Antonín Leopold Dvorák (1841 - 1904) was a Czech
composer. Dvorák frequently employed rhythms and other
aspects of the folk music of Moravia and his native
Bohemia, following the Romantic-era nationalist example
of his predecessor BedÅ™ich Smetana. Dvorák's style
has been described as "the fullest recreation of a
national idiom with that of the symphonic tradition,
absorbing folk influences and finding effective ways of
using them," and he himself has been described as
"arguably the most ...(+)
Antonín Leopold Dvorák (1841 - 1904) was a Czech
composer. Dvorák frequently employed rhythms and other
aspects of the folk music of Moravia and his native
Bohemia, following the Romantic-era nationalist example
of his predecessor BedÅ™ich Smetana. Dvorák's style
has been described as "the fullest recreation of a
national idiom with that of the symphonic tradition,
absorbing folk influences and finding effective ways of
using them," and he himself has been described as
"arguably the most versatile... composer of his time".
He displayed his musical gifts at an early age, being
an apt violin student. The first public performances of
his works were in Prague in 1872 and, with special
success, in 1873, when he was 31 years old. Seeking
recognition beyond the Prague area, he submitted scores
of symphonies and other works to German and Austrian
competitions. He did not win a prize until 1874, with
Johannes Brahms on the jury of the Austrian State
Competition. In 1877, after his third win, Brahms
recommended Dvorák to his publisher, Simrock, who
commissioned what became the Slavonic Dances, Op. 46.
The sheet music's high sales and critical reception led
to his international success. A London performance of
Dvorák's Stabat Mater in 1883 led to many other
performances in the United Kingdom, the United States,
and eventually Russia in March 1890. The Seventh
Symphony was written for London in 1885.
Dvorák composed Four Songs in late 1887 and early 1888
for his main publisher Simrock as compensation for lost
profits from the publication of the cycle Songs on the
Words of the Dvůr Králové Manuscript. The
fledgling composer had at one time surrendered this
much earlier work to the Prague publisher Emanuel
Starý without charging him, and he later also had the
work published by Simrock. Now, however, the
London-based firm Novello decided to purchase the songs
from Starý and planned to publish them as well, for
which Simrock took Dvorák to task. The composer
defended his actions, pleading ignorance of business
practices, and smoothed out the disagreement by
promising to deliver, at no cost, “a set of songs as
beautiful as the Op. 7 I wrote fifteen years ago, if
not better.” For his musical setting Dvorák chose
four poems from the collection by Otilie
Malybrock–Stieler Lyrische Gedichte und
Übertragungen nach böhmischer Kunst- und Volks-Poesie
(Lyrical poems and translations based on Bohemian art
and folk poetry), which had been published in Prague
that same year. The songs were written to the original
German poems Lasst mich allein (Leave Me Alone), Die
Stickerin (The Embroideress), Frühling (Springtime)
and Am Bache (At the Brook), which were subsequently
translated into Czech by the composer’s friend
Václav Juda Novotný. Dvorák dedicated the work to
Sophie Hanslick, the wife of music critic and
aesthetician Eduard Hanslick. Simrock published the
songs directly, in 1888, with texts in Czech, German
and English.
The individual song miniatures have wonderful melodies
and demonstrate the ideal synthesis of vocal line and
piano accompaniment. The first and fourth songs are
written in strophic form; the second and third songs
adopt a symmetrical three-part scheme. The second song
(The Embroideress) follows a remarkable harmonic scheme
with the irregular repetition of the opening segment in
a different key. The third song (Springtime) sees the
composer using semiquaver figures in the piano
accompaniment to evoke the freshness of nature in
springtime. In a similar way, the piano in the fourth
song (At the Brook) conjures up the sound of water
burbling in a stream. Much better known is the first
song (Leave Me Alone); in its wonderful arching melodic
line and intense emotive expression, it is probably one
of the finest from the composer’s song oeuvre.
According to a period critic, “with the song Leave Me
Alone, Dvorák has attained Schubert’s heights. In
the past, the latter was his example; now independent,
he stands at his side as his equal.” The song was a
favourite of Josefina Kounicová, the composer’s love
from his young days, later his sister-in-law. When she
was dying in 1895, Dvorák decided to use a quotation
from this song in his Cello Concerto in B minor, which
he was writing at the time.
Source: Antonín Dvorák
(https://www.antonin-dvorak.cz/en/work/four-songs-op82-
b157/#:~:text=general%20characteristics,a%20symmetrical
%20three%2Dpart%20scheme.).
Although originally composed for Voice & Piano, I
created this Arrangement of "Die Stickerin" (The
embroiderer) from "4 Lieder" (Op. 82 B. 157 No. 2) for
Flute & Piano.
PARTITION