Antonín Dvořák
He memorized locomotive engine numbers and transcribed the folk songs of his homeland onto staff paper — a composer who never lost his simplicity.
At a glance 🔭💭
Some coordinates adapted from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0) · Pleiades (CC BY 3.0)
People around him ⏳🌊
- TeacherAntonín Liehmann
He taught organ and harmony in Zlonice, opening the path to a life in music.
- FamilyAnna Čermáková
His wife, whom he married in 1873 — the younger sister of Josefina, the woman he had once loved unrequitedly.
- PatronageJohannes Brahms
He noticed him on the state scholarship jury and recommended him to a publisher, opening the way to international success.
- InfluenceBedřich Smetana
For nearly ten years he played viola under his baton in the Prague theater orchestra, watching Czech national opera take shape up close.
- FriendshipPyotr Tchaikovsky
They first met in Prague in 1888 and became friends who respected each other's music.
- StudentJosef Suk
He was a student at the Prague Conservatory and later became his son-in-law by marrying his daughter Otilie.
I. The boy from Nelahozeves · 1841–1857 (age 0–16)
(birth) He was born in September 1841 in Nelahozeves, a small village in Bohemia in the Austrian Empire (present-day Czech Republic). His father, František Dvořák, ran a butcher shop and inn while also playing the zither as an amateur musician, and his mother, Anna Zdeňková, was the daughter of a manor steward. The couple had fourteen children in all, but several died young, and Antonín was the eldest of the surviving children. (violin) He learned violin and singing from Josef Spitz, the village schoolteacher and organist. He showed his talent performing in the church choir and at village festivals, and it is said that from a young age he played for the guests who came to his father's inn. (Zlonice) Since carrying on the family trade as a butcher required learning German, he was sent around the age of twelve to his uncle in Zlonice. There he met the church organist and music teacher Antonín Liehmann, who recognized his talent and taught him organ, piano, viola, and harmony. (crossroads) His father hoped his son would obtain a butcher's license and take over the shop, but after repeated persuasion from Liehmann and his uncle, he was allowed to pursue music. In 1857, at the age of sixteen, he left home to enter the Prague Organ School.
II. An unknown musician in Prague · 1857–1873 (age 16–32)
(organ school) In 1857 he entered the Prague Organ School and completed the two-year course. He ranked second overall, but lived in poverty. His German was weak, so he had to take supplementary German lessons. (viola) After graduating, he joined the orchestra led by Karel Komzák as a violist, and this orchestra became the resident ensemble of the newly opened Provisional Theatre in Prague in 1862. From 1866 Bedřich Smetana took over as the theater's conductor, and for nearly a decade Dvořák sat in the viola section, playing under Smetana's direction and watching up close as Czech national opera took the stage. His salary was small, so he supplemented his living by giving private piano lessons. (Josefina) He fell deeply in love with his piano student Josefina Čermáková and in 1865 wrote the song cycle Cypresses for her, but his declaration of love was not accepted. Josefina later married a nobleman, and some years later Dvořák grew close to her younger sister, Anna Čermáková. (prolific silence) During this period he wrote symphonies, string quartets, and operas without pause, but had almost no chances to have them performed. Dissatisfied with his own work, he is said to have burned the scores of several early pieces himself. In 1871 he gave up his position at the theater to devote himself entirely to composing and teaching.
III. A bridge named Brahms · 1873–1878 (age 32–37)
(marriage) In 1873 he married Anna Čermáková. Children began to arrive the following year, but by 1877 he had lost, in succession, a daughter, Josefa, a daughter, Růžena, and a son, Otakar. Josefa died two days after birth, Růžena from phosphorus poisoning, and Otakar of smallpox at the age of three. (Stabat Mater) The grief brought on by these repeated losses led him to set the Latin devotional poem to music as Stabat Mater. He began writing it after Josefa's death in 1876, expanded it as he lost two more children, and completed it in 1877. (stipend) He repeatedly applied for the Austrian State Stipend for poor artists and won it in several years starting in 1874. Among the judges were the music critic Eduard Hanslick and the conductor Johann Herbeck, and from 1875 Johannes Brahms, who was deeply impressed by his talent based on the submitted scores alone. (Brahms and the Slavonic Dances) Brahms strongly recommended him to the publisher Simrock, and following the success of the Moravian Duets, he completed the piano duet Slavonic Dances in 1878 on commission from Simrock. The work caused a sensation across Europe, and the unknown Bohemian violist became an internationally known composer overnight. Brahms continued to support him for the rest of his life, helping with proofreading and lending him money, and Dvořák, eight years his junior, revered him deeply as a mentor.
The grief of losing three children led him to set a Latin lament to music.
- The opening chorus's first line — 'the mother stood' — begins over slowly sinking low strings, painting in music the weight of the mother standing beneath the cross.
- Of the ten movements, the alternation between solo voices and chorus gives the sense of grief moving back and forth between the individual and the community.
- The slow, dark passage sung by the bass soloist is often interpreted as expressing mourning through long, drawn-out breath.
- Among choristers, the slow tempo that demands long-held breath is often cited as the most physically demanding passage.
A publishing commission secured through Brahms's recommendation made him a European composer overnight.
- No. 1 in C major preserves the cross-accented rhythm of the Czech folk dance furiant, giving European audiences of the time an unfamiliar and fresh sense of rhythm.
- It's also interesting to compare the original piano duet (four hands) version with the later orchestral arrangement — in the orchestral version, strings and winds take turns imitating folk instruments.
- No. 2 in E minor is in the slow dumka style, marked by a melancholy that suddenly seeps into the mirth.
- Among performers, the key to interpretation is said to be a flexible sense of tempo — pushing and pulling slightly rather than playing the rhythm rigidly as written.
IV. Europe takes notice · 1879–1891 (age 38–50)
(London) In 1884 he visited London for the first time, conducting his own works at the invitation of the Royal Philharmonic Society. In England, with its strong choral tradition, works such as the Stabat Mater became tremendously popular, and he went on to perform in Britain nine times over the following years, up to 1896. (Symphony No. 7) The Seventh Symphony, commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Society, premiered in London in 1885. While composing it, he wrote in a letter that the work 'must be capable of stirring the world,' and it carried a darker, more intense sound than his earlier folk-colored works. (Tchaikovsky) He first met Pyotr Tchaikovsky when Tchaikovsky visited Prague in 1888, and the two became friends who deeply respected each other's work. In 1890, at Tchaikovsky's invitation, he traveled to Moscow and St. Petersburg to conduct his own compositions, and the two kept up their friendship through correspondence. (after Smetana) After Smetana's death in 1884, some Czech critics who styled themselves his successors placed greater value on Wagnerian innovation and criticized Dvořák's music as excessively conservative. He kept his distance from this controversy and held to his own path. In 1891 he was appointed professor of composition at the Prague Conservatory.
A London commission, written as an ambitious work meant to shake the world, spurred by Brahms's Third Symphony.
- The first movement's opening theme begins low, in dark D minor, conveying the grim resolve he carried.
- The slow melody of the second movement flows like a conversation passed between the winds, and critics often cite this movement as the most lyrical moment in the whole symphony.
- In the third-movement scherzo, the rhythm of a Bohemian dance blends naturally into the symphony's formal structure, and conductors' tempo choices often diverge here.
- At the close of the fourth movement, the turn to major that breaks through the darkness is often cited as the most tense moment to hear in performance.
V. To the New World · 1892–1895 (age 51–54)
(invitation) Jeannette Thurber, who had founded the National Conservatory of Music in New York, offered him the directorship, proposing an annual salary of fifteen thousand dollars — several times what he earned in Prague. Seeing it as a chance to secure his family's livelihood, he crossed the Atlantic in the fall of 1892. (New York) While teaching composition in New York, he grew close to his Black baritone student Harry Burleigh and was deeply impressed by the Black spirituals Burleigh sang for him. He also took an interest in Native American music, though this was mostly indirect, acquired through books and acquaintances. (Spillville) He spent the summer of 1893 in Spillville, a rural Czech immigrant community in Iowa. There, where his native language was spoken as a matter of course, he finally felt at ease — yet at the same time his longing for his homeland grew only more acute. (the New World Symphony and the American Quartet) Moving between New York and Spillville, he completed the Ninth Symphony, From the New World, and the String Quartet, American, within a short span of time. Both works fuse his curiosity about the new sounds he heard in America with his longing for Bohemia. (return home) In 1893 the American financial panic meant Thurber could not pay his promised salary on time, and his finances grew unstable. Every letter he sent to friends was steeped in longing for his homeland, and in the spring of 1895, without completing his contract, he returned home for good.
Written while moving between New York and Spillville, this work holds together both curiosity about America and longing for home.
- Movement I Many note that the theme the horn presents just after the introduction seems to blend the scale of African American spirituals with the feel of Bohemian folk song.
- Movement II The English horn melody of this slow movement is so tender that lyrics were later set to it and it became widely sung as a standalone song — it is commonly read as an expression of longing for home.
- Movement III The composer himself remarked that the scherzo reflects the impression left by a dance scene in Longfellow's epic poem The Song of Hiawatha.
- Movement IV The brass fanfare at the opening recalls the themes of the preceding movements in turn, and catching this cyclical structure while listening adds to the pleasure of the piece.
Completed during a short summer in Spillville, this chamber work is infused with the peace he felt among people who reminded him of home.
- Movement I The first theme, presented by the viola, is written to let the instrument sing with unusual warmth — fitting, given that Dvořák himself was a violist.
- Movement II The slow melody here also carries a spiritual-like scale, making it worth listening to alongside Symphony No. 9.
- Movement III The short, birdsong-like figure that repeats throughout this movement is said to have come from birdsong he actually heard in Spillville.
- Movement IV In this fast movement, the four instruments trade short figures without a moment's rest, making it a piece chamber musicians consider tricky to keep in sync.
Begun in America and finished just after his return home, this piece quotes an old song in remembrance of his first love, Josefina.
- Movement I The moment the cello enters, weighty and low, right after the orchestra's long opening statement of the theme, is considered the most dramatic entrance in the entire concerto.
- Movement II This movement quotes the melody of his 1887–88 song 'Leave Me Alone,' said to have been included in remembrance of his first love Josefina, after he heard she was gravely ill.
- Movement III The passage near the end where the tempo slows and that song melody returns is considered by cellists to be the most emotionally overwhelming moment in the work.
- It is said that upon seeing the score, Brahms marveled, wondering why he had never realized such a piece could be written for cello.
VI. Return, the years of opera · 1895–1901 (age 54–60)
(return) In 1895 he returned to Prague and resumed his professorship at the conservatory. After coming back from America he wrote no more symphonies, and the center of his interest shifted to symphonic poems and opera. (turn) Alongside a series of Lisztian symphonic poems, he focused on Czech-language opera — a choice through which he sought, in his own way, to carry on the tradition of Czech national opera that Smetana had established. (Rusalka) The opera Rusalka, completed in 1900, is based on a fairy tale in which a water nymph falls in love with a human and loses her voice. It became especially well known for the aria 'Song to the Moon,' and achieved the greatest success of any of his operas, remaining a staple of the Czech theatrical repertoire to this day. (director and title) In 1901 he was appointed director of the Prague Conservatory, and that same year was also named a member of the Herrenhaus, the upper chamber of the Austrian parliament. It is said that he accepted this honor — remarkable for a butcher's son — quietly, without making much of it.
A late masterwork meant to carry on the tradition of Czech national opera, and the greatest success of his career.
- Act I Rusalka's 'Song to the Moon' portrays the water nymph's longing to become human through a melody that slowly climbs, step by step.
- The rippling accompaniment created by the orchestra's strings and harp evokes the shimmer of the lake where the nymph lives.
- Act II The passage in which the now-voiceless Rusalka must convey her feelings through gesture alone, without singing, is considered a scene that especially tests both staging and acting.
- The way the folktale-based plot fits so naturally with the rhythm of the Czech text is a point of particular pride among Czech singers.
VII. Final years and death · 1901–1904 (age 60–63)
(trains and pigeons) All his life he regarded keeping pigeons and watching trains as his greatest pleasures. He frequently went to Prague's Franz Josef Station, where he all but memorized the timetables and locomotive numbers, and many anecdotes recall that he preferred watching a newly arriving locomotive to meeting famous people. (faith) He held to his Catholic faith throughout his life and consistently poured that belief into sacred works such as the Stabat Mater, the Requiem, and the Mass in D major. Contemporaries describe him as modest and a man of few words, who valued family and the small pleasures of daily life more than formality. (decline) From the start of 1904 his health visibly worsened. Records indicate that kidney disease and symptoms of influenza occurred together. (death) On May 1, 1904, he died suddenly at his home in Prague. The death of the composer who represented the nation prompted national mourning, and he was buried at Prague's Vyšehrad Cemetery alongside figures of Czech cultural life. (legacy) He is regarded as the figure who carried the path of Czech national music, opened by Smetana, onto the world stage. His son-in-law and student, the composer Josef Suk, inherited his musical legacy, and composers of the next Czech generation deeply admired him.
Lesser-known stories
His Symphony No. 1, 'The Bells of Zlonice,' was completed in 1865 and sent to a competition in Germany, but it was never returned to him. Dvořák believed for the rest of his life that the work was lost, and he later left it off his own list of compositions. The score was found after his death among the belongings of a man who shared only his surname and had no relation to him at all, and it was not performed until 1936 — his first symphony, which he never lived to hear. His publisher, Simrock, would often assign his early works inflated opus numbers to make them look like new pieces, and Dvořák himself sometimes gave low numbers to new works so he could sell them to other publishers without breaching his contract. As a result, opus numbers alone cannot reveal the actual order of composition, and the Czech musicologist Jarmil Burghauser had to compile a separate list of 'B numbers' in the 1960s to establish the true chronology. It is widely believed that Symphony No. 9 directly borrows African American spirituals or Native American melodies, but in a 1893 interview with the New York Herald, he stated clearly that he had never quoted any specific piece outright, and had only written new music imbued with the 'spirit' of that music. This distinction is rarely conveyed to the public. When he traveled to England in 1891 to receive an honorary doctorate from Cambridge University, he had to attend a formal ceremony conducted in Latin while wearing scarlet robes. According to accounts from the time, he found watching trains with ordinary people far more comfortable than such formality.
Glossary notes 📚🔎
Symphonic poem
Symphonic (交響) means sounds resonating together, and poem (詩) means depicting a story or image in music, as a poem would. In music, this refers to an orchestral work that conveys a particular story, image, or impression in a single continuous movement. Franz Liszt originated the form, and Dvořák also left several examples in his later years. Just as a single panel of a comic strip can show a scene through image alone, without dialogue, a symphonic poem tells its story through orchestral sound alone, without words.
String quartet
String (絃樂) refers to instruments that sound by being bowed or plucked, and ensemble (重奏) refers to several instruments playing together. In music, this denotes the leading form of chamber music in which four players — two violins, one viola, and one cello — each take a different part. It is similar to a small group discussion in which four friends exchange different ideas in conversation.
Aria
The Italian word aria originally means 'air' or 'atmosphere.' One theory holds that the name arose from the sense of a song flowing as naturally as air. In music, it refers to a passage in opera where a character stops conversing and stands alone, unfolding their feelings in an extended song. It is similar to a soliloquy in a play, in which a character pauses conversation with others to speak their inner thoughts at length, alone.
Nationalist music (national school)
National (國民) school means a musical movement that carries the distinctive color of a particular country or people. In music, this refers to a movement in which, in the late nineteenth century, composers across various European countries placed their own national folk songs, dances, and legends within the framework of Western classical music. Dvořák, Smetana, Grieg, and Tchaikovsky were all part of this movement. It is similar to using the same ingredients — a Western orchestra — but adding each region's own dialect and seasoning to produce different dishes.
Stabat Mater
In Latin it means 'the mother was standing.' It comes from a medieval devotional poem depicting the sorrow of the Virgin Mary standing beneath the cross. In music, it refers to a genre of choral works that set this poem to music. It occupies a place similar to a memorial song sung together at a school or village when some great sorrow has occurred.
Opus number (Op.)
Op. is short for the Latin opus, meaning 'work' or 'piece,' and is the number assigned to a composer's works in sequence. In music it functions as a kind of serial number attached according to order of publication or composition, used to distinguish among a composer's many works. Like the page numbers of a book or the chapter numbers of a textbook, it gives a sense of which piece came earlier and which came later. In Dvořák's case, however, the publisher and the composer himself assigned numbers inconsistently, so the sequence does not always match the actual order of composition.