 (formerly No.1); No.7 in D minor (1884–5), Op.70 (formerly No.2); No.8 in G major (1889), Op.88 (formerly No.4); No.9 in E minor (From the New World) (1893), Op.95 (formerly No.5).ORCH.: sym.-poems: The Water sprite (Vodník), Op.107 (1896); The Noonday Witch (Polednice), Op.108 (1896); The Golden Spinning Wheel (Zlatý Kolovrat), Op.109 (1896); The Wood Dove (Holoubek), Op.110 (1896); Heroic Song, Op.111 (1897); Ovs.: My Home, Op.62a (1882); Hussite (Husitská), Op.67 (1883); Cycle, Nature, Life and Love comprising Amid Nature, Op.91, Carneval, Op.92, and Othello, Op.93 (1891–2); Serenade in E major, str., Op.22 (1875); Suite in D (Czech), Op.39 (1879); Serenade in D minor, wind, vc., bass, Op.44 (1878); 3 Slavonic Rhapsodies in D, G minor, and A♭, Op.45 (1878); 8 Slavonic Dances, 1st series, Op.46 (1878), 8 (2nd series) Op.72 (1886); Legends, Op.59 (1881); Scherzo capriccioso, Op.66 (1883); Symphonic variations, Op.78 (1877, orig. Op.40).SOLOIST & ORCH.: vc. conc. in A major (1865, with pf. acc. only. Orch. Raphael 1928, Burghauser 1975, vc. part ed. Sádló); Romance for vn., Op.11 (1873–7, arr. of andante con moto of str. qt. in F minor, Op.9, of 1873); pf. conc. in G minor, Op.33 (1876); Mazurka for vn., Op.49 (1879); vn. conc. in A minor, Op.53 (1879–80); Rondo for vc., Op.94 (1893); Forest Calm, for vc. (1891); vc. conc. in B minor, Op.104 (1894–5).CHAMBER MUSIC: string quartets: F minor, Op.9 (1873), A minor, Op.12 (1873), A minor, Op.16 (1874), D minor, Op.34 (1877), E♭, Op.51 (1878–79), C major, Op.61 (1881), E major, Op.80 (1876, orig. Op.27), F major (the ‘American’), Op.96 (1893), A♭, Op.105 (1895), G major, Op.106 (1895). Also several without Opus no. incl. Cypresses (Cypřiše) (1887); string quintets: G major, Op.77, with db. (1875, orig. Op.18), E♭, Op.97 (1893); string sextet: A major, Op.48 (1878); pf. trios: B♭, Op.21 (1875), G minor, Op.26 (1876), F minor, Op.65 (1883), E minor (Dumka) Op.90 (1890–1); pf. qts.: D major, Op.23 (1875), E♭, Op.87 (1889); pf. quintet: A major, Op.81 (1887); Bagatelles (Maličkosti), 2 vn., vc., harmonium (or pf.), Op.47 (1878); Terzetto, 2 vn., va., Op.74 (1887); vn. sonata: F major, Op.57 (1880); vn. sonatina in G, Op.100 (1893).CHORAL: Stabat Mater, Op.58 (1876–7, orig. Op.28); The Spectre's Bride, Op.69 (1884); St Ludmila, Op.71 (1885–6); Mass in D, Op.86 (1887, rev. 1892); Requiem, Op.89 (1890); The American Flag, Op.102 (1892); Te Deum, Op.103 (1892); Hymn of the Czech Peasants (Hymna ceského rolnictva), Op.28 (1885); with 4-hand acc., Hymnus, Op.30 (1872, orig. Op.4); Amid Nature (Vpřírodě), 5 ch., Op.63 (1882).SONGS: cycle, Cypress Trees, 18 songs to words by Pflager (1865), unpubd. in orig. form but pubd. as 4 Songs, Op.2, 8 Love Songs, Op.83 (1888) and Cypress Trees for str. qt; 5 Evening Songs, Op.31 (1876); 3 Modern Greek Songs, Op.50 (1878); 7 Gipsy Songs, Op.55 (1880; No.4 is Songs my Mother taught me); 4 Songs, Op.82 (1887–8); 10 Biblical Songs, Op.99 (1894, Nos. 1 and 5 are orch.).PIANO: Silhouettes, Op.8 (1879); Dumka and Furiant, Op.12 (1884); Dumka, Op.35 (1876); Theme and Variations, Op.36 (1876); Scottish Dances, Op.41 (1877); 4 Pieces, Op.52 (1880); 8 Waltzes, Op.54 (1879–80; Nos. 1 and 4 arr. for str. qt.); 6 Mazurkas, Op.56 (1880); Poetic Tone Pictures (Poetické nálady), Op.85 (1889); Suite in A, Op.98 (1894, arr. for orch.); 8 Humoresques, Op.101 (1894; No.7 is the famous one); Éclogues (1880); Album Leaves (1881).PIANO DUETS: 16 Slavonic Dances, Opp. 46 and 72 (2 sets of 8; also for orch.); Legends, Op.59 (1881, also for orch.); From the Bohemian Forest (Ze Šumavy), Op.68 (1884).

Antonin Dvořák

Antonin Dvořák (1841-1904), one of the greatest Czech composers, is most noted for his attractive and apparently effortless melodic gifts and the unfailing brilliance of his orchestration.

Antonin Dvořák was a nationalistic musician, basing his style on melodic and rhythmic patterns found in the folk music of his own country. At the same time he was not excessively concerned with program music, and he worked most successfully in instrumental forms utilizing traditional classical structures, such as symphonies and chamber works. Even those compositions which contain programmatic titles tend toward a general atmosphere rather than a musical structure that follows a preconceived literary outline.

Born on Sept. 8, 1841, in a small town near Prague into a moderately poor worker's family, Dvořák showed considerable interest in music as a child. When he was 16 he moved to Prague to continue his education, studying at the Prague Organ School from 1857 to 1859. He received not only a thorough musical training that introduced him to the works of the great masters of the past, but also one that exposed him to the more "advanced" composers like Robert Schumann and Richard Wagner.

In 1861 Dvořák joined the orchestra of the National Theater in Prague as a violist, where he remained for 10 years, performing for a while under the leadership of Bedřich Smetana. During this time Dvořák wrote numerous compositions, but not until 1873, with a performance of his grand patriotic work Hymnus for chorus and orchestra, did he achieve some renown. His compositions attracted the attention of Johannes Brahms, who prevailed upon his publisher to print some of Dvořák's works. The two composers became close friends.

Always composing an apparently effortless output of music, including the popular Slavonic Dances (1878), Dvořák soon became a professor of composition at the Prague Conservatory. In 1884 he made the first of a series of trips to London to conduct his own music. There he earned a commission to compose a choral work, The Spectre's Bride. He received an honorary doctorate degree from Cambridge University in 1891, the same year he composed his popular Carnival overture.

After successful tours of Russia and Germany, Dvořák accepted an invitation in 1892 to became the director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York City. While in the United States he wrote what is probably his most famous work, the Symphony in E Minor, From the New World (1893). There has always been some confusion as to the extent to which Dvořák either imitated or directly borrowed melodic material from American folk music. All the music is original, however, and despite the fact that the theme of the second movement has been made into the song "Goin' Home," it is not an African American spiritual but a melodic invention by Dvořák. Perhaps the greatest problem presented by the New World Symphony is that it tends to blind audiences to the merits of some of his other symphonies. One in G major (1889) and another in D minor (1885) are certainly its equal in musical quality. In 1893 he also wrote his American String Quartet, the best-known of his 13 quartets, and a charming sonatina for violin and piano, a masterpiece in miniature.

In 1895 Dvořák returned to the Prague Conservatory, completing his cello concerto, probably the most outstanding concerto ever written for that instrument, and a perennial concert favorite. From this point on he concentrated on symphonic poems and operas. Rusalka, the ninth of his 10 operas, completed in 1900, was his last major work. Very popular in Czechoslovakia although rarely performed outside the country, Rusalka is a stunning lyric fantasy, an evocative retelling of the familiar story of the water nymph who fell in love with an all-too-human prince. In 1901 Dvořák became the director of the Prague Conservatory. He died on May 1, 1904.

Further Reading

Two major studies of Dvořák are John Clapham, Antonin Dvořák: Musician and Craftsman (1966), which deals mainly with the music, and Gervase Hughes, Dvořák: His Life and Music (1967), which treats the biographical data and the works in chronological order. An earlier but still useful work is Alec Robertson, Dvořák (1945). Good background studies are Gerald Abraham, A Hundred Years of Music (1938; 3d ed. 1964); Rosa Newmarch, The Music of Czechoslovakia (1942); and Alfred Einstein, Music in the Romantic Era (1947).

Additional Sources

Butterworth, Neil, Dvořák, London; New York: Omnibus Press, 1984, 1980.

Butterworth, Neil, Dvořák: his life and times, Speldhurst Eng.: Midas Books, 1980.

Clapham, John, Dvořák, New York: Norton, 1979. □

Antonín Dvořák , 1841–1904, Czech composer. He studied at the Organ School, Prague (1857–59) and played viola in the National Theater Orchestra (1861–71) under Smetana . With the performance (1873) of his Hymnus he attracted wide attention. In 1884 he went to England to conduct some of his works and eight years later moved on to the United States. While director (1892–94) of the National Conservatory, New York, he composed his most famous work, the Symphony in E Minor, Op. 95, From the New World (1893). It conveys with great exuberance Dvořák's impressions of American scenes and folk music and at the same time evokes nostalgia for his native land. After his return to Prague he was professor and director of the conservatory there. He drew freely on Czech folk music and materials in his works, which are outstanding for their rhythmic variety, melodic invention, and brilliant instrumentation. They include nine symphonies (two published posthumously), as well as symphonic poems, concertos, overtures, string quartets and other chamber music, operas, songs, choral works (mostly religious), and some piano pieces, notable for their freshness of romantic imagination.

Bibliography: See biographical studies by G. Hughes (1967), J. Clapham (1966), V. Fischl, ed. (1943, repr. 1970), and M. B. Beckerman (2002).

Dvořák, Antonín (1841–1904) Czech composer. He adapted Czech folk music to a classical style. Best known for his orchestral works, which include nine symphonies, two sets of Slavonic Dances and several symphonic poems, his Cello Concerto (1895) is one of the supreme achievements of the form. His stay in the USA (1892–95) inspired his most popular work, the Symphony in E minor (“From the New World”).