WONDERFUL DVORAK

It is written on May 1, 1904, and the opera singer - soprano Marie - holds an afternoon music party in her house. Her salon is one of the most popular in Prague, so excellent artists gathered here. Even master Antonín Dvořák is to come. And because all the performers present love him, they want to prepare him for a nice holiday experience. Everyone will play or sing what they like best from the master. And then together they choose what would make him most happy when he arrives.

 

Moravian duets op.32 / Modest, Ring /

The cycle "Moravian duets" is almost a fateful composition by Antonín Dvořák. It was written at the age of 44 at the invitation of the Prague businessman Jan Neff, whose wife Maria Dvořák taught piano. (Later, Dvořák's wife and sister-in-law sang songs popularly).

 

It is intended for home operation, so popular in the past in the so-called better society. The songs were based on the lyrics of folk songs from Moravia, but the melodies are the composer's own work. Jan Neff had the compositions printed and dedicated the first printed opus to Dvořák for Christmas 1876 as a gift. And it was precisely the "Moravian duets" that decided the fate of a hitherto poor and unknown composer. They liked Joh. Brahms for recommending them to the attention of the renowned Berlin publisher Simrock. The duets were immediately dismantled and Dvořák asked for further compositions. And from that moment on, Dvořák became a sought-after author.

 

Which of Dvořák's songs does the lady of the house prefer? It's hard to say, but now he's singing "There's dead in so many hearts."

 

Songs of love op.83 / In so many hearts is the dead / In the sweet power of Your eyes /

Also, "Love Songs" are closely connected with the life of the composer's life. Dvořák composed this cycle on the love verses of the poet Gustav Pfleger - Moravský vol. "Cypresses." This poetry, very popular at the time, attracted Dvořák for the first time as a twenty-year-old at the time of his love affair with the Prague actress Josefína Čermáková / later composer's sister-in-law /. However, Dvořák's first love remained unrequited and the composer sang his desire in the cycle of songs "Cypřiše", which he never published. However, he later composed "Love Songs" on identical verses.

 

The violinist is concerned that Dvořák's instrumental work is neglected. So he has ironic remarks on behalf of the singers, but the soprano ground him when she just tells him from the head that Sonatina, which she just wants to play, is the composer's op.č.100.

 

Sonatina in G major op.100 / Scherzo /

This hundredth opus was written by Dvořák during his stay in the United States. The public expected a monumental work, but he created a small composition, which he dedicated to his children Otilia, Toník, Aninka, Marenka and Otakar. The eldest daughter of Otilia (later married to the composer Josef Suk) and her son Toník then carried her together for her father's pleasure.

 

Even a baritone would finally like to sing. His fellow mezzo-soprano is very familiar to him. She learns from her that they saw each other twelve years ago at the Great Music and Theater Exhibition in Vienna. He was like a soloist and she - in a children's choir. Even now they will sing together:

 

Biblical Songs op.99 / Selection /

Dvořák was a deeply religious Catholic, and in 1894, when he learned in faraway America that his father was seriously ill in Bohemia, he became very interested in reading the Bible. In her words / resp. to the Czech translation of the so-called Bible Kralické / he then created 10 songs in which we still feel the power of the composer's faith.

 

O'sanctissima, op.19

The mezzo-soprano finds a costume in the back, ready for Rusalka, she asks the lady of the house to put it on. And while Mrs. Marie changes, the violinist will play.

 

Romance in F minor, op.11

Thirty-year-old Dvořák wrote Romance for the famous violin virtuoso of the second half of the 19th century - and his friend - František Ondříček. Their mutual friendship lasted for many years, Dvořák dedicated his violin concerto to Ondříček, who successfully premiered it. It is not without interest that the famous composer testified to Ondříček at the wedding.

 

Rusalka is not ready yet, so the baritone offers a different aria.

 

The Beast of the Peasant op.37 / Aria of the Prince /

 

Dvořák wrote the comic opera "The Peasant's Beast" at the age of thirty-six. It was his fifth opera in a row. It was created under the strong influence of Smetana's "The Bartered Bride", which was and is sometimes evaluated as negative, sometimes positively. The work has survived only on the Czech stages, it exists in several recordings.

 

And there is the lady of the house in the costume and wig of a water fairy in love, who calls her prince:

 

Rusalka op.114 / Aria Rusalka - "Moon in the deep sky" /

Dvořák wrote the opera "Rusalka" in his sixties on the libretto of the Czech writer and director Jaroslav Kvapil. The model was a well-known fairy tale about the small mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen. In the aria "O Měsíčku", the beautiful water fairy confesses her love for the earthly creature - man. But as is the case not only in fairy tales, but rather in real life, love leads the fairy to a sacrifice that is in vain. The opera "Rusalka" is the most frequently performed of Dvořák's stage works.

 

Mezzo-soprano Mrs. Fialová finds a large bundle of pencils on the table. The lady of the house tells her that they are ready for Master Dvořák. Every time he composes, we spill a lot of them. And now he's writing a new opera so he has something to break. "If I used up twice as much," sighs the mezzo-soprano, "I wouldn't be able to write something as beautiful as him, like the Stabat Mater."

 

Stabas Mater op.58 / inflamatus /

Dvořák composed the Oratorium Stabat Mater for solo, choir and orchestra to the well-known words of Jacopon da Todi. In it, he confessed from his pain about the death of the first three children. Josef died first, then Růžena, and then the eldest son Otakar. / Establishment 1879-77 /

 

The servant who appears at Mrs. Mary's brings a devastating message: Master Dvořák died at noon today. Mrs. Marie decides not to say anything to anyone yet and to pay tribute to the master's work with today's music festival. After all, thanks to him, Antonín Dvořák is and will stay with us forever.

 

Gypsy melodies op.55 / When my old mother /

Romantic poetry - songs, the desires of a spirited gypsy - created at the turn of the 19th century by the Czech poet Adolf Heyduk, attracted many authors to music in their time, including in 1880 Antonín Dvořák. The song "When My Old Mother Made Me" made Dvořák as famous as his "Humoresque".

 

Jacobin, op.84 / ark of the burgrave /

The opera "Jakobín" on the libretto of the granddaughter of the most famous Czech historian František Palacký - Marie Červinková-Riegrová - parodies the fear of a Czech petty bourgeois from French Jacobins and on a tragicomic level brings life in the chateau and Rococo chateau closer. Dvořák met with a similar environment in his youth in Zlonice, where he studied the first compositions with cantor Antonín Liehman. The music of this piece, which recalls its youth, is enchanting.

 

Gypsy melodies op.55 / String tuned, Wide sleeves, Put a hawk cage /

 

Mazurek op.49

The origin of "Mazurk" falls within Dvořák's Slavic creative period and also strongly resembles the author's "Slavonic Dances". He belongs to his virtuoso compositions and only a very good violinist will perform him successfully. One of the interesting things is the fact that at the premiere / on March 29, 1879 / Ferdinand Lachner was accompanied on the piano by the composer Zdeněk Fibich and that Smetana's famous quartet "From My Life" was played for the first time that evening.