Antonín Dvořák
Humoresque for Violin and Piano, Op. 101, No. 7 (arr. Wilhelmj)

- Born September 8, 1841, in Nelahozeves, Bohemia
- Died May 1, 1904, in Prague
- Composed in 1894, arranged by August Wilhelmj in 1905
- Duration: 4 minutes

Antonín Dvořák began his remarkable career as a performer and ended as a world-famous composer. As a teenage violist, he gigged around Prague with a dance band, eventually landing a principal position with the orchestra of the Provisional Theater (later the National Theater) in Prague. It was not until his thirties that he decided to openly pursue composing. Then, in a life-altering twist, Johannes Brahms joined the jury of the Austrian State Stipendium, the financial assistance for which Dvořák applied multiple years. Soon enough Brahms was championing his younger colleague, and writing to his own publisher to petition the publication of Dvořák’s works. 

From there, Dvořák’s music and reputation spread across the European continent to the United States. In 1891, he was offered an appointment as Artistic Director and Professor of Composition at the new National Conservatory of Music of America, which had been founded in New York City by Jeannette Thurber, a visionary philanthropist who sought to foster the growth of musical arts. Dvořák and his family arrived on September 26, 1892. By October 21, he was on the podium at Carnegie Hall to make his debut in the country as both conductor and composer. The New York Tribune reported the next day that “nearly all the musicians of note in the city were present” for the event. 

Dvořák’s time in the United States may have been musically fruitful, but it was in many ways personally unfulfilling. He was burdened with homesickness, and the Panic of 1893 began to impact the Conservatory’s ability to pay him reliably. In the summer of that year, he found respite in Spillville, Iowa, among a Czech immigrant community, where he would compose the String Quartet in F major and the String Quintet in E-flat major, both known by the nickname “American.” In May 1894, he and his family decided to spend the summer at home in Europe. That August, Dvořák penned Humoresques, a set of eight short pieces. The Dvořáks did return to New York in October but stayed only four months before the untenable financial situation, combined with increasing homesickness, necessitated their departure on April 16, 1895. 

The Humoresques, Op. 101, were originally written for piano duet and arranged for piano and violin by the German violinist August Wilhelmj, a friend of Richard Wagner who would go on to teach at the Guildhall School in London. Brief, colorful works, Dvořák’s Humoresques are informed by the Czech folk tradition that the composer knew and integrated so well throughout his life. The Humoresque No. 7 is arguably the best known, and additionally one of Dvořák’s most popular works in any genre. Written in an A–B–A form, its wistfully lilting opening is contrasted with a more ardent middle section. Its power is in its simplicity, which effortlessly communicates the warmth of familiarity and our nostalgia for it during periods of change. 

Program note © Kathryn Bacasmot