Early life Dvořák was born in
Nelahozeves near
Prague, in the
Austrian Empire, and was the eldest son of (1814–1894) and his wife, (1820–1882). František worked as an innkeeper, a professional player of the
zither, and a butcher. Anna was the daughter of Josef Zdeněk, the
bailiff of the
Prince of Lobkowicz. Anna and František married on 17 November 1840. Dvořák was the first of 14 children, eight of whom survived infancy. Dvořák was baptized as a Roman Catholic in the village's church of St. Andrew. Dvořák's years in Nelahozeves nurtured his strong Christian faith and the love for his Bohemian heritage that so strongly influenced his music. In 1847, Dvořák entered primary school and was taught to play violin by his teacher Joseph Spitz. He showed early talent and skill, playing in a village band and in church. František, unsuccessful as innkeeper and butcher but managed a living as a musician, was pleased with his son's gifts. At the age of 13, through the influence of his father, Dvořák was sent to
Zlonice in 1853 to live with his uncle Antonín Zdenĕk in order to learn the German language. His first composition, the "Forget-Me-Not Polka" in C ("Polka pomněnka") was written possibly as early as 1855. Dvořák took organ, piano, and violin lessons from his German-language teacher . Liehmann also taught the young boy
music theory and introduced him to the composers of the time; Dvořák had much regard for Liehmann despite his teacher's violent temper. Liehmann was the church organist in Zlonice and sometimes let Antonín play the organ at services. Dvořák took further organ and music theory lessons at
Česká Kamenice with Franz Hanke, who encouraged his musical talents even further and was more sympathetic. At the age of 16, at the urging of Liehmann and Zdenĕk, František allowed his son to become a musician, on the condition that the boy should work toward a career as an organist. After leaving for Prague in September 1857, Dvořák entered the city's
Prague Organ School, studying singing with
Josef Zvonař, theory with
František Blažek, and organ with . The latter was not only a professor at the
Prague Conservatory, but also a composer for the organ; his son
Josef Bohuslav Foerster became a better known composer. Dvořák also took an additional language course to improve his German and worked as an "extra" violist in numerous bands and orchestras, including the orchestra of the St. Cecilia Society. Dvořák graduated from the Organ School in 1859, ranking second in his class. He applied unsuccessfully for a position as an organist at , but remained undaunted in pursuing a musical career. In 1858, he joined
Karel Komzák's orchestra, with whom he performed in Prague's restaurants and at
balls. The high professional level of the ensemble attracted the attention of
Jan Nepomuk Maýr, who engaged the whole orchestra in the Bohemian
Provisional Theatre Orchestra. Dvořák played viola in the orchestra beginning in 1862. Dvořák could hardly afford concert tickets, and playing in the orchestra gave him a chance to hear music, mainly operas. In July 1863, Dvořák played in a program devoted to the German composer
Richard Wagner, who conducted the orchestra. Dvořák had had "unbounded admiration" for Wagner since 1857. In 1862, Dvořák began composing his first
string quartet. In 1864, Dvořák agreed to share the rent of a flat located in Prague's
Žižkov district with five other people, including violinist and , who later became a singer. In 1866, Maýr was replaced as chief conductor by
Bedřich Smetana. Dvořák was making about $7.50 a month. The constant need to supplement his income pushed him to give piano lessons.
Marriage and children It was through these piano lessons that he met his future wife, Anna. He originally fell in love with Anna's sister
Josefína Čermáková, who was his pupil and actress colleague from the
Provisional Theatre. It was apparently for Josefína that he composed the song-cycle "Cypresses". However, she never returned Dvořák's affections and later married another man, Count Wenzel Robert von
Kaunitz (1848–1913). In 1898 Otýlie, a composer in her own right, married Dvorak's student, the composer
Josef Suk, but died only seven years later. In 1960, shortly before his own death, the older Otakar wrote a book about his father. had no known premieres, or were premiered in 1888 or later. For example, the Third String Quartet, B.18, was written in about 1869 but first published posthumously in 1964 and premiered in 1969. In 1870, he composed his first opera,
Alfred, over the course of five months from May to October. Its
overture was first publicly performed as late as 1905, and the full opera only in 1938. In 1871, Dvořák left the Provisional Theatre orchestra to have more time for composing. Up through 1871 Dvořák only gave opus numbers up to 5 among his first 26 compositions. The first press mention of Antonín Dvořák appeared in the
Hudební listy journal in June 1871, and the first publicly performed composition was the song
Vzpomínání ("Reminiscence", October 1871, musical evenings of
Jan Ludevít Procházka. The opera
The King and the Charcoal Burner was returned to Dvořák from the Provisional Theatre and said to be unperformable. Its overture was premiered in 1872 in a Philharmonic concert conducted by
Bedřich Smetana, but the full opera with the original score was performed once in 1929, and not heard again until a concert performance in September 2019 at the
Dvořák Prague International Music Festival. Clapham says Dvořák realized he had gone to "extremes in attempting to follow the example of Wagner". In 1873–74, he reset "the
King and Charcoal Burner libretto entirely afresh, in a totally different manner", without using "anything from the ill-fated earlier version". The alternate opera, called
King and Charcoal Burner II, B.42, was premiered in Prague in 1874. On leaving the National Theater Orchestra after his marriage, Dvořák secured the job of organist at , was performed by the of 300 singers (conducted by his friend and supporter
Karel Bendl) to a warm response from both audience and critics, making it an "unqualified success". Dvořák's compositions were now becoming recognized in Prague. When Dvořák turned 33 in 1874, he was still almost unknown as a composer outside Prague and the surrounding area. That year, he applied for and won the Austrian State Prize ("Stipendium") for composition, awarded in February 1875 by a jury consisting of the critic
Eduard Hanslick,
Johann Herbeck, director of the State Opera, and
Johannes Brahms. It seems that Brahms had only recently joined the jury, as he was not on it during the calendar year of 1874, according to Hanslick. Hanslick had first-hand knowledge, as a continuing member of the jury (from at least 1874 to 1877). Nevertheless, Brahms had time and opportunity to appreciate Dvořák's 1874 submission.
Leon Botstein says that the jury's purpose was "to award financial support to talented composers in need" in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The jury received a "massive submission" from Dvořák: "fifteen works including two symphonies, several overtures and a
song cycle". Brahms was "visibly overcome" by the "mastery and talent" of Dvořák. The two symphonies were Dvořák's
third and
fourth, both of which had been premiered in Prague in the spring of 1874. Clapham gives the official report for the 1874 prize, saying Dvořák was a relatively impoverished music teacher who "has submitted 15 compositions, among them symphonies, which display an undoubted talent...The applicant... deserves a grant to ease his straitened circumstances and free him from anxiety in his creative work." It says he had not yet owned a piano. Before being married, he had lodged with five other men, one of whom owned a small "
spinet" piano. In 1875, the year his first son was born, Dvořák composed his
second string quintet, his
5th Symphony,
Piano Trio No. 1, and
Serenade for Strings in E. He again entered but this time did not win the Austrian State Prize. He did win it in 1876, and finally felt free to resign his position as an organist. In 1877, he wrote the
Symphonic Variations, and Ludevít Procházka conducted its premiere in Prague.
International reputation in
Manhattan by
Ivan Meštrović Dvořák entered the Austrian Prize competition again in 1877, submitting his
Moravian Duets and other music – possibly his
Piano Concerto. He did not learn the outcome until December. Then, he received a personal letter from the music critic
Eduard Hanslick, who had also been on the juries awarding the prizes. The letter not only notified Dvořák that he had again won the prize, but made known to him for the first time that Brahms and Hanslick had been on the jury. The letter conveyed an offer of friendly assistance of the two in making Dvořák's music known outside his Czech motherland. Within the month December 1877, Dvořák wrote his
String Quartet No. 9 in D minor and dedicated it to Brahms. Both Brahms and Hanslick had been much impressed by the
Moravian Duets, and Brahms recommended them to his publisher,
Simrock, who published them with success. Having in mind Brahms's well-received
Hungarian Dances, Simrock commissioned Dvořák to write something of the same nature. Dvořák submitted his
Slavonic Dances, Op. 46 in 1878, at first for
piano four hands, but when requested by Simrock, also in an orchestral version. These were an immediate and great success. On 15 December 1878, the leading music critic
Louis Ehlert published a review of the Moravian Duets and Slavonic Dances in the Berlin "Nationalzeitung", saying that the "Dances" would make their way "round the world" and "a heavenly naturalness flows through this music". "There was a run on the German music shops for the dances and duets of this hitherto... unknown composer." The dances were played in 1879 in concerts in France, England, and the United States. Later Simrock requested further Slavonic Dances, which Dvořák supplied in his Op. 72, 1886. In 1879 Dvořák wrote his
String Sextet. Simrock showed the score to the leading violinist
Joseph Joachim, who with others premiered it in November of that year. Joachim became a "chief champion" of Dvořák's chamber music. In that same year, Dvořák also wrote his
Violin Concerto. In December, he dedicated the piece to Joachim and sent him the score. The next spring the two discussed the score and Dvořák revised it extensively, but Joachim was still not comfortable with it. The concerto was premiered in Prague in October 1883 by the violinist
František Ondříček, who also played it in Vienna with conductor
Hans Richter in December of that year. Twice later, Joachim was scheduled to play the concerto, but both times the arrangements fell through and he never did play it.
Hans Richter asked Dvořák to compose his
Symphony No. 6 for the
Vienna Philharmonic, intending to premiere it in December 1880. However, Dvořák later discovered that, despite this intention, members of the orchestra objected to performing works by the composer in two consecutive seasons, due to "anti-Czech feeling".
Adolf Čech therefore conducted the premiere of the symphony at a concert of the
Philharmonia society (in Czech:
spolek Filharmonie, predecessor of the
Czech Philharmonic) on 25 March 1881, in
Prague. Richter did eventually conduct the piece in London in 1882 and always retained an interest in Dvořák's compositions.
Reception in Britain Dvořák's first piece of a religious nature, his setting of
Stabat Mater, was premiered in Prague in 1880. However, after it was performed and very well received at the
Royal Albert Hall in London on 10 March 1883, conducted by
Joseph Barnby, the success "sparked off a whole series of performances in England and the United States", a year ahead of appreciation in Germany and Austria. Dvořák was invited to visit Britain, where he appeared to great acclaim in 1884. The
London Philharmonic Society commissioned Dvořák to conduct concerts in London, and his performances were well received there. In response to the commission, Dvořák wrote his
Symphony No. 7 and conducted its premiere at
St James's Hall on 22 April 1885. On a visit later in 1885, Dvořák presented his cantata ''
The Spectre's Bride in a concert on 27 August. He had arrived a week early to conduct rehearsals of the chorus of 500 voices and orchestra of 150. The performance was "a greater triumph than any" Dvořák "had had in his life up to that time...following this phenomenal success, choral societies in the English-speaking countries hastened to prepare and present the new work." Dvořák visited Britain at least eight times in total, conducting his own works there. In 1887, Richter conducted the Symphonic Variations'' in London and Vienna to great acclaim (they had been written ten years earlier and Dvořák had allowed them to languish after initial lack of interest from his publishers). Richter wrote to Dvořák of the London performance, "at the hundreds of concerts I have conducted during my life, no new work has been as successful as yours".
1888–1891 Despite Dvořák's newfound success, a February 1888 performance of Stabat Mater in Vienna fell victim to more anti-Czech feeling and what the composer called "destructive criticism". He heartily thanked Richter for his "courage and devoted sympathy". In 1890, influenced by
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Dvořák also visited Russia, and conducted performances of his music in Moscow and
St. Petersburg. From 1892 to 1895, Dvořák was the director of the
National Conservatory of Music in New York City. The Conservatory's President,
Jeannette Thurber, offered Dvořák an annual salary of $15,000 – an incredibly lavish sum for the era (), twenty-five times what he was paid at the Prague Conservatory. Emanuel Rubin describes the Conservatory and Dvořák's time there. Thurber, a wealthy and philanthropic woman, made it open to women and black students as well as white men, which was unusual for the times. Dvořák's original contract provided for three hours a day of work, including teaching and conducting, six days a week, with four months of vacation each summer. but was demolished in 1911 and replaced by what is today a high school. Dvořák's main goal in America was to discover "American Music" and engage in it, much as he had used Czech folk idioms within his music. Shortly after his arrival in America in 1892, Dvořák wrote a series of newspaper articles reflecting on the state of American music. He supported the concept that African-American and Native American music should be used as a foundation for the growth of American music. He felt that through the music of Native Americans and African-Americans, Americans would find their own national style of music. Here Dvořák met
Harry Burleigh, who later became one of the earliest African-American composers. Burleigh introduced Dvořák to traditional
African-American spirituals. In the winter and spring of 1893, Dvořák was commissioned by the
New York Philharmonic to write
Symphony No. 9,
From the New World, which was premiered under the baton of
Anton Seidl, to tumultuous applause. Clapham writes that "without question this was one of the greatest triumphs, and very possibly the greatest triumph of all that Dvořák experienced" in his life, and when the Symphony was published it was "seized on by conductors and orchestras" all over the world. Two months before leaving for America, Dvořák hired as his secretary, who had just finished violin studies at the Prague Conservatory and was about to return to his home in the United States. There he continued to serve as Dvořák's secretary and lived with the Dvořák family. He had come from the
Czech-speaking community of
Spillville, Iowa, where his father Jan Josef Kovařík was a schoolmaster. Dvořák decided to spend the summer of 1893 in Spillville, along with all his family; he referred to it as his "summer Vysoká". While there he composed the
String Quartet in F (the "American") and the
String Quintet in E major. Back in New York that autumn, he composed his
Sonatina for violin and piano. He also conducted a performance of his
Eighth Symphony at the
Columbian Exposition in Chicago that same year. In the winter of 1894–95, Dvořák wrote his
Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104, B. 191, completed in February 1895. However, due to homesickness, his partially unpaid salary, He informed Thurber that he was leaving. Dvořák and his wife left New York before the end of the spring term, with no intention of returning. Dvořák's New York home was located at 327
East Seventeenth Street, near the intersection of what is today called
Perlman Place. It was in this house that both the B minor Cello Concerto and the New World Symphony were written within a few years. Despite protests, from Czech President
Václav Havel among others who wanted the house preserved as a historical site, it was demolished in 1991 to make room for a
Beth Israel Medical Center residence for people with AIDS. In 2017, this residence was converted into a homeless shelter. To honor Dvořák, a statue of him was erected in nearby
Stuyvesant Square. During Dvořák's final years, he concentrated on composing opera, chamber music and tone poems. In November 1895, he resumed his professorship at the Prague Conservatory. Between 1895 and 1897, he completed his string quartets in
A major and
G major, and also worked on the cycle of four symphonic poems inspired by the collection
Kytice by
Karel Jaromír Erben. As seen in Burghauser's 1960 Catalogue, Dvořák wrote his five Symphonic Poems in 1896, but after that completed few works per year, mainly operas:
Jakobín in 1896, nothing in 1897, only
The Devil and Kate in 1898–1899,
Rusalka in 1900, two songs and "Recitatives" in 1900–1901, and finally the opera
Armida in 1902–1903.
Rusalka became the most popular of all Dvořák's ten operas and gained an international reputation (below under Works, Operas). In 1896 he visited London for the last time to conduct the premiere of his
Cello Concerto in B minor by the London Philharmonic. Also in 1896, Brahms tried to persuade Dvořák, who had several children, to move to
Vienna. Brahms said he had no dependents and "If you need anything, my fortune is at your disposal". Clapham writes "Dvořák was deeply moved and tears came to his wife's eyes, but it was quite impossible for him, a Czech, to contemplate leaving Bohemia." Brahms himself had little time left to live, as he died 3 April 1897. Also, Brahms hoped to gain an ally in Vienna to "counterbalance the influence of"
Bruckner. In 1897, Dvořák visited Brahms on his deathbed and attended his funeral on 6 April 1897. In November Dvořák was appointed a member of the jury for the Viennese Artists' Stipendium. In 1898 Dvořák's daughter
Otilie married his student, the composer
Josef Suk. At about the same time (November 1898), he was informed that Emperor
Franz Joseph I of
Austria-Hungary would award him a gold medal for
Litteris et Artibus, the ceremony taking place before an audience in June 1899. On 4 April 1900 Dvořák conducted his last concert with the
Czech Philharmonic, performing Brahms'
Tragic Overture, Schubert's
"Unfinished" Symphony, Beethoven's
8th Symphony, and Dvořák's own symphonic poem
The Wild Dove. In April 1901, The Emperor appointed him a member of the
Austrian House of Lords, along with the leading Czech poet
Jaroslav Vrchlický. Dvořák also succeeded
Antonín Bennewitz as director of the Prague Conservatory from November 1901 until his death. Dvořák's 60th birthday was celebrated as a national event. First, around the actual date, six of his operas and the oratorio
Saint Ludmila were performed in Prague, but Dvořák was away in Vienna; then in November 1901 came the "postponed official birthday party... In many towns all over Bohemia and Moravia, the Czech people celebrated his birthday." On 25 March 1904 Dvořák had to leave a rehearsal of
Armida because of illness. The first Czech Musical Festival, in April 1904, had "a programme consisting almost entirely" of Dvořák's music (
Leoš Janáček was disappointed that none of his music was performed.) "Seventy-six choral associations" from all over Bohemia gathered in Prague, and "sixteen thousand singers" sang Dvořák's oratorio
Saint Ludmila. "Thousands of listeners celebrated" the
symphony "From the New World". Dvořák himself was forced by illness to "take to his bed" and so was unable to attend. Dvořák had an "attack of
influenza" on 18 April and died on 1 May 1904, of an undiagnosed cause following five weeks of illness, at the age of 62, leaving many unfinished works. His funeral service was held on 5 May, and his remains were buried in
Vyšehrad Cemetery in Prague, beneath a bust by Czech sculptor
Ladislav Šaloun. ==Style==