Dvo?ák Czech Suite
ANTON DVORAK 1841 - 1904
Czech Suite Opus 39
1 Praeludium
2 Polka
3 Menuett (Sousedska)
4 Romanze
5 Finale (Furiant)
The opus number 39 is misleading, and behind it lies an interesting subterfuge. Dvorák had given an undertaking to his publisher Simrock that he should have first option on all new compositions, but a rival, Schlesinger, offered much more favourable terms which Dvorák duly acepted. In order to allay Simrock's suspicions, however, he assigned the work a ficticious early opus number. Like Beethoven before him, Dvorák had a strongly practical bent when dealing with his publishers!
The suite was in fact composed in Prague in the spring of 1879, not long after a meeting with Brahms. In character the music is similar to the two serenades, composed a little earlier, but as the title suggests the national flavour is consistently more in evidence. All five movements are unmistakably Czech in mood and character and three of them, the Polka, Sousedska and Furiant, are derived from popular folk dances.
»
- 411 reads
