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These pages contain program notes written for Redwood
Symphony. You are free to use the information in your own program
notes. If you quote me directly, please attribute it. Thanks!
These notes were edited, amended, and otherwise
improved by Eric Kujawsky, Peter Stahl, and Doug Wyatt.
Barbara Heninger
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Antonin Dvorak
Carnival Overture
From the first, Antonin Dvorák was always a strong advocate for his native
Czech folk music. He even insisted to his German publisher (who granted him a
contract at the urging of fellow composer Johannes Brahms) that the Czech titles
for his works be printed on the covers of his works.
By the time he reached his 50th year, in 1891, he was teaching composition at
the Prague Conservatory of Music, demonstrating to his students how one could
deftly set folk themes in classical forms. His Symphony No. 8 and Requiem
recently completed, Dvorák began at this time to write shorter orchestral works
in the form of overtures and tone poems. Carnival is the center of a triptych of
overtures composed on the themes of "Nature, Life, and Love." He began
writing the first piece, In Nature's Realm, in March 1891; Carnival followed,
depicting life, and Othello, representing love, was completed in January, 1892.
Dvorák conducted the overtures at their premiere in Prague on April 28, 1892,
at a concert that became his farewell appearance before took the directorship of
the new National Conservatory of Music in New York. The three pieces were also
performed as his welcome to the U.S. at a concert in Carnegie Hall later that
October.
According to the composer's own program note, Carnival depicts "a
lonely, contemplative wanderer reach[ing] at twilight a city where a festival is
in full swing. On every side is heard the clangor of instruments, mingled with
shouts of joy and the unrestrained hilarity of people giving vent to their
feelings in songs and dances." The ebullient opening section with its rapid
tempos and 'clangorous' percussion leads to a slower Andantino section,
featuring a solo ostinato by English horn. The English horn is soon joined by
flute to represent, as Dvorák wrote, "a pair of straying lovers." The
festive motifs return and the overture ends with a breathless, brilliant coda.
June 10, 2007
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