Antonin Leopold Dvorak (1841-1904)

Introduction
Antonin Dvorak was the first Bohemian and second Czech composer to reach worldwide recognition. He was born in Nelahozeves, a Bohemian village north of Prague, on September 8, 1841. His father was a butcher and innkeeper and Antonin, as the duty of the first-born son, was expected to take over his fathers businesses one day. However, the Dvorak family also practiced music that went along with their strong Catholic faith and Bohemian heritage. It was soon clear to his father that Antonin was especially musically talented and at the age of six he started at a village school to receive some music education. Then he started to entertain the guests and local townspeople by playing his violin at village dances and joining in church groups. His father still wanted him to become a butcher but it was not long until he got his first solo performance as a violinist in the church of Veprek and he then moved to Zlonice to learn under the multi-instrumentalist Antonin Liehmann. With Liehmann, he learned the basics of harmony, organ-playing, got to play organ during Mass, and composed his first pieces. Dvorak then spent some time in Ceska Kamenice to learn German and he continued his studies with Franz Hanke, who allowed him to play the organ in Mass again. After much convincing, Dvorak’s father let him move to Prague to attend an organ school for two years. The next ten or so years he was very poor and spent much time traveling from relatives to live with. In 1862 he started performing in the opera orchestra at the Provisional Theatre as a violist and would study scores that he borrowed from friends at home. During this time he composed many works of his own but only assigned an opus number for a few of them because he was very critical of his pieces. He fell in love with an actress from the theater but she married someone else and he later married her sister, Anna Cermakova. He then got a job as organist for St. Adalbert’s Church in Prague that allowed him financial stability and freedom to compose. This was an extremely productive time for him and he wrote the majority of his music while working there. In the 1890’s he received much recognition for his work and was offered the position of Professor of Instrumentation and Composition at the Prague conservatory. After, he accepted a job in America as director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York City and explored the concept of African- American and Native American music being used as the base for the growth of American music. He returned to finish his career as the director of the Prague conservatory until he died on May 1st of 1904 due to heart failure.

Works
Dvorak composed many operas, choral music, symphonic poems, concert overtures, concertos, symphonies, and chamber music pieces. Some of his works are listed below:
 * 16 Slavonic Dances - Op.46 and Op.72
 * 8 Humoresques 


 * The Carnival Overture
 * Nature
 * Othello
 * The Noonday Witch
 * The Golden Spinning Wheel
 * The Water Goblin
 * The Wild Dove

Comparisons
Dvorak's style was influenced by the cultures and traditions that surrounded him such as Czech, Moravian, and other Slavic traditional music. His works usually consisted of the following Slavic folk dance forms: skočna, Bohemian odzemek, furiant, sousedská, špacirka, Polish mazurka and polonaise, and Yugoslav Kolo. His pieces really portrayed the love he had for his heritage and native peoples.

Observations
Dvorak really admired Richard Wagner and his work. He once got to perform multiple excerpts from Wagner's pieces at a concert that was also conducted by Wagner himself. It is said that after that experience he was really inspired by him.