Antonín Dvořák : Legends for small orchestra Op. 59 (1881)

Antonín Dvořák

(8 September 1841 – 1 May 1904) was a Czech composer, one of the first Czech composers to achieve worldwide recognition. Dvořák 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 Bedřich Smetana. Dvořák'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".[1]

 

Legends for small orchestra Op. 59 (1881)

I. Allegretto non troppo, quasi andantino
II. Molto moderato
III. Allegro giusto
IV. Molto maestoso
V. Allegro giusto
VI. Allegro con moto
VII. Allegretto grazioso
VIII. Un poco allegretto
IX. Andante con moto
X. Andante.

Performed by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra conducted by José Serebrier.

 

Legends, Op. 59, B. 122 (Czech: Legendy), is a cycle of ten small-scale pieces by the Czech composer Antonín Dvořák. The work was composed originally for piano duet, but later was arranged also for a reduced orchestra.^[1]

 

Background

On 15 October 1880, the day before finishing the score of his sixth symphony, Dvořák wrote to his publisher Fritz Simrock about his plans for the near future saying he hoped to finish a piano duet cycle, "Legends," in the next month.^[2] He did not, however, begin to sketch the work until 30 January 1881. The definitive shape of the piano version was created from 12 February to 23 March 1881, partly in Prague and partly in Vysoká u Příbrami.

 

Dvořák dedicated the composition to the critic Eduard Hanslick, who praised the cycle with great enthusiasm.^[2] The piano duet version was printed by the German publishing house Simrock in summer, 1881. In that same year Dvořák arranged the cycle for orchestra. The orchestration differs in every individual piece.^[3] The work was premiered in 1882, at the concert of the Prague Conservatory (Nos. 1, 3, 4), under the baton of Antonín Bennewitz. Three more of the "Legends" (Nos. 2, 5, 6) were premiered at a concert of the Vienna Philharmonic on 26 November 1882, conducted by Wilhelm Jahn.

Structure

The cycle consists of ten pieces:

1. Allegretto non troppo, quasi andantino (in D minor)
2. Molto moderato (in G major)
3. Allegro giusto (in G minor)
4. Molto maestoso (in C major)
5. Allegro giusto (in A♭ major)
6. Allegro con moto (in C♯ minor)
7. Allegretto grazioso (in A major)
8. Un poco allegretto (in F major)
9. Andante con moto (in D major)
10. Andante (in B♭ minor)

The approximate duration is 40 minutes.

Note: No. 7 (Alegretto grazioso, A major) was originally to have been the third piece, but Dvorak shifted it to its ultimate position before publication.^[4]

 

Composed: 13 November - 9 December 1881 Conductor: Jiří Bělohlávek Orchestra: Prague Chamber Philharnomic Orchestra

00:00 1. Allegretto non troppo, quasi andantino (D minor) 03:33 2. Molto moderato (G major) 07:58 3. Allegro giusto (G minor) 12:01 4. Molto maestoso (C major) 18:02 5. Allegro giusto (A-flat major) 22:26 6. Allegro con moto (C-sharp minor) 27:35 7. Allegretto grazioso (A major) 30:34 8. Un poco allegretto e grazioso (F major) 34:26 9. Andante con moto (D major) 37:15 10. Andante (B-flat minor)

 

The composition of ten short pieces for four-hand piano dates from Dvořák’s so-called Slavic period. The first mention of his intention to write a cycle entitled “Legends” came in a letter to the composer’s publisher Simrock, dated 14 October 1880. Dvořák at the time was completing his sixth symphony in D major, and the Legends could, in fact, be regarded as a kind of more intimate postscript to its idyllic atmosphere. The work is also sometimes seen as a counterpart to the Slavonic Dances, in contrast to which the Legends are more subtle and lyrical in character, a fact reflected in the subsequent orchestral version in the use of a smaller orchestral roster. Also typical of the piece is its somewhat archaic, epic character: although the individual parts of the cycle carry no specific story, Dvořák still managed to convey the idea of a continuous narrative. It is conceivable that Dvořák’s primary inspiration for writing the composition was Erben’s poetry. Not only does the balladic character of certain parts of the cycle support this theory, but also a fact uncovered by English musicologist Gerald Abraham: according to Abraham’s findings, Dvořák possibly applied a principle he later employed in his symphonic poems, namely, the derivation of motivic material directly from the rhythm of the verse. The main theme of the first Legend could be precisely superimposed onto the introductory lines of Erben’s poem The Daughter’s Curse from the collection Bouquet, and the beginning of the fourth Legend is rhythmically analogous to Erben’s poem describing the Hussite victory at the Battle of Domazlice (Song of the Victory at Domazlice). Dvořák wrote the entire Legends cycle during the first third of 1881 and dedicated it to leading Viennese music critic Eduard Hanslick in recognition of the latter’s enduring interest in his work. The cycle was published by Berlin firm Simrock in the summer of that year. Johannes Brahms, conductor Hans von Bulow and other eminent figures from the music circles of the day expressed their great admiration for the Legends, and so Simrock requested, as he had done before in the case of the Slavonic Dances, that Dvořák write an instrumental arrangement as well. Dvořák readily agreed and orchestrated the entire cycle in late November and early December 1881.