Antonín Dvořák

Classics Explained: DVORAK - Symphony No. 9, 'From the New World' (Siepmann)

• Dvorak, Beethoven, and the Scherzo. Dvorak purpose
• A quiet beginning: sorrow, syncopation, and sequen
• Using a little fanfare, Dvorak further builds up e
• Instrumental colour as a prime element: clarinets
• When the theme is revealed, we find that it is not
• The opening tune again, with different instrumenta
• The first big surprise: strings, shattering drumbe
• Two little bursts of rhythm provide the seeds from
• It is the second half of the theme that dominates.
• Cellos and basses take us into a new key while flu
• Horns, violas, and cellos introduce a new idea, so
• Back to the beginning to hear the whole of this op
• Without ever being remotely 'academic' or 'intelle
• A tiny detail from the opening culminates in a wil
• Introduction complete
• Dvorak's very Czech love of combining conflicting
• A clearly transitional passage, obsessed with the
• A solo horn introduces the main theme, perkily ans
• Sooner than we may have expected, we seem to have
• The theme moves to G major; answering phrase from
• A new kind of tone quality sheds a subtly differen
• Long crescendo, tremolo strings, back to tonic and
• Transition to the secondary theme through the use
• Three-bar groupings and again the use of sequence,
• ...and the cellos and bassoons take up the origina
• The sequence continues to rise, and the four-bar p
• A false alarm: it was not the traditional Trio sec
• Soon, after a very rapid build, the Scherzo proper
• The first violins start off the next phrase, but t
• The violins fall silent; the violas and cellos ans
• The orchestral texture thins dramatically, and we
• So now we have a two-bar group, made up of stateme
• The Trio section is reminiscent more of the 'Old W
• The same thing again (though not quite the same)
• In the second half of the Trio, a new tune emerges
• Transition complete. The secondary theme arrives,
• The main theme of the Trio returns against a much
• Then it is all a matter of repeats, until we reach
• The 'bagpipe drone' is taken over by cellos, with
• Third movement (complete)
• The tune is taken up by cellos and double-basses,
• Like the first movement, the fourth begins not wit
• The violins continue a pattern of steady pairs, an
• The main theme: an imposing march, introduced by t
• Unexpectedly, we find ourselves back with the seco
• Again we hear the shortened version of the seconda
• The main theme, part two. A codetta-like passage c
• The 'transitional' theme, while outwardly contrast
• The suspense is heightened as everything slows dow
• A point of future obsession
• This beautiful flute tune is said to resemble 'Swi
• The second half of this 'transitional' theme is gi
• A big crescendo leads to a final statement of the
• The 'obsession' takes root, with a ten-fold repeti
• The development section begins with a conversation
• The beginning of the closing theme is taken up in
• The hidden traps in sonata-form terminology: 'seco
• The unexpected entry and subsequent ubiquity of 'T
• Sequential chirping from the oboes based on the 'a
• Much of the development comes from a diminution of
• We meet the mice again, now in the cellos and doub
• More 'Three Blind Mice' material
• The mice return to the basement, where the bassoon
• Through a sequence of keys so quickly that it is h
• Next, they are back with the clarinets who pass th
• After that major climax, we arrive at the threshol
• Now they return to the high winds, delicately tril
• Relief, at last: the mice back off, making way for
• Dvorak flouts tradition by setting the secondary t
• The tumultuous convulsion of the coda brings the f
• The mice yield to woodpeckers; the main theme is n
• Humpty Dumpty: putting the bits back together agai
• The triplets of the 'transitional' theme are now h
• Reminders of past movements begin to fly by, thick
• First movement (complete)
• The very opening chords unmistakably herald the ar
• In fact there are three bits of quotation going on
• The violas react every time the 'Goin' Home' theme
• The role of instrumentation in setting the scene..
• The rhythm of the opening of the 'Goin' Home' them
• ...and in enhancing the quality of one of the most
• The cor anglais is joined by the clarinet, creatin
• The march theme reappears as a Mendelssohnian fair
• For the closing part of the tune, there is another
• We reach an interesting point: have we heard the b
• Perhaps this is it? Back for a reminder of the the
• The closing bar is repeated by clarinets and basso
• Tovey places the start of the recapitulation here.
• This unexpected crisis in confidence plays a major
• The changes in scoring are just beginning.
• The flutes and oboes introduce a new tune, over hu
• A memorable combination of continuous, asymmetrica
• A glorious thematic stew; high drama, a powerful b
• Back in that woodland glade, the light and shadows
• The dramatic highpoint of the mov., an astonishing
• The same chords again, this time blasted out by th
• The next section is new and forward-looking, yet a
• An abrupt change of mood, much discussion and embe
• Now we are into the finishing stretch, but the sur
• Summary, context, and cue into the whole movement
• Subjectivity and expertise; Sourek and Tovey disag
• Fourth movement (complete)
• Cue to whole movement
• Second movement (complete)