PERIOD #____________________
COMPOSER PROFILE REPORT
COMPOSER’S LAST NAME:
Dvořák
COMPOSER’S FIRST NAME:
Antonin
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:
Czechoslovakia
COMPOSER’S DATES:
1841-1904
NAME 5 FAMOUS COMPOSITIONS WRITTEN BY THIS COMPOSER:
There is speculation by Dvořák scholars such as Michael Beckerman that portions of his Symphony No. 9 "From the New World," notably the second movement, were adapted from studies for a never-written opera about Longfellow’s “Hiawatha.”
2. Humoresque No. 7 in G♭ major, 1894
Itzhak Perlman (violin) and
YoYo Ma (cello) performing:
Humoresque (or Humoreske) is a genre of romantic music characterized by
pieces with fanciful humor in the sense of mood rather than wit.
pieces with fanciful humor in the sense of mood rather than wit.
1894-1895
Pablo Casals on the cello:
Mstislav Rostropovich on the cello:
Dvořák composed the concerto in New York while serving as the
Director of the National Conservatory.
Director of the National Conservatory.
4. Carnival Overture, 1891
Dvořák wrote his own program note describing the story behind the music: "The wanderer reaches the city at nightfall, where a carnival of pleasure reigns supreme. On every side is heard the clangor of instruments, mingled with shouts of joy and the unrestrained hilarity of people giving vent to their feelings in the songs and dance tunes."
5. “American” String Quartet No. 12, 1893
Alban Berg String Quartet Performing:
The quartet was written in the United States around the same time as the New World Symphony during a summer retreat from his New York teaching post in the city of Spillville, Iowa. Dvořák said, "I should never have written these works 'just so' if I hadn't seen America.
NAME SOME FAMOUS PEOPLE WHO WERE ALSO ALIVE DURING THIS COMPOSER’S LIFETIME:
LITERATURE:
Verne, Jules 1828-1905
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, 1870
It is a science fiction novel about the fictional Captain Nemo and his submarine,
Nautilus, as seen by one of his passengers, Professor Pierre Aronnax.
Nautilus, as seen by one of his passengers, Professor Pierre Aronnax.
Alcott, Louisa May
1832-1888
Little Women, 1868
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
1807-1882
The Song of Hiawatha, 1855
“Hiawatha and Minnehaha” (a fictional Native American woman documented
in Longfellow’s poem) statue located in Minnehaha Park, Minneapolis: Minnesota.
in Longfellow’s poem) statue located in Minnehaha Park, Minneapolis: Minnesota.
It is this short poem extract that begins with the famous line:
By the shores of Gitche Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,
Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis.
Dark behind it rose the forest,
Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees,
Rose the firs with cones upon them;
Bright before it beat the water,
Beat the clear and sunny water,
Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.
By the shores of Gitche Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,
Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis.
Dark behind it rose the forest,
Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees,
Rose the firs with cones upon them;
Bright before it beat the water,
Beat the clear and sunny water,
Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.
The real "Gitche Gumee"
According to Longfellow, Hiawatha was believed to be a Native North American of miraculous birth, who was sent to clear the rivers, forests, and fishing-grounds of his people, and to teach them the art of peace. Other than that, here is virtually no connection, apart from the name, between Longfellow's hero and the sixteenth-century Iroquois chief, Hiawatha, who co founded the Iroquois League, a group of Native North Americans who shared similar languages who banded together to become the Five Nations of the Iroquois confederacy.
MUSIC:
Brahms, Johannes
1833-1897 (Germany)
Tchaikovsky, Peter Illyich
1840-1893 (Russia)
Rimsky-Korsakov, Nicolai
1844-1908 (Russia)
HISTORY:
16th U.S. President:
Lincoln, Abraham
18th U.S. President:
Grant, Ulysses S.
20th U.S. President:
Garfield, James A.
Garfield, James A.
As a result of his assassination, he served only six months in that office, the second shortest administration in United States history. To date, Garfield is the only sitting member of the House of Representatives to have been elected President. Chester A. Arthur, his Vice President, succeeded him.
25th U.S. President:
McKinley, William
1900 campaign of incumbent President William McKinley and his choice for second term Vice President, Theodore Roosevelt (McKinley was assassinated in office by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist, and succeeded by Theodore Roosevelt.)
ART:
Degas, Edgar
Degas, Edgar
1834-1917
Monet, Claude
1840-1926
Cezanne, Paul
1839-1906
NAME SOME FAMOUS HISTORICAL, SCIENTIFIC, AND OR LITERARY HAPPENINGS THAT TOOK PLACE DURING THIS COMPOSER’S LIFETIME:
Texas and Florida become states, 1845
Bicycle Manufactured in America, 1878
Albert Augustus Pope
In 1878 Albert Pope began manufacturing the Columbia bicycle (often referred to as the “penny-farthing bicycle”) just outside of Boston, thus starting a nearly two decade-long trend in America and becoming a prominent historical symbol of the late Victorian era.
Ford’s First Automobile Engine, 1893
He built his first car before he founded the Ford Motor Company.
Henry Ford
Edison Phonograph, 1878
Thomas Alva Edison
DESCRIBE WHAT YOU THINK THIS COMPOSER’S OVERALL COMPOSITIONAL STYLE IS AND WHAT IS DISTINCTIVE ABOUT IT.
Dvořák's melodic style is notable for its use of both Czechoslovakian and American folk tunes. Although he wrote many specifically rustic pieces (i.e. the Slavonic Dances), folk melodies are often seamlessly woven into the texture of all forms of his music (symphonies, chamber music, operas, etc).
WRITE YOUR PERSONAL OPINION ABOUT THE MUSICAL STYLE OF THIS COMPOSER AND EXPLAIN.
IF POSSIBLE, CAN YOU LIST ANY INTERNET WEB ADDRESSES ABOUT THIS COMPOSER?
MISCELLANEOUS COMMENTS:
Dvořák came to America to become the director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York City, a post he held from 1892 to 1895 at a $15,000 annual salary. Here Dvořák met with Harry Burleigh,
one of the earliest known African-American composers, his pupil. Burleigh introduced traditional American Spirituals to Dvořák which he incorporated into all the music he wrote while in the United States.
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