In the summer of 1874, 32-year-old Antonín Dvořák applied for a new scholarship offered by the Austrian Ministry of Education to young, poor, and talented artists living in the western portion of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Fortunately for Dvořák, the committee adjudicating the music applications included his mentor Johannes Brahms, along with the influential critic Eduard Hanslick. Upon awarding Dvořák the scholarship, the committee noted his “undoubted talent,” the fact that he could not afford a piano of his own, and stated that he deserved the scholarship in order to “free him from anxiety in his creative work.”
The E Major Serenade emerges from a period of heightened self-confidence and optimism, just after Dvořák had won the scholarship. The financial cushion the scholarship provided released Dvořák from financial worries, and for the first time he could devote himself wholeheartedly to composition.
The Serenade’s five short movements reflect Dvořák’s sunny mood. Four of the movements use a straightforward three-part structure known as ABA: a central section contrasting with an opening movement whose melodic theme returns in the third section. The Menuetto contains all the grace and refinement one would expect, and its lilting melody conjures up elegant dancers whirling around a candlelit ballroom. The playful Scherzo bubbles with mirth, while its accompanying trio features a gentle melody. The Larghetto presents an interlude of dreamy quietude, in sharp contrast with the animated Finale, which reprises both the Larghetto’s main theme and, in the closing bars, the primary melody of the opening Moderato.
© Elizabeth Schwartz.