The Classical Music Book

212

THE MUSIC OF THE

PEOPLE IS LIKE

A RARE AND

LOVELY FLOWER

SYMPHONY NO. 9, “FROM THE NEW

WORLD” ( 1893 ), ANTONÍN DVORˇÁK

B

ohemia, the largest and

westernmost region of

the Czech Republic today,

was formerly part of the Austro-

Hungarian Empire. For centuries,

its capital Prague enjoyed a rich

musical life, strongly influenced by

German and Austrian composers.

In the late 18th century, Mozart

visited five times, wrote a “Prague”

symphony (No. 38), and premiered

his opera Don Giovanni in the city.

By the mid-1800s, however,

fueled by a failed revolution in

1848, a nationalist movement

was underway that would have a

powerful impact on all the arts. In

music, both Bedrˇ ich Smetana and

Antonín Dvorˇ ák began to use

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Nationalism and folk music

BEFORE

1723 Czech composer Dismas

Zelenka writes his Ouverture

à 7 concertanti.

1776 Czech-born Johann

Baptist Vanhal publishes

Six Symphonies, Op. 23, works

that influenced Classical style.

1862 Bedrˇ ich Smetana

composes the opera The

Brandenburgers in Bohemia,

which is a great success.

AFTER

1904 Leoš Janá cˇ ek premieres

his opera Jen u°fa, which uses

“speech tunes” based on a

Moravian dialect of Czech.

1905–08 Béla Bartók and

Zoltán Kodály visit Hungarian

villages to research and record

traditional songs and dances.

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