Dvořák and his world / edited by Michael Beckerman.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Beckerman, Michael Brim, 1951-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Dvořák, Antonín, 1841-1904.

Dvořák, Antonín.

Physical Description:

x, 284 : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, [1993]

Summary:

Antonin Dvorak made his famous trip to the United States one hundred years ago, but despite an enormous amount of attention from scholars and critics since that time, he remains an elusive figure. Comprising both interpretive essays and a selection of fascinating documents that bear on Dvorak's career and music, this volume addresses fundamental questions about the composer while presenting an argument for a radical reappraisal.

The essays, which make up the first part of the book, begin with Leon Botstein's inquiry into the reception of Dvorak's work in German-speaking Europe, in England, and in America; he uses Dvorak's career as a prism through which to view the ideological assumptions and biases of late nineteenth-century critical discourse. Commenting on the relationship between Dvorak and Brahms, David Beveridge offers the first detailed portrait of perhaps the most interesting artistic friendship of the era. Joseph Horowitz explores the context in which the "New World" Symphony was premiered a century ago, offering an absorbing account of New York musical life in the late nineteenth century. Jan Smaczny discusses Dvorak as a dramatist, surveying his operatic works and the response to them in Czechoslovakia and abroad, and suggesting that the operas provide an unexpected slant on the widely held view of Dvorak as a "nationalist" composer. Michael Beckerman's reading of Dvorak as a national composer raises the broader question of the role nationalism played in music of the nineteenth century; he considers how artists constructed the idea of "national style" and what were their purposes in doing so.

The second part of this volume presents Dvorak's correspondence and reminiscences as well as reviews and criticism from the Czech press. It includes a series of documents from the composer's American years, translations of the first German biographical account of Dvorak and of the review of Rusalka's premiere with the photographs that accompanied the original Czech article, and Janacek's analyses of the symphonic poems. Several of these documents are published in English for the first time.

Contents:

Introduction: Looking for Dvorak in December 1992 / Michael Beckerman 3

Part I Essays

Reversing the Critical Tradition: Innovation, Modernity, and Ideology in the Work and Career of Antonin Dvorak / Leon Botstein 11

Dvorak and Brahms: A Chronicle, an Interpretation / David Beveridge 56

Dvorak and the New World: A Concentrated Moment / Joseph Horowitz 92

Dvorak: The Operas / Jan Smaczny 104

The Master's Little Joke: Antonin Dvorak and the Mask of Nation / Michael Beckerman 134

Part II Documents and Criticism

Reviews and Criticism from Dvorak's American Years: Articles by Henry Krehbiel, James Huneker, H. L. Mencken, and James Creelman 157

Letters from Dvorak's American Period: A Selection of Unpublished Correspondence Received by Dvorak in the United States 192

Antonin Dvorak: A Biographical Sketch / Hermann Krigar, Translated by Susan Gillespie, Critical commentary by Jarmil Burghauser 211

Dvorak in the Czech Press: Unpublished Reviews and Criticism / Translated by Tatiana Firkusny 230

A Discussion of Two Tone Poems Based on Texts by Karel Jaromir Erben: The Wood Dove and The Golden Spinning Wheel / Leos Janacek, Translated by Tatiana Firkusny 262.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0691033862 :

0691000972

OCLC:

27937811