Classical Works Spotlight #352--Dvorak

[erik]

A grisly Czech folk tale forms the heart of the symphonic tone poem by Antonin Dvorak that is in this week's Classical Works Spotlight.

Dvorak: THE WATER GOBLIN, OP. 107

After his hugely successful sojourn to America, which resulted in his most popular symphony (the New World), and the Mount Everest of all cello concertos, Antonin Dvorak returned to his native Bohemia to create a series of symphonic orchestral poems, most of which were to remain favorites only among the native populace of Bohemia, and later Czechoslovakia. But one of them was to hold a significant place in the repertoire of symphonic poems, especially those dealing with the macabre—“The Water Goblin”, a work based on the collection of poems known as Kitice, by Karel Jaromir Erben. Beginning and ending in the somber key of B Minor, it tells of a water goblin that traps drowning souls in upturned teacups, originating from a lake. In performances, the effect is that of a Bohemian version of previous grisly standards of the orchestral repertoire such as Saint-Saens’ “Danse Macabre” and Gounod’s “Funeral March Of A Marionette”, though with much larger orchestration and a sense of impending doom for the victims of the goblin. “The Water Goblin” had its public premiere in London in November 1896, though it did have a semi-public premiere at the Prague Conservatory in June of that year. Although overshadowed by the composer’s last four symphonies and his cello concerto, “The Water Goblin” maintains its place as a masterpiece of the musical macabre, and is the most popular and familiar of Dvorak’s sojourns into the realm of the symphonic poem.



Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra/ZDENEK MACAL (Koss Classics)

Included:
SYMPHONY NO. 9 IN E MINOR, OP. 95 (NEW WORLD)

[egoodstein]

A cool piece, 'fun' in it's own way. It's a good demonstration of the breadth of Dvorak's orchestrating acumen though, and also yet another example of how he incorporated Czech folklore/culture into his music, with both interesting sentimental/warm aspects and macabre/dramatic/horrific ones. So a good initial foray into tone poem form. It's also interesting how the poem/story parallels that of Greek myth of Demeter/Persephone, if with more grisly 'gloomy Slavic' ending when the goblin kills his unfortunate child of the forced union at the end. If a little unusual for Dvorak, still a good example of his ability to juxtapose various emotional moments in a compelling way I think, and some themes will be more fully explored even in his opera Rusalka a few years later of course.

[erik]

Since so much Czech folklore is of a grisly variety, Dvorak clearly was intrigued by this legend; and as a result, he was clearly motivated, upon the success he had had in America, to create a symphonic tone poem around such grisly happenings. In fact, most of his symphonic poems (as opposed to the concert overtures) came in his last several years, foreshadowing what later Bohemian composers like Leos Janacek and Bohuslav Martinu would do (IMHO).