Hartford Symphony Orchestra - FROM THE NEW WORLD

ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK (1841-1904)

Two Slavonic Dances

World Premiere: No. 1 - May 16, 1878; No. 8 - December 4, 1878

Most Recent HSO Performance: May 17, 2014

Instrumentation: 2 flutes with second flute doubling on piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, and strings: violin I, violin II, viola, cello, and bass

Duration: 7'

Two Slavonic Dances (1878)

Antonín Dvořák

(Born September 8, 1841 in Nelahozeves, Bohemia)

Died May 1, 1904 in Prague)

The eight Slavonic Dances, Op. 46, were the first efflorescence of the Czech nationalism that was to become so closely associated with Dvořák’s music. On the advice of his mentor Johannes Brahms, he sent them to the noted publisher Fritz Simrock of Berlin in May 1878 and was paid 300 marks, the first substantial sum Dvořák had made from any of his works. Though these pieces were originally intended for piano duet (a shrewd marketing strategy by Simrock — there were a lot more piano players than orchestras), Dvořák began the orchestrations even before the keyboard score for all eight dances was completed, and Simrock issued both versions simultaneously in August 1878. Louis Ehlert, the influential critic of the Berliner Nationalzeitung, saw an early copy of the Slavonic Dances, and wrote admiringly of their “heavenly naturalness” and Dvořák’s “real, naturally real talent.” The public’s interest was aroused, there was a run on the music shops, and Dvořák was suddenly famous (and Simrock was suddenly rich). Eight years later, as part of a deal with Simrock to publish the Symphony No. 7, which the publisher contended would not sell well, Dvořák wrote a second series of Slavonic Dances (Op. 72). The fee was 3,000 marks, ten times the amount tendered for the earlier set. Though he did not quote actual folk melodies in this music, as had Brahms in his Hungarian Dances, Dvořák was so imbued with the spirit and style of indigenous Slavic music that he was able to create such superb, idealized examples of their genres as the Czech furiant in the Dances No. 1 and No. 8.