New Millennium Strings

Antonin Dvorak

Suite in A Major

Antonin Dvorak was born in Nelahozeves near Prague on September 8, 1841, and died in Prague on May 1, 1904. He was loyal to his country's folk music, and he was one of the founders of the nationalist movement in the late 19th century.

Dvorak's childhood was steeped in the musical folk tradition of the region where he grew up. His early formal training was focused on organ, violin, and voice. Dvorak was obliged to follow the family's butchery business, but a teacher rescued him. He provided him education in music theory and encouraged his rare musical talent. From 1874-1877, Dvorak secured a job as organist for St. Ethelbert's Church. There he met Anna Cermakova, who was a singer with the National Opera. They stayed happily married and the union produced six children.

The Suite in A Major, Op. 98b was originally composed in 1865 as a piano piece. Unfortunately Dvorak never heard the orchestrated version of it. The piece was first performed in 1910 by the Czech Philharmonic, conducted by Karel Kovarovic in Prague. The Suite in A Major is organized in five dance movements. It has all the emotional qualities of the other compositions Dvorak wrote while living in America. Dvorak was a champion of all native music. While he was employed at the National Conservatory of Music, from 1891-1895, and summers in Spillville, Iowa, he explored the American folk element.

Several sources became available to Dvorak which influenced his music. He was drawn to Native American songs and was given three transcriptions of Iroquois tunes from the Six Nations Reserve, Canada. Also, while in Spillville, Dvorak heard songs from the plains and eastern woodland Indians.

Another type of American song that Dvorak was drawn to was the spiritual. While at the Conservatory, he became friends with Harry T. Burleigh, a gifted African American baritone who brought the spiritual and plantation songs to a respected musical position. He not only was a famous singer, but he arranged collections of spirituals and made them accessible to the concert stage.

The first movement of the Suite in A Major begins tranquilly, based on a descending four-note theme in the violins. Each repetition of the theme employs a subtle difference in the way it was previously presented. It is varied by dynamics and with a change in orchestration. A middle section is transposed to A Minor mode, and here he employs the percussion. This section has an impetuous flair. As the movement concludes, the mood is once again reflective.

The second movement begins and concludes with a hammered them in C-Sharp Minor. It is in contrast to the middle section. Here the melody is a plaintive yearning; it is presented in the violin and then in the oboe.

The third movement is a polonaise. It is composed like a rondo form. The perky dotted rhythmic theme is often heard in the Humoresques Op. 101 for piano that Dvorak wrote in 1895. Each rhythmic section is followed by a cantabile section, which could illustrate Native American tunes.

The fourth movement is simpler in form, but is the most passionate and tender in expression. The last movement is a Gavotte and is principally in A Minor. It begins rigorously with a triplet work out in the strings. The use of timpani hints at the Native American drumming song. The middle section shifts to A Major and has a flavor not unlike a Stephen Foster song. The theme is first heard in the flutes and oboes and then by the violins. It is interesting to note that Dvorak lauded America's first professional songwriter, Stephen Collins Foster. He shared the popular view that Foster's songs were directly linked to spirituals. The piece concludes with a chorale version of thematic material from the first movement. It is a brief brass chorale. Then the end is boisterous and ends with an optimistic sweep.

-- program notes by Laurien Jones

August, 2000