1st symphony (Dvořák)
The Symphony no. 1 in C minor op. 3 is the first obtained Orchesterwerk the Czech composer Antonin Dvorak (1841 to 1904). Dvořák is said to have given the symphony the nickname “The Bells of Zlonice ” (but this is not recorded in the manuscript); The twelve to sixteen year old Dvořák had worked as an apprentice butcher in that suburb of Prague before starting his music career.
Emergence
The symphony was composed in 1865 (the same year as Dvořák's 2nd symphony ) on the occasion of a symphony competition in Leipzig. The symphony was written at a time when Dvořák was making his first attempts at composing. “I had ideas,” he later wrote, “but I couldn't express them perfectly” . Dvořák was also strongly influenced by his role models Ludwig van Beethoven , Franz Schubert , Robert Schumann and Richard Wagner . Beethoven's 5th Symphony , for example, was the inspiration behind the key scheme. In this sense, there are common themes in all four movements of the symphony, such as the rhythmic motif, which extends over the full length of the first movement and possibly represents the eponymous "Bells of Zlonice ".
To the music
occupation
2 flutes , 1 piccolo , 2 oboe , 1 English horn , 2 clarinets , 2 bassoon , 4 horns (2 in F, 2 in Es), 2 trumpets (in time), 3 trombones , 2 timpani and Strings
1st movement: [Maestoso] - [Allegro]
The unmarked main movement begins with a tutti strike by the orchestra and the beginning of the bell motif in the horns. This motif in mighty C minor chords, reminiscent of Beethoven's fate motif from his 5th symphony , merges into an urgent and threatening throbbing theme in the strings, which becomes more and more acute and increases in a fortissimo climax. A second theme brings a brief lyrical train into the symphonic events. There is a short pause in the rustling and hardly resting course of the sentence. Before the coda , the action builds up into large, pressing masses of notes, which find their way almost forcibly and end the movement in a few pounding chords.
2nd movement: Adagio di molto
The 24-year-old Dvořák wrote an adagio here that is amazingly deeply emotional and expressive.
After a few introductory chords, a plaintive oboe melody follows, emotionally accompanied by the strings. This is then continued by the strings. The elegiac melody increases in expression and dynamism, accompanied by soft drum beats. An increase then leads to some bright and hopeful moments. The main theme returns sublime in the strings. In the further course of the sentence, the topic is dealt with in various ways. Soft chords in the woodwind finish the poignant movement.
3rd movement: Allegretto
The Allegretto is the first of Dvořák's typical scherzo movements in his symphonies. A happy dance-like movement that takes up national Bohemian elements very strongly. The trio decelerates the action with a slower dance-like melody. At their climax, the strings accelerate the theme and thus lead to the repetition of the scherzo part. The jubilant final section of the third movement brings a precipitous increase, which surprisingly ends with a piano chord.
4th movement: Finale, Allegro animato
The boisterous finale first presents a rhythmically concise theme in the forte, which is then taken over piano by the woodwinds and finally sounds triumphant in the orchestral tutti. The further conception of the movement is not completely regular and in some cases almost rhapsodic. A minor thought in the winds is only introduced in the second part of the movement. The hectic hustle and bustle finally leads to a glamorous coda with an extended fireworks display.
effect
Dvořák sent the 1st symphony to Leipzig for a music competition. Since Dvořák did not receive an answer from Leipzig and did not get the score back, he assumed that the symphony was lost. Therefore Dvořák quickly began to work on the subsequent 2nd symphony . “It was not until 1923 that the original manuscript was found in the estate of a Prague professor of oriental studies, who had bought it in 1882 in a Leipzig antiquarian bookshop. It took another 13 years before an abridged and edited version was performed in Brno. ”The symphony was premiered on October 4, 1936 under the baton of Milan Sachs in Brno . The original version was not printed until 1961.
“The rediscoverers' fear of performing the original score was not entirely unfounded, as the lengthy digressions allowed by the young symphonist in the corner movements raised both interpretation and hearing problems. The orientation of this first work on Beethoven's 5th Symphony, postulated several times in Dvořák literature, only applies to the key sequence of the movements (C minor, A flat major, C minor, C major) and the at least intended dramatic gesture of the tonal language , not the formal design of the work. In the breadth of the corner movements that only vaguely let the classical sonata scheme shine through, this suggests Schubert. For the young Dvořák, it is more about developing and varying his thematic material than about dramatic confrontation in the sense of Beethoven's thematic dualism. The two main themes of the first movement are so similar in their flowing rhythmic structure that they can be combined. "
literature
- Alfred Beaujean in: Lexicon Orchestermusik Romantik , ed. von Wulf Konold, Munich: Piper 1989, Vol. 1, pp. 184-186.
- Christoph Hahn, Siegmar Hohl (ed.): Bertelsmann concert guide , Bertelsmann Lexikon Verlag, Gütersloh / Munich 1993, ISBN 3-570-10519-9
- Harenberg concert guide , Harenberg Kommunikation, Dortmund, 1998, ISBN 3-611-00535-5
Web links
- 1st Symphony (Dvořák) : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project