Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904), the best known Czech composer, was a son of a village butcher. From his early childhood his only passion was music. In spite of many struggles and much suffering, he did not cease to study and work, Music was his consolation, his life. In just praise it may be said that the high position of this composer in the musical world is due chiefly to his unparalleled perseverance under his own criticism. To take a full orchestra score of a completed opera and destroy it and then rewrite it, was characteristic of Dvorak's method of attaining perfection. This self-teaching explains his temporary experimenting and uncertainty in form.
The number of Dvorak's compositions is vast, covering almost all forms of music. His fame began with Slavic Dances, brilliantly instrumented, which appealed to the larger public. Of his five symphonies the last one, From the New World, was composed while Dvorak was teacher of composition at the National Conservatory of Music in New York, in 1892. To this American period belongs the popular String quartet, op. 96, and his most beautiful as well as his last vocal opus, the cycle of The Biblical Songs, op. 99.
Whoever wishes to have a clear idea of Dvorak's genius must study and hear the wonderful symphonic poems from the last period of the composer's life. Here Dvorak, master of classical and absolute music, pays his tribute to the modern form of romantic program music with great success. As a composer of piano music, Dvorak could not subdue his eminent orchestral genius to clavier technique; his piano compositions call for instrumentation. The seventh number from opus 101 has become an extraordinary favorite in US. It is the celebrated Humoresque.
Of his seven operas the most beautiful is Russalka, which exhibits the best qualities of the author's creative ability. It may be said, however, that all Dvorak's operas are handicapped by a lack of conciseness.
