9th Symphony (Dvořák)
The 9th Symphony in E minor , Op. 95 ( B 178) Antonin Dvorak named From the New World (Z nového na) because it depends Dvořák three years America was inspired -Stay. It was known as his 5th symphony during the artist's lifetime and is now one of his most popular and most frequently performed orchestral works. The playing time is approx. 43 minutes.
History of origin
When Antonín Dvořák set foot on American soil in 1892 to accept the appointment of director of the National Conservatory of Music of America , he was already a world-famous composer . He established his fame with the compositions The Heirs of the White Mountain (1872), earlier symphonies, the Moravian Duets and the Slavonic Dances . It was therefore not surprising that Jeannette Thurber , the widow of a wealthy businessman and co-founder of the New York Institute, offered him this lucrative and prestigious position.
With the 9th Symphony, which was composed during his three-year stay in America, Dvořák created what is probably his most popular symphonic work. Although Dvořák, as a conductor and teacher, had taken on the task of educating a young generation of musicians who should develop a national-American style of music, his 9th Symphony is by no means American music. In a newspaper interview, he explained his approach:
“I […] carefully studied a certain number of Indian melodies which a friend gave me, and became thoroughly imbued with their characteristics - with their spirit, in fact. It is this spirit which I have tried to reproduce in my new Symphony, I have not actually used any of the melodies. I have simply written original themes embodying the peculiarities of the Indian music, and, using these themes as subjects, have developed them with all the resources of modern rhythms, harmony, counterpoint and orchestral color. [...]
Now, I found that the music of the Negroes and of the Indians was practically identical. "
“I carefully studied a number of Native American melodies given to me by a friend and became thoroughly saturated with their properties - rather, their spirit. I tried to reproduce this spirit in my new symphony without actually using the melodies. I have simply written original themes that embody the peculiarities of Indian music, and developed them with the means of modern rhythms, harmony, counterpoint and orchestral color. [...]
Well, I found that the music of the blacks and that of the Indians was practically identical. "
The last movement illustrates that Dvořák's knowledge of authentic Indian and black music cannot have been very deep. The influences are nevertheless recognizable in the various harmonic and rhythmic characteristics of the symphony. So based English horn melody of the second set on the five-note scale halbtonlosen the pentatonic scale , which was common in Indian music. (More important, however, is the big role that Longfellow's poetry about Hiawatha - that is, the chief who founded the Iroquois League of the Indians - plays in the symphony, see below.) The syncopation typical of Negro Spirituals is also noticeable (1. and 3rd main theme of the 1st movement). In addition, the Bohemian musician is unmistakable with his musical language rooted in local folk music, such as B. at the cozy country dealer of the Scherzo Trio.
The topics of the key clauses are short and concise and are cyclically subordinate to the basic concept mentioned above : the first main theme of the first clause appears in all following clauses. In the finale, the main themes of the 2nd and 3rd movements are also hinted at.
To the music
1st movement: Adagio - Allegro molto
The first movement begins with a wistful slow introduction. The Allegro , which gradually develops through a unison of the strings and hard drumbeat beats, is filled with sweeping momentum. The main theme rises in the horns and is immediately taken up by the whole orchestra. A second theme first appears in the woodwinds before it is intensified and changed rhythmically. A side idea of the same character then appears in the flute that seeks to combine both themes. Both topics are processed in detail. The coda breaks in with elemental force and ends the movement in a thundering E minor.
2nd movement: Largo
The second movement was called "legend" by the composer . According to Dvořák's own words, this moving mourning song was inspired by a scene from Longfellow's already mentioned poem “Hiawatha” and sets to music the lamentation of Hiawatha, whose faithful companion Minnehaha has passed away. Dvořák got to know this American poetry through the translation of his compatriot Josef Vaclav Sladek. The cor anglais sings the main melody in painful melancholy, with which this movement begins and ends in sublime calm.
A new thought emerges and is effectively accompanied by string tremoli . This somewhat faster, also vocal theme is finally skillfully combined with the death lament melody. A little later, a cheerful flute melody reminiscent of birdsong triggers a change of mood that is immediately stopped by the emerging main theme of the first movement. The cor anglais again carries the main theme of the largos, with which the funeral song fades away.
3rd movement: Scherzo, molto vivace
The Scherzo begins with a rhythmically distinctive theme that prepares the Indian dance for Hiawatha's wedding. Again a scene from Longfellow's epic is musically relived. Still, the subject is bohemian and folk. The Scherzo has a lyrical middle section and is therefore more complex than the other Scherzi Dvořák and thus resembles a form model that was also used by Anton Bruckner . Between scherzo and trio , the main theme of the first movement sounds soft and threatening in the lower strings. The trio part consists of a graceful waltz melody that is typically Czech in its erratic rhythm. This part of the sentence expresses the longing for home; he temporarily interrupts the image of the Indians' joyful dance. Shortly before the end, the main theme of the first movement prevails again with all its might.
4th movement: Allegro con fuoco
The last movement is filled with a dynamic that Dvořák probably only had before in his 7th symphony . The full orchestra will present the main theme, which is like a march and announces the pathetic of the "New World". The second theme in the clarinets, on the other hand, expresses Dvořák's longing for his fatherland.
As soon as it has died down, the action comes to a head and the first topic continues to prevail. As a result, it is processed in many ways; In this process, motifs from the first three movements appear again and again. An orchestral tutti then smashes out the main theme almost forcibly, a process that almost brings the musical action to a standstill and is continued by the second theme. Again the main theme breaks its path and leads the movement to an all-rousing climax, which is followed by the triumphant coda after a final pause. The movement ends with a few chords, the last of which is sustained by the winds, resulting in a slow fading away instead of an abrupt ending.
occupation
2 flutes (2nd also piccolo ), 2 oboes (2nd also English horn ), 2 clarinets (in A), 2 bassoons , 4 horns (in E, C and F), 2 trumpets (in E, C and Eb), 3 trombones , tuba , timpani (3), triangle , cymbals and strings : violin (2), viola , cello , double bass
The piccolo only plays in the 1st movement, and cor anglais only in the 2nd movement.
effect
The symphony's world premiere was played on December 16, 1893 by the New York Philharmonic in Carnegie Hall in New York under the baton of Anton Seidl . Dvořák wrote about the concert: “The newspapers say that a composer has never had such a triumph. [...] The people applauded so much that I left the box like a king !? alla Mascagni in Vienna had to thank you. ”The first performance of the symphony From the New World on the European continent took place on July 20, 1894 in Karlsbad . The symphony was celebrated everywhere and quickly became the composer's greatest success in his career.
Today, the symphony is Dvořák's most famous work and one of the most played symphonies in the world. Dvořák did not write or plan another symphony after this work. He returned to Europe in 1895.
Sound samples
- (approx. 10 min.)
- (approx. 12 min.)
- (approx. 8 min.)
- (approx. 12 min.)
Web links
- 9th Symphony (Dvořák) : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Recording of the Columbia University Orchestra ( Memento from October 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- Recording of the Slovak Philharmonic on YouTube
literature
- Klaus Döge. In: Wulf Konold (Ed.): Lexicon Orchestermusik Romantik . Piper, Munich 1989, volume. 1, pp. 208-212
Individual evidence
- ^ Dvořák on his New World . In: New York Herald , December 15, 1893; printed in Clapham: Dvořák , p. 201 ff.
- ↑ Astrid Hippchen: Item to Symphony in Harenberg concert guide , 2nd edition, Harenberg, Dortmund 1996, ISBN 3-611-00535-5 .