Antonín Dvořák

Romanticism

Alongside Smetana he is the leading figure of Czech national music.

💡 Did you know? Dvořák combined classical symphonic writing with the folk melodies of his Bohemian homeland.

Bohemia

Born in 1841 in Nelahozeves on the Vltava; his father was a butcher and innkeeper.

💡 Did you know? Dvořák was the son of a butcher and innkeeper and was meant to learn the butcher's trade.

From the New World

Its Largo theme echoes the spirituals Dvořák came to love in America.

💡 Did you know? Dvořák wrote the „New World“ Symphony in the USA; a recording of it was even taken to the Moon by the Apollo 11 crew.

the National Conservatory

For a princely salary: many times his Prague earnings.

💡 Did you know? He urged his American students to build a national music from spirituals and Indigenous melodies.

Slavonic Dances

Commissioned by the publisher Simrock, modelled on Brahms's Hungarian Dances.

💡 Did you know? Modelled on Brahms's „Hungarian Dances“, Dvořák wrote his „Slavonic Dances“: they made him internationally famous overnight.

Johannes Brahms

Brahms recommended the unknown Czech to his publisher Simrock: the start of a lifelong friendship.

💡 Did you know? Brahms discovered Dvořák, recommended him to his publisher and even offered him money: a generous friendship between composers.

Rusalka

Its 'Song to the Moon' is one of the most famous opera arias in the world.

💡 Did you know? The water nymph's aria to the moon („Song to the Moon“) from „Rusalka“ is one of the most beloved soprano arias of all.

B minor

Written in New York in 1894 to 1895; Brahms sighed that had he known such a cello concerto was possible, he'd have written one himself.

💡 Did you know? Dvořák's Cello Concerto in B minor is considered the finest ever written: Brahms is said to have regretted not thinking of it himself.

railways and pigeons

In New York he studied the departures of ocean liners at the harbour instead of locomotives.

💡 Did you know? He knew the Prague train timetables by heart.

homesickness

He became director of the Prague Conservatory and was revered as a national hero.

💡 Did you know? Despite fame and a good salary in New York, Dvořák was plagued by homesickness for Bohemia: especially for his beloved pigeons and railways.

Vyšehrad (Prague)

The pantheon of the Czech nation: he died in Prague in 1904.

💡 Did you know? Dvořák is buried in the Vyšehrad cemetery of honour in Prague: among other great sons of the Czech nation.

Antonín Dvořák

Antonín Dvořák was a Czech Romantic composer who combined his homeland's folk melodies with classical symphonic writing: famous for the „New World“ Symphony.

💡 Did you know? He was a passionate railway enthusiast, said to have known the locomotives at Prague station better than some engine drivers.

From the New World (Symphony No. 9)

Dvořák wrote the Ninth in the USA; the Largo with its cor anglais melody sounds like a song of homesickness.

💡 Did you know? The Largo's melody later became popular as the song ‘Goin’ Home’.