Cello Concerto (Dvořák)
The Cello Concerto in B minor , Opus 104 by Antonín Dvořák is one of the most famous cello concertos and is one of Dvořák's best-known works. It is one of the most important pieces in the cello repertoire.
Emergence
Dvořák wrote the Cello Concerto between November 8, 1894 and February 9, 1895 in the USA. At first he was not very enthusiastic about this instrument. The world premiere of Victor Herbert 's second cello concerto gave him the impetus to write a concerto himself. An attempt had already been made before the concerto, in 1865 Dvorak wrote a cello concerto in A major (without opus), which was neither published nor orchestrated.
In 1895 , after reading the score , Johannes Brahms is said to have exclaimed: “Why didn't I know that you could write a cello concerto like this? If I had known, I would have written one a long time ago! "
The concert premiered on March 19, 1896 in London . The English cellist Leo Stern played with the Royal Philharmonic Society under the composer's direction. It should originally have been played by Hanuš Wihan , to whom the work is also dedicated and who was a friend of Dvořák. But he had proposed too many compositional changes and even worked out a cadenza himself , which Dvořák had gone too far.
To the music
Allegro
Duration approx. 16 minutes
The first movement is very classically structured. The famous, very memorable main theme is followed by a very calm horn solo with the secondary theme , the melody of which is strongly reminiscent of the Afro-American spiritual Go Tell It on the Mountain . The cello kicks in relatively late and suddenly in this movement for a concert and develops its own melodic lines that have little to do with the topics presented, a dialogue develops between the orchestra and the solo instrument.
Adagio, ma non troppo
Duration approx. 12–13 minutes
In this largely calm movement, Dvořák quotes his song “Let me alone” (op. 82. No. 1), the favorite song of his sister-in-law, who died in the spring of 1895. Dvořák was secretly in love with her once.
Final. Allegro moderato
Duration approx. 13 minutes
The final movement is introduced calmly by the orchestra and increases before the cello begins after about half a minute and the theme of the movement plays in full. In the coda , the song “Let me alone” is quoted again, so that the composer rejected the cadenza proposed by Wihan from the outset “for personal reasons”.
Recordings (selection)
- Pau Casals , Czech Philharmonic , conductor: George Szell (1937)
- Emanuel Feuermann , Chicago Symphony Orchestra , conductor: Hans Lange , Chicago, January 9, 1941, West Hill Radio Archives, USA (2012)
- Pierre Fournier , Berliner Philharmoniker , conductor: George Szell ( Deutsche Grammophon , 1962)
- Leonard Rose , Philadelphia Orchestra , conductor: Eugene Ormandy ( Sony , 1964)
- Mstislaw Rostropowitsch , Berliner Philharmoniker, conductor: Herbert von Karajan (Deutsche Grammophon, 1968)
- Jacqueline du Pré , Chicago Symphony Orchestra , conductor: Daniel Barenboim ( EMI , 1971)
- Mischa Maisky , Berliner Philharmoniker, conductor: Zubin Mehta (Deutsche Grammophon, 2004)
- Jean-Guihen Queyras , Prague Philharmonia, conductor: Jiří Bělohlávek ( Harmonia Mundi 2005)
- Marc Coppey , Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin , conductor: Kirill Karabits ( audite music production 2017)
Web links
- Cello Concerto (Dvořák) : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
Audio media
- Sentence, John Michel -
- Sentence, John Michel -
- Sentence, John Michel -
Video clips
- Steven Isserlis (solo cello), Alan Gilbert (conductor) and the Berliner Philharmoniker play the third movement of the concert, youtube.com
- Making-of video for the recording of the Dvořák cello concert with Marc Coppey, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Kirill Karabits , youtube.com