Piano Trio No. 4 (Dvořák)
The piano trio No. 4 (“Dumky” trio) Opus 90 in E minor is a chamber music piece by Antonín Dvořák for piano , violin and cello . With its subtitle Dumky , the “Dumky” trio is one of the composer's best-known works.
The piece deviates from the sonata form .
The name
Dumky , the plural of the Slavic word dumka , comes from the Ukrainian. Originally it is the diminutive of the word duma , plural dumy , which means something like an elegiac ballad in the form of a poem, especially a funeral song of prisoners or something similar. During the nineteenth century, composers from other Slavic countries began to use the duma as a classical form of introverted, self-absorbed compositions (with a few cheerful sections in between). Dvořák used the dumka form in various other compositions, e.g. B. in his "Dumka" for solo piano, Op. 35; at Slavonic Dance No. 2 , with his string sextet and his piano quintet No. 2, Op. 81.
history
The "Dumky" trio was completed on February 12, 1891. It was premiered in Prague on April 11, 1891 with the violinist Ferdinand Lachner , the cellist Hanuš Wihan and Dvořák himself on the piano. On the evening of the premiere, the composer received an honorary doctorate from Charles University in Prague . The work was so well received that it was on the program again and again on a concert tour with 40 performances across Bohemia and Moravia, immediately before the composer left for the USA to lead the National Conservatory of Music , where he encouraged American composers to use their own folk music as a source of inspiration (see also Symphony No. 9 (Dvořák) ).
The "Dumky" trio was printed while Dvořák was in America, and the proofs were checked by none other than Dvořák's friend Johannes Brahms .
structure
The piece is divided into six sections:
- Lento Maestoso - Allegro quasi doppio movimento (E minor / E major)
- Poco Adagio - Vivace non troppo (C sharp minor)
- Andante - Vivace non troppo (A major / A minor)
- Andante Moderato quasi tempo di Marcia - Allegretto scherzando (D minor / D major)
- Allegro - Meno mosso quasi tempo primo (E flat major)
- Lento Maestoso - Vivace quasi doppio movimento (C minor / C major)
In contrast to Dvořák's first three piano trios, this composition deviates significantly from the traditional four-movement form and consists of a total of six Dumka episodes. There is no main key that connects the entire cycle. (The E minor, occasionally mentioned as the main key, is only found in the first Dumka.) The typical Dumky alternation between slow and fast tempos, which is usually also associated with a minor-major change, characterizes all six parts of the trio. The first three Dumky merge seamlessly, giving the impression of a longer “first movement”. Since the other three Dumky stand on their own, one can see a last remnant of the abandoned four-movement in them.
style
The music critic Daniel Felsenfeld describes the piece, freely translated, as follows:
The form of the piece has a simple structure but is emotionally complicated because it is a never-ending bohemian lament . At first glance, the whole thing is essentially without form, at least in conventional-classical terms. On closer inspection, however, you are dealing more with a piece of black fantasy in six movements - completely original and successful, a “benchmark” piece for the composer, so to speak. Since Dvořák is completely free from the rigid constraints of the sonata form, he can lead the movements to cloudy, difficult, “Slavic” places and is thus able to be both melancholy and - at the same time - a little cheerful.
Web links
- An alternative text description from Vienna (Altenberg-Trio)
- An online audio video: The Beaux Arts Trio plays the "Dumky" trio by Antonín Dvořák (see "Recent Videos")
Individual evidence
- ^ A b James Keller: Chamber Music: A Listener's Guide. Oxford University Press, New York 2011. (in English)
- ^ Sierra Chamber Society Program Notes: Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904). ( Memento of the original from October 14, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Homer Ulrich: Chamber Music. 2nd Edition. Columbia University Press, New York 1966.
- ^ Daniel Felsenfeld: Dvorak Chamber Music. In: Dvorak Trios. Koch Records, New York 2006, p. 4 CD booklet.
