Antonin Leopold Dvorak (Czech: Antonín Leopold Dvořák, 8 September 1841 – 1 May 1904) was a Czech composer who is considered one of the most important Czech composers and the most performed Czech composer in the world.
He became famous for his symphonies, instrumental concertos and large vocal-instrumental works, but no less for his chamber music and operas. Together with Bedrich Smetana, Dvorak was a pioneer of modern Czech music in the line of the High Romanticism.
At the age of six Antonin Dvorak began playing the violin and gradually also the piano and organ. He finished organ school in Prague in 1859. From 1862 to 1871 he played the viola in the orchestra of the Provisional Theatre. He then worked as an organist at the Church of St. Vojtech in Prague.
The beginning of Dvorak's compositional output dates back to the 1860s. He was also successful as a conductor of his own compositions. In 1884 he was invited to London to conduct his vocal-instrumental work, Stabat Mater, at the Royal Albert Hall. He met with overwhelming success and thus gained strong links with the English music scene.
Dvorak's Requiem, first performed in Birmingham in 1891 under the composer's baton, was the culmination of this activity. On the strength of his musical achievements he was awarded honorary doctorates in Prague and Cambridge University. In 1892 Dvorak was appointed director of the American National Conservatory. His stay in the United States from 1892 to 1895 brought him further honors and, ultimately, world renown.
After his return to Bohemia in 1895, he devoted himself to opera and chamber music. He was appointed professor at the Prague Conservatory and later on he became its director. In 1898 he was awarded the Literis et artibus award for art and science. In 1901, the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I promoted him to the noble rank of knight (Ritter von Dvorak). He thus became a member of the House of Lords of the Imperial Council in Vienna.
Antonin Dvorak died unexpectedly on 1 May 1904 in Prague. He left behind a large body of work and also several unfinished works.
He wrote nine symphonies, several symphonic poems, large instrumental works (Slavonic Dances), vocal and vocal-instrumental works (Stabat Mater, St. Ludmila, Requiem, Te Deum), five concert overtures, a number of chamber works (the most famous is the String Quartet in F major, called the American), concertos (violin, cello and piano), songs (Biblical Songs), choruses, piano pieces (versions of Slavonic Dances, later also orchestral versions), ten operas inspired mainly by Czech fairy tales and fables (the most famous are Rusalka, Jacobin, The Devil and Kaca and Armida).
Dvorak's symphonic and concertante works are traditionally part of the repertoire of major orchestras around the world. His Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95, is also known by its subtitle From the New World, or as the New World Symphony. Dvorak wrote it between January and May 1893, while he was in New York. Neil Armstrong took a recording of the New World Symphony to the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969, and in 2009 it was voted the favourite symphony in a poll run by ABC Classic FM in Australia. The symphony From the New World is one of the finest works of its kind in music history.
Source: Wikipedia
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