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dvorak

dvorak Looking back in time at the great composers of the world, only one foreign composer stands out for his many contributions to classical music and in helping America to find its own music. Antonin Leopold Dvorak was born on September 8th, 1841, in a small village of Nelahozeves in Bohemia that lies on the bank of the Mauldau River. The village Dvorak was born into was in good company and surroundings however also retained much of its native luster even through the worst times of political oppression (1). Dvorak grew up around much political discussion within his father’s Inn, however he was never interested in politics, he was more interested in crops just as the other sensible folk in his village. When Dvorak was eight he attended the village for two years, and there he met Josef Spitz whom was the schoolmaster/village/organist that young Dvorak studied the violin from. He soon played well enough to sit beside his father at the Inn and play when the village band went into action (6). Antonin was often called upon to exhibit his talent to the villagers under the proud eye of his father. Unfortunately, facts about his early training that might have been passed down were lost when the old schoolhouse burned down in 1885 (1). At the end of 1853 Antonin’s father sent him to Zlonice to extend his studies, and that he did studying with Antonin Liehmann, whom he learned the organ, piano and viola, as well as continuing his violin studies. With Liehmann he also began studying harmony leading him into composition, for Liehmann has his own orchestra to play them in return. Dvorak’s family soon moved to Zlonice at the insistence of their Uncle, then Dvorak was sent of to intensely study the German language without distractions. At this time Dvorak had been maturing quickly as a musician and for that he was taken in as an understudy at St. Jacob’s Church. At the age of sixteen, Dvorak was sent off again, this time to the Organ School in Prague, which in 1890 was absorbed into the Prague Conservatory of Music. After Dvorak left the Organ School in 1859, he basically disappeared from the public eye for twelve years until 1871, which is when he emerged back into the public as a composer. For those twelve years he spent in seclusion, he was occupied with extensive writing in the classical form (8). To much grief and disappointment Dvorak’s first son died in September and his second daughter in October of 1877. These tragic losses were experienced within his grandiose oratorio “Stabat Mater.” For the next twenty years, Dvorak was invited to other European countries to conduct performances of his own works while enduring a struggling relationship with his publisher Hitherto Simrock (7). In the spring of 1891 Dvorak received a telegram from Vienna inquiring that he accept an important job offer in New York, however he showed no interest. When he later received more details and then finally a contract he was more convinced. He would teach for three hours a day, prepare four student’s concerts, conduct six concerts of his own music in American towns, have a four month vacation and be paid $15,000 yearly (4). At first he wanted to accept the concert engagements but decline the directorship, however this did not suit Mrs. Thurber, who is the owner of the National Conservatory of Music in New York. After making several adjustments to the contract Dvorak agreed to accept the position for two years, although he was a little distraught about the journey away from the homeland he loved so much (3). Dvorak was due to arrive in New York when the celebrations for Columbus’ discovery of America were going on. Mrs. Thurber requested that Dvorak write a commemorative work for the occasion as well as for the 12th of October. Upon arrival to the U.S. Dvorak was formally greeted but was also mobbed by journalists who wanted to find out every little detail of the composer’s life. While in New York, Dvorak visited Central Park very often for reflection and to pursue his hobby of train-spotting (5). With his first four-month vacation approaching, Dvorak, his wife, and his eldest son and daughter, were talked out of returning home for the vacation, but talked into spending the time in a small Czech settlement in the north-east corner of Iowa called Spillville. The American-Czech violinist Josef J.Koverik whom Dvorak took with him from Prague brought this idea to him. Dvorak accepted and arranged for his sister-in-law to bring the four other children to the U.S. for the Vacation. The family found Spillville to be a comfortable environment much like home, and this immediately inspired Dvorak to compose (4). His first composition on American soil so happens to be the great Symphony in E Minor, opus 95, “From the New World.” In New York after his vacation, he found it unsettling to transition back from the picturesque life in Spillville. He was soon expected to have a decision about renewal of his contract for another one or two years by that following November. There were definite financial advantages to this renewal however Mrs. Thurber was paying his salary rather irregularly and in fact did owe him money while he was signing the contract for the next term and promised that to him or he could annul the contract at any time (3). During his second stay in America, Dvorak composed the fabulous cello Concerto in B Minor, opus 104, which was written in New York between November 8th, 1894 and February 9th, 1895. Also in America, Dvorak became very intrigued with finding an indigenous song form for America. This he found in the Spirituals written before and during his lifetime. Mostly Negro spirituals he came into contact with because of a Negro student at the conservatory in New York. These melodies that were found in this music, Dvorak used in some of his works and scarcely throughout other works. In 1896, at the age of fifty-five, he began to compose symphonic poems which were new to him. Between this period and his death in 1904, Dvorak conducted and attended concerts of his own works as he did throughout his life. In 1901, Dvorak was unanimously elected successor to Ant. Bennewitz as director of the Prague Conservatory (2). His 60th birthday also in 1901 was celebrated all throughout Bohemia and Moravia along with performances of a cycle of his own operas. It soon became clear that the great composer was seriously ill and by April 5th, 1904, doctors discovered that he was suffering from generalized arterial degeneration with some involvement of the kidneys (2), however this great man died suddenly on May 1st, 1904. Because of the many accomplishments of Antonin Dvorak, his works as well as few students of his, will be remembered and loved by the American public forever. Bibliography:

Word Count: 1153