About this Recording
8.572112 - DVOŘÁK, A.: Symphonies Nos. 7 and 8 (Baltimore Symphony, Alsop)

Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904)
Symphonies Nos. 7 and 8





In 1883 Dvořák had rejected a tempting proposal that he should write a German opera for Vienna. At home he continued to contribute to Czech operatic repertoire, an important element in re-establishing national musical identity. The invitation to take up a position in New York was another matter. In 1891 he had become professor of composition at Prague Conservatory and in the summer of the same year he was invited to become director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York, an institution that was intended to foster American music, hitherto dominated by musicians from Europe or largely trained there. Whatever the ultimate success or failure of the venture, Dvořák’s contribution was seen as that of providing a blue-print for American national music, following the example of Czech national music, which owed so much to him. There were musical results in his own work, notably in his Symphony ‘From the New World’, and chamber music of the period, works that rely strongly on the European tradition that he had inherited, while making use of melodies and rhythms that might be associated in one way or another with America. By 1895 Dvořák was home for good, resuming work at the Prague Conservatory, of which he became director in 1901. His final works included a series of symphonic poems and two more operas, to add to the nine he had already composed. He died in Prague in 1904.

Dvořák wrote his Symphony No. 7 in D minor, Op. 70, for the London Philharmonic Society, after his successful appearance in London in March 1884. He started work, it seems in December, and the symphony was completed by the middle of March 1865, to be performed in London on 22 April at St James’s Hall. Four years later Hans von Bulow conducted the symphony in Berlin so successfully that Dvořák decorated the autograph score with a portrait of the conductor, adding below the words ‘Glory to you! You brought this work to life’. The work owes something to the impression on Dvořák of Brahms’s Symphony in F major and that composer’s remark that he supposed the new symphony would be quite different from the Symphony in D major (No. 6).

The first movement of Symphony No. 7 opens in a sombre mood, but even the first theme, played by violas and cellos, has the suggestion of Bohemian inspiration about it, although this is possibly the least obviously national of the five later symphonies of Dvořák and the influence of Brahms remains clear enough, particularly in the second subject, introduced by flute and clarinet. The second movement starts with a fine clarinet melody in F major, leading to a further melody for flutes and oboes that ventures into new harmonies. There is a new theme introduced by violin and cello, followed by the French horn, and the melodies we have heard are then developed. The following Scherzo is highly typical of the composer in its rhythms, its double theme preserving the darker mood of the whole symphony, while the trio breathes an air of country serenity. The final movement shows yet again Dvořák’s considerable powers of invention. A first theme of great potential leads to a second emphatic melody, of which the woodwind have provided a foretaste, and a third theme in A major is introduced by the cellos. The movement contains much that seems replete with tragic foreboding, before the triumphant return of the key of D major with which the symphony ends.

In 1884 Dvořák had bought a small property at Vysoka and it was there that in the autumn of 1889 he wrote his Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88, celebrating in the superscription to the score his admission as a member of the Emperor Franz Josef’s Czech Academy of Science, Literature and the Arts. The first performance was in Prague in February 1890, followed by a performance in London under the composer’s direction in April and in June in Cambridge, where he received an honorary doctorate. The symphony was published in London by Novello, strong supporters of Dvořák, whose Vienna publisher Simrock had proved readier to buy shorter pieces, for which there was always a ready market. A performance under Richter in Vienna had to wait until January 1891.

The symphony, scored for an orchestra that includes piccolo, cor anglais and tuba, in addition to pairs of other woodwind instruments, four horns, trumpets, three trombones, timpani and strings, is imbued with the spirit of Bohemia. The first movement opens with a fine G minor theme for cellos, clarinets, bassoon and horn, followed by a cheerful interruption from the flute and a rhythmic additional theme played by divided violas and cellos. There is throughout the movement a mood that changes from major to minor, the former eventually predominating in a closing section. The slow movement brings a similar ambivalence, the three flats of the opening key signature apparently an afterthought for music which is now in E flat major, before reaching C minor, contradicted by the woodwind. The key signature is replaced before long by a happy C major melody for flute and oboe. The third movement is in the form of a graceful G minor waltz, with a contrasting trio section from Dvořák’s opera The Stubborn Lovers. The trumpets introduce the finale, their strong opening bars followed by a gently lilting cello theme, the subject of a series of variations, interrupted by a more sinister element. There is a return to the lyrical principal theme of the movement before the excitement of the closing section, as the orchestra is urged on by the French horns at their brassiest.

Keith Anderson

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