Dvorak: American Suite / Silent Woods / Prague Waltzes

Featuring

Dmitry Yablonsky
Alexander Trostianski
Russian Philharmonic Orchestra
Antonín Dvořák

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Composition History

Johannes Brahms, impressed by Dvořák's Moravian Duets, helped arrange for their publication and commissioned the Slavonic Dances for piano duet.

Composer Biography

Dvořák rejected an offer to write a German opera for Vienna in 1883, choosing instead to expand the Czech operatic repertoire to strengthen national musical identity.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Dvořák's time in America resulted in compositions like his 'New World' Symphony and 'American' Quartet, which blended European tradition with American melodies and rhythms.

Composer Biography

Dvořák began his musical career as a viola-player in a band led by Karel Komzák, which later became the nucleus of the Czech Provisional Theatre Orchestra.

Composer Biography

Antonín Dvořák, born in 1841, was the son of a butcher and innkeeper and was initially expected to follow the family trade.

Composition History

Dvořák's music gained wider recognition in 1874 when an Austrian government award brought it to the attention of critic Eduard Hanslick and composer Johannes Brahms.

Composer Biography

Dvořák served as director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York, an institution founded to foster American music, from 1891 until his return to Prague in 1895.