Commenting on Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904), music critic Václav Juda Novotný declared in 1881 that “a Czech composer has to write, first and foremost, for a Czech audience.” Scholars have given considerable attention to Dvořák’s reception abroad and have shown that his path to success on foreign stages, particularly in Vienna, was not always direct. The composer’s reception in the Czech lands during the late nineteenth century was no less complicated – shaped by various cultural and political factors, as the Czechs sought to assert themselves in the fight for the nationalist cause, while remaining under Habsburg rule. Drawing on the wealth of newspaper and journal articles that were printed in the Czech press at this time, the dissertation places Dvořák’s music into its Czech context. The topic is explored by way of three case studies that deal with Dvořák’s contributions to choral, operatic, and symphonic genres. Each of the works examined came at a significant moment in Dvořák’s career in the Czech lands. The performance in 1873 of the choral cantata Hymnus: Heirs of the White Mountain marked Dvořák’s professional debut; with the 1878 production of the comic opera The Cunning Peasant, Dvořák celebrated his first major triumph on the coveted Czech operatic stage; and the Prague premiere in 1881 of his first widely recognized symphony, the D major, Op. 60, proved to be crucial in defining Dvořák’s role in the concert hall. These case studies reveal that Dvořák’s treatment in the Czech press varied depending on the unique traditions of these genres and their differing status within Czech musical culture. The project highlights the complex relationships and interactions among critics, audiences, and composers. In the politically-charged climate of fin-de-siècle Bohemia, Czech critics took ownership of Dvořák and enlisted his music to advance their own agendas. Dvořák, in turn, was keenly aware of and often catered to public tastes and critical expectations. Intertwining various realms of contextual inquiry, including nationalist rhetoric, contemporary critical discourses, and the musical repertories that were cultivated in the Czech lands, the dissertation draws attention to the multiple agents at play in Dvořák’s nineteenth-century Czech reception.

The tenor figure of princ, three-act opera, " Rusalka" by Antonín Dvořák, was a long time with its character, singing difficulty and technical extremity , a big challenge for me. So l decided after two years of studying this role, write a magister thesis about princ, think about his character and its overall by the creation from the very beginning to the hardest singing party at the end of the opera.

Die Jubiläen zu Antonín Dvořák haben sich Anfang der 1990er Jahre gleichsam überschlagen. 1991: 150. Geburtstag des Komponisten; 1992: 100jähriges Gedenken an den Beginn von Dvořáks dreijährigem Wirken in Amerika; 1993: 100jährige Wiederkehr seines Besuches in Spillville (Iowa) und zugleich 100 Jahre Sinfonie aus der Neuen Welt. Gedenkfeiern, Symposien und Kongresse an vielen Orten der Welt (New Orleans, Saarbrücken, Hamburg, Dobříš, Spillville) und zugleich eine Vielzahl von Impulsen für das internationale wissenschaftliche Interesse an diesem tschechischen Komponisten, das in zahlreichen neuen Publikationen seinen Niederschlag fand und - denkt man an \"Czech Music\", das Journal der Dvořák Society London, das sich zu einem wichtigen Periodikum für Dvořák entwickelte, oder an die Prager \"Hudební věda\", in der kaum ein Jahrgang ohne einen Beitrag zu Dvořák erscheint - immer noch findet. Fast alle Richtungen der Dvořák-Forschung sind dabei vertreten, sei es die Grundlagenforschung, sei es die Biographie, seien es Untersuchungen zu speziellen Aspekten des Komponierens, Studien zu bestimmten Gattungskomplexen oder auf ein Werk konzentrierte Analysen, sei es die Rezeption oder auch die Geschichte der Dvořák-Forschung selbst. In gebotener Kürze - und dadurch zugegebenermaßen etwas vergröbert - sei ein Einblick gewagt.

"Pictures for an audition" are a visual tool I created to help in performing orchestral excerpts. I always had the aim to get deeper in the knowledge of the Zeitgeist of the composers I was facing, and as a consequence the aim to communicate this knowledge, this richness of roots, to the audience in a way as widely understandable as possible. I have been reflecting on the role of roots and background keeping as a reference point the figure of Dvořák, due to his strong connections with the Czech land and tradition. The inspiration I get from the composers’ background influences choices I do in dynamics, colors, articulation, and most of all expression. But how to get this inspiration when the situation is that of an orchestral audition, when the excerpts are so short, different in style and background, and played in a row with just few seconds between one and the other one? It is not possible for me to remember in few seconds what is more important about a particular excerpt, not even if I would prepare a written summary, since only to read that it would take at least one minute. Instead, visual memory is instantaneous, and somehow produces in me a more immediate inspiration than written concepts. Therefore, I decided to translate into visual inputs, i.e. selected pictures, photographs, or very short evocative sentences, the concepts which are for me more relevant about five excerpts which are often required in clarinet auditions. For each excerpt, these visual inputs have been put together in a A4 paper, and the outcome I called, for the sake of simplicity, the “picture for an audition”. I used this tool during my practice; after a while I recorded myself, and, finally, I used the picture as a reference point to check if in the recording it was clear enough what I wanted to express. In this comparison, the pictures made me more attentive to details I would have otherwise overlooked, and became an inspiration also to find new ways to practice the excerpts.

The submitted thesis deals with Antonín Dvořák's trilogy of concert overtures Nature, Life and Love, Op. 91-93. After summarising the current state of research in existing literature followed by the overview of music and non-musical sources, the overture - and mainly concert overture - is depicted as a music genre and Antonín Dvořák's overtures are presented in general. Integral element of the thesis is a summarization of circumstances of the given works' origin and thus also putting them into the context of composer's oeuvre. However the focus of the thesis lies in a musical-analytical insight into each of the three overtures (In Nature's Realm, Op. 91 [B 168], Carnival, Op. 92 [B 169], Othello, Op. 93 [B 174]), where the author also takes their existing analyses into account and pays attention to their genesis according to the sources. Key words Antonín Dvořák, Concert ouverture

abstract: The process of learning orchestra reductions on the piano is rather different from learning a piece originally written for the piano. Even though Dvořák’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in b minor is among the most performed works for cello and orchestra, and has been transcribed carefully by both the composer and other editors, the existing piano reductions are not always representative of many important aspects of the original orchestral score. Some reductions have large portions with unplayable or uncomfortable passages for pianists, or imprecise notations compared to the original orchestration, such as inaccurate indications for dynamics, rhythms, and notes. In rehearsal and performance, the pianist is challenged to adapt and transform one of the existing reductions into a playable and productive piano reduction, one which creates Dvořák’s full orchestral sonorities while retaining clarity of voicing. The resulting sound can be infinite in variety, as individual decisions and reductions may differ greatly. This paper will explore the following: how to reduce this orchestral score and solve the technical problem involved in orchestral writing for piano while effectively producing the sound of the orchestra in the piano reduction. There will be a literature review on important published reductions and a brief history of the work and composer. While it is not possible to discuss in detail each passage that has been revised or altered, this paper will focus on and analyze representative and substantial passages, including the perspective of two different reductions: Bärenreiter (2011) and Bärenreiter Praha (2004). It will provide a detailed demonstration of each example and will make suggestions for changes which will concentrate on capturing the essence of the orchestral score at the piano. Chapter one introduces and presents current editions. Chapters two, three and four will discuss each movement of the concerto with detailed explanations about changes in certain passages and sections. The appendix will feature a new revised reduction of Dvořák’s Cello concerto in B minor. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Music 2020

This dissertation examines five distinctly different comic operas by Antonín Dvořák, composed over a period of almost thirty years. I demonstrate ample evidence of their reflecting Dvořák's national identity as well as that of the Czech nation at a time of rising nationalism. I also demonstrate how Dvořák's compositional choices reveal his capacity as a musical dramatist of comic opera. I have examined and analyzed the libretti, full scores, and piano/vocal reductions of the five operas for references to national identity and for comedy. Musical elements such as dance rhythms, orchestral dudy (bagpipe) drone, the ascending interval of a fourth, and familiar folk tunes are interpreted as Slavic, Czech, or Bohemian. I have considered Dvořák's musical illustration of stereotypical stock characters and situations, and musical exploitation of social conventions and norms. Comic effects of recurrence, reversal, and pre- and post-outcome responses are achieved through acoustic signals such as unexpected tempo, dynamic, rhythmic, and harmonic shifts, and repetition in excess. I address the limited scholarship regarding Dvořák's operatic contributions — particularly as regards comic opera — in the field of opera studies, and challenge the argument that while there may be a generic "folk-tone," there is very little musical evidence of his national identity. Dvořák's ability to communicate far more to the audience than what is contained in the libretti alone is demonstrated not only in the broad scope of these five distinctly different operas, but also in the depth of musical support, including rhythm, melody, motivic development, and rich orchestration. / 2024-11-30T00:00:00Z

Master of Music / Department of Music / Joshua Oppenheim / Julie Yu Oppenheim / The Te Deum chant began in the Roman Catholic Church in prayer, and like many other psalms used in the Mass, it has evolved into a concert piece with settings composed for coronations, military victories, and other festive occasions. This author has identified two significant settings of this text by Joseph Franz Haydn and Antonín Leopold Dvořák for this discussion to study how common factors (primarily a common text) influence their compositions. Chapter I provides the purpose of the study, a brief description of related research, description of the appendices, and analytical criteria for examining the Te Deum settings. Chapter II presents a study of the ancient Te Deum psalm and its text. Topics for discussion include a brief overview of the history of chant. In regards to the Te Deum, further studies are included on its history, uses within prayer, the text, melody, and other uses of the Te Deum. Chapter III contains an in-depth analysis of the Haydn Te Deum (HXXIIIc:2) and the Dvořák Te Deum (Op. 103, B176, [Op. 93, Op. 98]). Analytical criteria for examining these settings consist of: a brief biographical sketch along with each composers compositional characteristics and reasons for commissioning this piece; discussions on general characteristics, structural and formal design, themes, melodic/harmonic characteristics, rhythmic/metrical/tempo characteristics, articulations, dynamics, texture, performance, pedagogical, and conducting considerations. Chapter IV summarizes general trends in the usage of the text of Te Deum. Information for this final chapter is derived from the in-depth analysis, the ancient history of the Te Deum, and other settings of the Te Deum text examined in sources similar to this document. The findings contain summaries of the musical elements listed above as well as general and specific commonalities of textual influence between the selected Te Deum settings. Appendix A provides the complete text of the Te Deum psalm with English translations and melody. Appendix B provides a score analysis of Te Deum (HXXIIIc:2). Appendix C provides a score analysis of Te Deum (Op. 103, B176, [Op. 93, Op. 98]).

Die Jubiläen zu Antonín Dvořák haben sich Anfang der 1990er Jahre gleichsam überschlagen. 1991: 150. Geburtstag des Komponisten; 1992: 100jähriges Gedenken an den Beginn von Dvořáks dreijährigem Wirken in Amerika; 1993: 100jährige Wiederkehr seines Besuches in Spillville (Iowa) und zugleich 100 Jahre Sinfonie aus der Neuen Welt. Gedenkfeiern, Symposien und Kongresse an vielen Orten der Welt (New Orleans, Saarbrücken, Hamburg, Dobříš, Spillville) und zugleich eine Vielzahl von Impulsen für das internationale wissenschaftliche Interesse an diesem tschechischen Komponisten, das in zahlreichen neuen Publikationen seinen Niederschlag fand und - denkt man an \"Czech Music\", das Journal der Dvořák Society London, das sich zu einem wichtigen Periodikum für Dvořák entwickelte, oder an die Prager \"Hudební věda\", in der kaum ein Jahrgang ohne einen Beitrag zu Dvořák erscheint - immer noch findet. Fast alle Richtungen der Dvořák-Forschung sind dabei vertreten, sei es die Grundlagenforschung, sei es die Biographie, seien es Untersuchungen zu speziellen Aspekten des Komponierens, Studien zu bestimmten Gattungskomplexen oder auf ein Werk konzentrierte Analysen, sei es die Rezeption oder auch die Geschichte der Dvořák-Forschung selbst. In gebotener Kürze - und dadurch zugegebenermaßen etwas vergröbert - sei ein Einblick gewagt.

Since its premiere in 1878, Antonín Dvořák’s Piano Concerto in G Minor has been underrated and held in low regard by musicologists, critics, performers and audiences alike. Vilém Kurz (1872-1945), a Czech pianist and pedagogue, revised and reworked the piano solo part to incorporate what he considered to be added brilliance and pianistic effectiveness. However, the revised version has not increased the popularity of the work. In recent decades, this concerto has begun to appear more often in the programs and recordings are currently available, utilizing either the original piano part or Kurz's revision or a combination of both. In order to gain a broader analytical perspective and achieve a more authentic interpretation of the piece, a thorough understanding of the relation between Dvořák’s work and Kurz's revisions is indispensable. This study examines these adaptations and compares them with Dvořák’s scoring in order to gain further insight to Kurz's musical intent and pianistic aims. Examples from all movements are evaluated vis-à-vis the original to determine their purpose and musical validity.