10 greatest works by Dvořák
14 August 2024, 14:42 | Updated: 19 August 2024, 12:41
From the Slavonic Dances to the great symphonies, here are some of the most celebrated pieces of music by the Czech Romantic composer.
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Antonin Dvořák was a Czech composer working in the Romantic era, known for his symphonies, concertos, chamber pieces, operas and choral works.
Starting out as a prodigious violinist, first in his father’s band and then further afield, Dvořák was an instrumentalist – he also played the viola – and a teacher before he attracted notice internationally with the music he wrote.
A government grant in 1857 took him to Vienna, and this gave him the chance to rub shoulders with the composer Johannes Brahms, who took notice and helped propel Dvořák to international recognition.
He was celebrated for the versatility of his output, as well as the vibrancy of his music, which incorporated folk styles and colours from his native Bohemia.
Dvořák wrote some of his most popular music when he was based in the USA, where he was invited to be director of the New Conservatory of Music in New York between 1892 and 1895. Music he wrote during this time included his famous Symphony No.9 ‘From the New World’, as well as his String Quartet No.12 – dubbed ‘The American’ – and his enduringly beloved Cello Concerto in B minor.
We celebrate these and some of his other greatest works.
Read more: The 15 greatest symphonies of all time
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Symphony No.9 ‘From the New World’
One of the most colourful and evocative symphonies of the Romantic era, Dvořák’s Symphony No.9 was one of the works the composer wrote in America.
He gave it the subtitle ‘From the New World’ to reflect his point of view at the time of writing music from afar, while looking longingly towards his homeland, which he missed dearly. As a result it’s full of all the feeling and richness you’d expect from a love letter to home.
The poignant and moving melody of the second movement Largo is especially loved, and makes an appearance in numerous films and TV shows.
Read more: The 15 greatest symphonies of all time
Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 From the New World | Paavo Järvi and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich
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Slavonic Dances
Defined by glorious, rousing melodies and profoundly moving moments, Dvořák’s Slavonic dances are folk-infused collections of short symphonic pieces. There are sixteen dances in total, split between two different sets published in 1878 and 1886 respectively.
Inspired by Brahms’ Hungarian Dances, the works were conceived for the piano before Dvořák arranged them for orchestra, and they were responsible for catapulting the composer to worldwide fame.
Antonin Dvorák - Slavonic Dance op 72, Nr. 2, Berliner Philharmoniker, Silvesterkonzert 2018
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Cello Concerto in B minor
Dvorák’s monumental Cello Concerto was composed in 1895, when Dvořák still lived in the US.
One of the defining works of the genre, it’s a muscular, dramatic work that puts the instrument truly to the test with its powerful melodies and rich harmonic language.
It’s gone down as one of the essential concertos for the instrument, sitting alongside the likes of the Elgar and the Haydn in its stature.
Dvořák Cello Concerto n. 2 in B minor op. 104 | Bruno Philippe - Queen Elisabeth Competition 2017
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Serenade for Strings
Dvořák’s Serenade for strings is sumptuous and evocative, summoning feelings of an idyllic day in the sunny countryside.
Composed when Dvořák was enjoying tremendous success in Vienna, the five-movement piece for string orchestra is incredibly uplifting and joyous.
The second movement waltz swirls with utter exuberance, and sits in between a wonderfully sunny opening movement, and three consequent movements of sheer bliss.
Antonín Dvořák: Serenade for Strings | NCO · Tønnesen
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Symphony No.8
Some of the most melodic and rich symphonic writing you’ll find in the Romantic canon is contained in Dvořák’s Eighth Symphony.
Like all his symphonic writing, it’s astonishingly vibrant and evocative, opening with a dignified melody that soon swells into a flourish of orchestral triumph.
There’s a swoon-worthy waltz to listen out for in the third movement of the symphony, and the work closes with a resplendent finale that makes full use of rumbling percussion, strident brass, shimmering strings and sparkling woodwinds – to absolutely glorious effect.
Dvořák: Symphony No. 8 / Abbado · Berliner Philharmoniker
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String Quartet No.12 “The American”
Dvořák’s sublime ‘American’ String Quartet was something the composer conceived on a rural holiday in America in 1893, which was towards the beginning of his stint living in the US.
Written before homesickness had really set in, perhaps, the quartet is full of fresh exuberance and optimism, and rustic charm of the type that really warms the soul.
Dvořák String Quartet No. 12, “American” (IV. Finale) | Tognetti | Australian Chamber Orchestra
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Violin Concerto
When Dvořák came across one of the 19th century’s most famous violin virtuosos, Joseph Joachim, it didn’t take him long to set pen to paper and complete an exemplary violin concerto.
He finished the work in 1879, but it wasn’t without increasing fraughtness in the relationship between Dvořák and Joachim, who the composer was intending to work quite closely with to complete the concerto.
Letters and visits documented in history show that the more they worked on the concerto, the more the composer and the violinist seemed to diverge, and their creative differences meant it wasn’t actually Joachim, the concerto’s dedicatee, who would give the work its world premiere performance, but Joachim’s violin contemporary František Ondřiček.
Ondřiček gave the work its firsts outing in 1883, and it has stood the test of time as one of the enduring works of the repertoire.
Hilary Hahn - Dvorak Violin Concerto in A minor
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Rusalka
Dvořák’s best-known opera, Rusalka is a dark fairytale about a water nymph who falls in love with a prince, and exchanges her voice for the gift of legs, something she desires in order to be part of his world.
It may sound like a familiar tale, especially to fans of Disney, or of Hans Christian Anderson (or both), who will recognise the story of The Little Mermaid reflected in its watery setting.
At the time the composer wrote the opera, which was later on in his life, he was focusing almost entirely on setting stories with mythical or fairytale themes.
The opera features the famous aria, ‘Song to the Moon’ during Act 1. Rusalka asks the ancient moon to witness her love, and tell the prince of her longing for him.
Rusalka - 'Song to the Moon' (Dvořák; Kristine Opolais, The Royal Opera)
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Stabat Mater
As well as symphonies, concertos and numerous other orchestral works; operas and overtures; chamber works and piano compositions; Dvořák was also responsible for fine sacred choral works in the form of oratorios, cantatas and masses.
His Stabat Mater of 1877 sets the story of the crucifixion of Christ from the point of view of his mother, Mary, and it sets it with incredibly poignant and melancholic music.
The publication of this great and profound work comes shortly after the tragic death of three of Dvořák’s children, something conjured in the heart-wrenching melodies.
Antonín Dvořák: Stabat Mater, op. 58
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Te Deum
Dvorak’s 1892 Te Deumis a sacred cantata for mixed choir and orchestra with a solo soprano and solo bass.
It was commissioned by the president of New York’s National Conservatory of Music, Jeannette Thurber, who had invited Dvořák to become the institution’s new director, and who wanted him to bring him over to the states with a fittingly ceremonial and uplifting work to mark the beginning of his tenure, as well as the 400th anniversary of the ‘discovery’ of the land on which America was founded in October 1892.
The world premiere took place at New York’s iconic Carnegie Hall on 21 October 1892, and it called for a 250-strong choir conducted by Dvořák himself.
Antonín Dvořák - Te Deum op. 103 | Cristian Măcelaru | WDR Sinfonieorchester | WDR Rundfunkchor
