Antonín Dvořák, the composer, worked as a principal violist in Prague and taught piano while composing his first two symphonies.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Dvořák had an early interest in the music of Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner, which influenced the loose association of themes and painterly sense in his Second Symphony.
Compositional Technique
The Second Symphony's Finale contains an introduction described as 'bizarre for 1865' and 'pointillistic,' a term not coined for another three decades.
Composition History
Fritz Simrock, Dvořák's primary publisher, declined to publish the Eighth Symphony, leading Dvořák to turn to the London firm Novello.
Composer Biography
By 1889, Dvořák was an internationally famous composer, having toured England and used the proceeds to buy a countryside property in Vysoká, where he enjoyed gardening and raising pigeons.
Composition History
Dvořák's Second Symphony was nearly lost; he considered burning it as juvenilia, but his roommate, who had loaned money to bind the score, prevented him.
Composition History
Dvořák's life changed in 1875 when he won his first Austrian State Stipendium with the support of Johannes Brahms, allowing him to focus on composing.
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