Line #19 Music/AntoninDvorak


1	[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/AntoninDvorak_1141.jpg]]
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3	Antonín Dvořák (to avoid possible embarrassment, it's D(ə)-VOR-zha(h)k, not Dvor-rak) (8 September 1841 -- 1 May 1904). The most famous of Czech composers, Dvořák's musical idiom is infused with the traditions of his native Bohemia. In addition to this musical nationalism, Dvořák also exemplified many other characteristics of the late Romantic period, including writing for large orchestras, lush melodies, and powerful, emotional climaxes. The influence of Music/JohannesBrahms shows on Dvořák in that Dvořák declined to assign programs to his symphonies and often used classical forms. On the other hand, the Wagnerian influence also strongly manifests itself in Dvořák, especially in the tone poems and operas. Dvořák, a prolific composer, created works in almost all genres. These include 9 symphonies, a piano, cello and violin concerto, 10 operas, numerous religious works, 14 string quartets and other chamber works, and many attractive small scale pieces like the ''Music/SlavonicDances''. These 16 short pieces based on Bohemian folk music styles helped launch Dvořák's career and were inspired by Brahms's similar ''Music/HungarianDances''.
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5	His most popular work is by far Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95 ("From the New World"). The sublime "Largo" ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYl4Xb4cDQ8 Listen here]]) from this symphony has become a popular StandardSnippet. He wrote it while staying in the United States, during which he studied and admired African American spirituals. Many scholars have argued that the thematic materials of the symphony are in fact based on spirituals, though Dvořák always denied this. Music from the exciting and powerful [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yctfXIqugXc Allegro con fuoco ending movement]] of this symphony was later stolen by Music/JohnWilliams for use in ''Film/{{Jaws}}'', though these days it may be better known for its use in one of the climactic battles of the anime ''Manga/OnePiece''. Ironically, the use of the "Largo" in adverts by British bread manufacturer Hovis has led to be it being regarded as a leitmotif for [[OopNorth Yorkshire]] in the UK.[[note]] Never mind that the Hovis advertisement which first used the "Largo" was filmed on a hill in Dorset, on England's ''south'' coast![[/note]]
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7	His other two popular symphonies are Symphony No. 7 in D minor (1885), Op. 70 and Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88. The latter contains another lovely slow movement. All of Dvořák's symphonies are worth checking out, though the last three are the ones most often performed and recorded. [[note]] Symphony No. 1 "The Bells of Zlonice" in C minor (1865) is starting to develop a following amongst classical music musicians and fans, although Dvořák himself dismissed it as "Juvenilia", and showed no desire to revisit it after the manuscript was lost (later found by a very distant relative in a music shop, and revealed to the world in 1923, 19 years after Dvořák's death.) [[/note]]
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9	His Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104 is arguably the greatest work for that instrument. Dvořák again wrote this work while in America. The Piano Concerto in G minor, Op. 33 and Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53 are both excellent, attractive pieces, though not as distinguished as the cello concerto.
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11	Of the 10 {{opera}}s Dvořák wrote, only ''Theatre/{{Rusalka}}'', Op.114, first performed in 1901, has found modern day success. Essentially, ''Theatre/{{Rusalka}}'' is a Slavic version of "Literature/TheLittleMermaid", where our heroine Rusalka is a Czech water sprite who lives in a lake instead of an ocean (there being no oceans in Bohemia, of course). Falling in love with a human prince, Rusalka wishes to become human, and goes to the Witch in order to do so. The Witch demands that Rusalka must give up her voice, and this being an opera we know this is a terrible thing to do. The Prince quickly becomes disenchanted with the mute Rusalka, falling instead in love with the evil, manipulative Foreign Princess. This being an opera, there is no happy ending. Betrayed, Rusalka returns to her lake, but refuses the option to undo everything by killing the Prince, so she becomes a vengeful spirit of death. The Prince arrives. He and Rusalka sing a ravishing love duet, at the end of which they kiss, the Prince accepting the kiss of death from her as his penance. The Prince indeed dies, and Rusalka returns to the bottom of the lake, lost forever to her family in the lake proper.
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13	The opera shows the influence of Music/RichardWagner regarding subject, themes, and music. Dvořák employed a story from his national mythology, and likewise focused on overwhelming passionate love and betrayal ending in orgasmic death. Musically, the opera shows Wagner's influence in using {{leitmotif}}s, evocative nature portraits, and sensual love duets. The most famous music from the opera is Rusalka's "Song to the Moon." You can listen to the lovely Renee Fleming sing it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1PMzQ8PuCo here.]] This aria is featured in the movie ''Film/DrivingMissDaisy''.
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15	Dvořák's music has an immediately attractive, deep soulful quality that has made him one of the most popular of composers. One of the last composers of the Romantic era, he contributed immeasurably to the world's treasure of music. Dvořák's salient feature, the characteristic that makes him beloved today, was his magical talent for creating very many very beautiful melodies. Perhaps only Music/PyotrIlyichTchaikovsky can be said to equal Dvořák in this respect.
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17	He was distantly related to alternate keyboard layout inventor August Dvorak (who pronounced his name as it was written in English), and may or may not have been related to film actress Ann Dvorak (she claimed to have distant relatives with the name Dvorak, and found it more attention-grabbing than her birth name of Anna [=McKim=]).
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19	!!Tropes present in Dvořák's life and works:
20	* ForcedToFeelEmpathy: His symphonic poem ''The Wild Dove'' is based on a poem of the same name from ''Kytice'', a collection of ballads by Karel Jaromír Erben. It tells the story of a woman who poisoned her first husband to death and then remarried. One day, a dove appears by her husband's grave and makes the same sad cooing sounds every day. She is eventually so overwhelmed by her guilt that she ends up drowning herself.
21	* HappilyMarried: Unlike many other composers, Dvořák's marriage was from all accounts a happy one.
22	* PatrioticFervor: The composer's work is strongly nationalist in nature, reflecting his Czech heritage in its use of rhythm and melody, as well as its opera subjects and symphonic poem programs. Examples include the opera ''Theatre/{{Rusalka}}'', the first book of ''Music/SlavonicDances'', the tone poem ''Music/TheWaterGoblin'', and the various Furiants and Polkas for solo piano.
23	* RailEnthusiast: Dvořák was a dedicated early trainspotter, going to watch trains every day in Prague and taking notes of their numbers; during his stay in New York City, he temporarily switched his hobby to ship-spotting. The rhythm of Humoresque Nr. 7 is said to be derived from the rhythm of a train on railway tracks. (This is in Central Europe, where tracks are different than in the USA, so the rhythm differs from the American railroad staples.)
24	* RealMenLoveJesus: Dvořák was a devout Catholic and saw his faith as the cornerstone on which he built his life and work. He composed many sacred works, like his Requiem; ''St. Ludmilla'', an oratorio about the Czech saint of the same name; and ''Biblical Songs'', a song cycle he composed for his consolation based on ten excerpts from the Psalms he hand-picked.
25	* {{Romanticism}}: Dvořák's music definitely qualifies as this, though his work straddles both sides of the "War of the Romantics". He composed operas and tone poems that showed kinship to works by Music/RichardWagner and Music/FranzLiszt, but also wrote absolute music (non-programmatic symphonies and chamber music) with notable influence by Music/JohannesBrahms. This last composer was a generous mentor, significantly helping establish Dvořák's reputation.
26	* StandardSnippet: Several examples. The English horn melody from the second movement of Symphony No. 9 in E minor ("From the New World") was turned into the Black spiritual-influenced song "Goin' Home" (lyrics added by Dvořák's student Music/WilliamArmsFisher), while the fourth movement of the same symphony became synonymous with "The Ring General" Wrestling/{{WALTER}}. The main melody to the Humoresque No. 7 for piano solo has often been used in [[MickeyMousing cartoons and similar popular media]] to depict lighthearted insouciant moods, most notably as Slappy Squirrel's theme from ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}''; it also acquired [[SongParody humorous lyrics]] that were widely quoted back in the 1930s and 40s regarding passenger train toilets: "Passengers will please refrain from flushing toilets while the train is standing still within the station house."
27	* TravelogueShow: Or travelogue piece in this case. Dvořák was named director of the [[UsefulNotes/NationalConservatoryOfMusic National Conservatory of Music]] in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, serving in that capacity from 1892 to 1895. While living there, he spent significant time discovering American music, especially that by African-Americans. Several of his compositions from the time show this influence, most notably his Symphony No. 9 in E minor ("From the New World") and the String Quartet No. 12 in F major ("American"). Dvořák also wrote several solo piano works based on Polish dances such as the mazurka and polonaise.

Context Music / AntoninDvorak