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Salomon Past Concerts
Cheltenham International Music Festival 2007
dvořákathon
12:00-20:30 Sunday 8th July 2007
all of Dvořák's symphonies in 1 day - a World Record!
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conducted by Martyn Brabbins
Only 5 of Dvořák's 9 symphonies were published in his lifetime, yet all are full of life, melodic invention and brilliant orchestration. Brahms said of Dvořák: "He has more ideas than the rest of us. We could glean main subjects from his left-overs."
His 7th is a pinnacle of symphonic music, but Dvorak was proud that his 9th 'From the New World' was again different. Here we had the ideal opportunity to follow his developing Bohemian musical identity and consider how much he was influenced by native and folk idioms in the USA.
The Salomon Orchestra was joined by musicians from Gloucestershire and Avon for symphonies 7-9.
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the symphonies
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The symphonies are presented in chronological order. Numbering has changed over the years. What is now No.6 was the first published, and Dvorak thought he destroyed the 1st which was rediscovered in 1923 and first played in 1936. |
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| Symphony No.1 in C minor 'Zlonické zvony' ('The Bells of Zlonice') (1865) | |
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Dvořák's first symphony (written in Prague) recalls his life in Zlonice where he moved at the age of 13 to train to follow his father into the butcher's guild, but where he also received music training and revelled in Bohemian folk music. |
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| Symphony No.2 in B flat Major (1865) | |
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Dvořák's primary model was Beethoven, but as a violist in the Provisional Theatre orchestra he learned Wagner under the composer (1863) and Liszt under Smetana. However the 2nd symphony shows Dvorak's own growing identity. |
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| Symphony No.3 in E flat Major (1871) | |
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The third symphony was a breakthrough as it won Dvořák a state prize, and probably more importantly for his career interested Brahms and Hanslick who were judges. This is the only symphony with 3 (rather than 4) movements. |
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| Symphony No.4 in D minor (1874) | |
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The delightful scherzo from the fourth symphony was conducted by Smetana as a separate piece in 1874. The first performance of the complete symphony was in 1892. |
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| Symphony No.5 in F major (1876) | |
| Dvořák emphasised his Eastern European musical identity using the Dumka (a Ukranian dance contrasting elegy with faster sections, popular in Bohemia) as the basis of the Andante con moto. | |
| Symphony No.6 in D major (1880) | |
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The D major symphony met with immediate success and was the first published. The scherzo is a Czech 'Furiant'. Musicologist Otokar Šourek said ‘In this symphony dwell the gaiety, humour and passion of the Czech people’. |
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| Symphony No.7 in D minor (1885) | |
| Dvořák was much admired in England and his seventh symphony was commissioned by the Philharmonic Society. It was inspired by Brahm's third and is considered by many to be the greatest of his symphonic works. | |
| Symphony No.8 in G major (1890) | |
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Once called the English symphony because it was published by Novello, the wealth of characteristic melodic invention takes precedence over symphonic development. |
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| Symphony No.9 in E minor 'Z Nového světa' ('From the New World') (1893) | |
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The final completed symphony, premičred in New York 11 years before Dvořák's death, was a spectacular and enduring success. Inspiration came from his affinity with American folk idioms but also a yearning for Bohemia. |
Roger Apps, a founder member of the Dvořák Society of Great Britain, advises that this must be the first time all of Dvořák's symphonies have been played as a single musical event in one day, and is therefore a Dvořák World Record!
More pictures in our photo gallery
©Salomon Orchestra
2007
President Martyn Brabbins - Vice President Oliver Taylor - Leader Anna Ritchie - Registered Charity No. 256753