Antonín Leopold Dvorák (1841 - 1904) was a Czech
composer. Dvorák frequently employed rhythms and other
aspects of the folk music of Moravia and his native
Bohemia, following the Romantic-era nationalist example
of his predecessor Bedrich Smetana. Dvorák's style has
been described as "the fullest recreation of a national
idiom with that of the symphonic tradition, absorbing
folk influences and finding effective ways of using
them," and he himself has been described as "arguably
the most vers...(+)
Antonín Leopold Dvorák (1841 - 1904) was a Czech
composer. Dvorák frequently employed rhythms and other
aspects of the folk music of Moravia and his native
Bohemia, following the Romantic-era nationalist example
of his predecessor Bedrich Smetana. Dvorák's style has
been described as "the fullest recreation of a national
idiom with that of the symphonic tradition, absorbing
folk influences and finding effective ways of using
them," and he himself has been described as "arguably
the most versatile... composer of his time". He
displayed his musical gifts at an early age, being an
apt violin student. The first public performances of
his works were in Prague in 1872 and, with special
success, in 1873, when he was 31 years old. Seeking
recognition beyond the Prague area, he submitted scores
of symphonies and other works to German and Austrian
competitions. He did not win a prize until 1874, with
Johannes Brahms on the jury of the Austrian State
Competition. In 1877, after his third win, Brahms
recommended Dvorák to his publisher, Simrock, who
commissioned what became the Slavonic Dances, Op. 46.
The sheet music's high sales and critical reception led
to his international success. A London performance of
Dvorák's Stabat Mater in 1883 led to many other
performances in the United Kingdom, the United States,
and eventually Russia in March 1890. The Seventh
Symphony was written for London in 1885.
The Slavonic Dances (Czech: Slovanské tance) are a
series of 16 orchestral pieces composed by Antonín
Dvořák in 1878 and 1886 and published in two sets as
Op. 46 and Op. 72 respectively. Originally written for
piano four hands, the Slavonic Dances were inspired by
Johannes Brahms's own Hungarian Dances and were
orchestrated at the request of Dvořák's publisher
soon after composition. The pieces, lively and full of
national character, were well received at the time and
today are considered among the composer's most
memorable works, occasionally making appearances in
popular culture. “Contrary to what the title might
suggest, the dances are not so much inspired by Slavic
folk music generally, but specifically by styles and
forms from Bohemia. In these pieces, Dvořák never
actually quotes folk melodies, but evokes their style
and spirit by using traditional rhythmic patterns and
structures in keeping with traditional folk dances.”
The Op. 46 set is listed in the Burghauser catalogue as
B. 78 in the original piano four hand version, and as
B. 83 in the orchestral version. The Op. 72 set is
catalogued as B. 145 in the piano four hand version,
and as B. 147 in the orchestral version.
Prior to the publication of the Slavonic Dances, Op.
46, Dvořák was a relatively unknown composer and was
of modest means. Consequently, he had applied for the
Austrian State Prize fellowship (German "Stipendium")
in order to fund his composing work. After he won the
prize three times in four years (1874, 1876 and 1877),
Johannes Brahms, as one of the members of the committee
responsible for awarding the stipend, referred Dvořák
to his own publisher, Fritz Simrock. The first of
Dvořák's music to be published by Simrock was the
Moravian Duets, which attained widespread success;
encouraged, Simrock asked the composer to write
something with a dance-like character.
Unsure how to begin, Dvořák used Brahms's Hungarian
Dances as a model—but only as a model; there are a
number of important differences between the two works.
For example, whereas Brahms made use of actual
Hungarian folk melodies, Dvořák only made use of the
characteristic rhythms of Slavic folk music: the
melodies are entirely his own. Simrock was immediately
impressed by the music Dvořák produced (originally
for piano four hands), and asked the composer for an
orchestral version as well. Both versions were
published within the year, and quickly established
Dvořák's international reputation. The enormous
success of the Op. 46 dances led Simrock to request
another set of Slavonic Dances in 1886; Dvořák's
subsequent Op. 72 dances met with a similar
reception.
The types of dances upon which Dvořák based his music
include the furiant, the dumka, the polka, the
sousedská, the skočná, the mazurka, the odzemek, the
špacírka, the kolo and the polonaise. Most of the
Slavonic Dances make use of Czech dance patterns with
the exception of dumka (Ukrainian), kolo (Serbian) and
odzemek (Slovak).
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavonic_Dances).
Although originally composed for Piano (4 Hands), I
created these Arrangements of the 8 Slavonic Dances
(Op. 46 B. 78) for Flute & Strings (2 Violins, Viola &
Cello).
