Antonín Dvořák

Antonín Leopold Dvořák was born in Nelahozeves, a village north of Prague in the Austrian Empire, on September 8, 1841, and is best known for his Symphony No. 9 , "From the New World", and other works that make him one of the greatest composers of the Romantic period. The son of a butcher and innkeeper, and the eldest of nine siblings, he was destined to succeed his father, but his taste for music decided otherwise. He learns the violin at school and proves talented enough to play in the local brass band and church. Sent to his uncle in Zlonice to learn German, he assiduously took lessons from Antonín Liehmann, who also taught him organ, piano, violin and music theory. In 1857, at his teacher's insistence, the young Dvořák's father agreed to let him study the organ in Prague, with renowned pedagogues including Joseph Foerster. Dvořák played viola in several groups and orchestras, including the St. Cecilia Society, and obtained his organist's diploma in 1859. He joined Karel Komzák's orchestra, the Prager Kapelle, which performed in restaurants and at balls, before being integrated in 1862 into the orchestra of the Prague Provisional Theater directed by Jan Nepomuk Maýr, later to become the Prague National Theater. This experience enabled him to play under composers such as Smetana, Wagner and Balakirev. In 1862, he completed a String Quartet no. 1 in A major (op. 2), followed by Symphony no. 1 "The Bells of Zlonice " and Symphony no. 2 in 1865. In 1866, Bedřich Smetana took over from Maýr at the Provisional Theater, where Dvořák's colleague was Josefina Čermáková, with whom he fell unsuccessfully in love. He finally married her sister Anna in 1873, giving her piano lessons and giving birth to nine children, including Otýlie, who married the famous violinist and composer Josef Suk. In 1870, Dvořák finished composing his first opera, Alfred, and began work on the next, The King and the Coalman, which, like all his earlier works, was created late. He left the Opéra orchestra the following year and lived from private lessons, before finding a job in 1874 as organist at Saint-Adalbert church, whose choirmaster was none other than his former teacher Foerster. In the meantime, his Piano Quintet op. 5 was first performed in concert in 1872, and he scored his first success with the patriotic cantata Hymnus (or The Heirs of the White Mountain, 1873), which won the Vienna State Competition, securing him an annuity and enabling him to make the acquaintance of one of the jury members, Johannes Brahms. He was also commissioned to write some fifteen works, including two symphonies, premiered in Prague in 1875. This proved to be a prolific year, with the composition of a second Piano Quintet op. 77, a 5th symphony, Piano Trio no. 1 and the Serenade for Strings op. 22. After winning the Viennese competition for a second time in 1876, Dvořák left his post as organist and unveiled his Symphonic Variations the following year. In 1877, he took part in the Vienna Competition, which he won with the Moravian Duets folk song cycle and his only Piano Concerto. He dedicated his String Quartet No. 9 to Brahms, who recommended it to his publisher Nikolaus Simrock. It was on Simrock's suggestion that he wrote his famous Slavonic Dances op. 46 (1878), for piano four hands and later in an orchestral version. They definitively established Dvořák's status throughout Europe. In 1879, violinist Joseph Joachim led the premiere of the Sextet for Strings, inspiring the composer to write his famous Violin Concerto, premiered on October 14, 1883 by another soloist, František Ondříček, while conductor Hans Richter asked him to write a 6th Symphony, which he conducted in London to the refusal of the Vienna Philharmonic musicians. Dvořák was very popular in England, where his Stabat Mater was revived at the Royal Albert Hall, three years after the 1880 premiere in Prague. Invited to conduct a series of concerts in 1884, he returned the following year to conduct his Symphony no. 7 and other works from his eight visits, including the cantata The Wedding Shirts and the oratorio Saint Ludmilla (1886). In 1890, after the premiere of his Symphony no. 8 on February 2, he visited Russia to conduct his works in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and on his return resumed his position as professor at the Prague Conservatory. On October 9, 1891, his Requiem was premiered at the Birmingham Festival. From 1892 to 1895, Dvořák lived through his "American period". A comfortable salary awaited him at the New York Conservatory, even if it was halved after the financial crisis of 1893, which dented the fortune of president and patron Jeannette Thurber. The composer wrote articles about his discovery of African-American and Native American music, although he denied having drawn inspiration from it for his Symphony no. 9, "From the New World", triumphantly premiered by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Anton Seidl on December 15, 1893. In Iowa, where he stayed, Dvořák composed the bluesy String Quartet no. 12 "American" op. 96 and the String Quintet of the same name op. 97, before beginning the famous Cello Concerto op. 104, premiered in London on March 19, 1896. Nostalgia for his native land, however, prompted him to return to Bohemia. He settled in Vysoká and resumed his position at the Prague Conservatory, becoming its director in 1901. He composed his last string quartets, five symphonic poems and worked on his operas, revising Le Jacobin (1898) and creating Le Diable et Catherine (1899), Rusalka (March 31, 1901) and Armide (1904). Featuring folk tunes, Rusalka remains the most famous, if only for the "Moon Song" in the first act. In April 1904, the Czech Music Festival devoted its entire program to his works, but the composer was too ill to attend. After a severe bout with influenza, he died on May 1, 1904 at the age of 62. A new catalog of his works was drawn up in 1960 by Jarmil Burghauser, each number preceded by the letter B.

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