Antonín Dvořák

18 November 1878 was a decisive day in the life of Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904). Until then, Dvořák had been an unknown provincial musician, making ends meet as best he could, though he was at least recognised as a composer in his native Prague and had even attracted the attention of a famous colleague – Johannes Brahms. Brahms had actively supported the struggling composer in need of assistance and recommended him to his publisher. On that November day, an enthusiastic review by a renowned critic of Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances, Op. 46, appeared in the Berliner National-Zeitung. The dances were then snapped up by music dealers, and overnight Dvořák became a well-known figure. Following this sensational success, requests and commissions poured in from all sides. Within a year, his works had conquered international concert halls, and before long he was regarded in his native Bohemia as the country’s foremost composer.

Although Dvořák’s greatest achievement was to unite the idioms and musical traditions of his Bohemian-Moravian homeland with European art music, thereby enriching it, it would be wrong to reduce his work to this national aspect alone. Dvořák was a universal musician whose oeuvre comprises over 100 opus numbers and substantial contributions to almost every genre of his time. He was able to absorb diverse stylistic elements into his musical language without ever losing his personal voice. The scope, nature and variety of his compositions are linked to a side of his artistry often overlooked in contrast to his seemingly inexhaustible melodic invention: Dvořák was a meticulous craftsman who laboured diligently over the refinement of his scores and, even in large-scale orchestral works, never treated any instrument as mere filler.

Dvořák’s music aroused genuine enthusiasm in England. During the 1880s he received no fewer than eight honourable invitations to visit, each accompanied by prestigious commissions. This was all the more significant because, in German-speaking countries, he was primarily regarded as an exponent of Czech national culture and suffered from the effects of nationalist quarrels within the multi-ethnic Austro-Hungarian Empire. Later, Dvořák became the first European composer of stature to answer the call to America. From 1892 to 1895 he served at the National Conservatory in New York. In this highly productive period he also incorporated elements of American folklore into his music, creating masterpieces such as the Ninth Symphony, From the New World. Upon returning to Europe, Dvořák devoted himself mainly to composing symphonic poems and operas, of which Rusalka became particularly famous. He died on 1 May 1904 in Prague.