TITLE: Serenade in D minor, Opus 44 (1878)

COMPOSER: Anton Dvorák (1841-1904)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Dvorák and Smetana were the two principal Czech composers of the 19th century. Dvorák used elements of nationalism in his works. This is apparent in his extensive use of folk songs and native dance rhythms. Dvorák composed nine symphonies. He visited the United States in 1893 and composed his ninth symphony (from the New World) that same year. Some of the themes in this work suggest Indian melodies and Negro spirituals, which Dvorák had heard sung in New York City.

Dvorák composed two serenades for simplified orchestra, the Serenade in Eb, opus 22 for string orchestra , and the Serenade in d minor, opus 44 for wind instruments, violincello and double-bass. Both serenades are characteristic of Dvorák's creative spirit. The instrumentation for Serenade in d minor was originally composed for outdoor evening performances. The work was composed just prior to Dvorák's Slavonic Rhapsodies, opus 45 and Slavonic Dances, opus 46. The use of Czech coloring is very apparent in his Serenade in d minor. The use of melodies, that are similar to Czech folk songs and dances, used in both the Slavonic Rhapsodies and Slavonic Dances, place the Serenade in the same compositional style and period as these other famous Dvorák works. The Serenade was composed quickly as was customary for Dvorák.

MOVEMENTS: Four

1. Moderato, quasi marcia 3' 50"
2. Minuetto. Tempo di minuetto 6' 20"
3. Andante con moto 7' 20"
4. Finale. Allegro molto 6' 30"

PERFORMANCE TIME: 24' 00"

INSTRUMENTATION: 12 Instruments

• 2 Oboes, 2 Bb Soprano Clarinets, 2 Bassoons, 1 Contra-Bassoon, 3 Horns, 1 Cello, 1 String Bass.

EDITIONS: Available for Purchase

• Edwin F. Kalmus (preferred)
• International Music Company

COMPOSITION SKETCH AND MUSICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Dvorak's Serenade, opus 44 seems to have served a desire on the composer's part to allow none of his compositions to stand alone. Its design complements the Opus 22 string serenade, composed earlier, and uses quite a few of the same formal devices, including the obvious one of bringing back earlier thematic material near the end of the final movement.

Dvorak's Serenade, opus 44 was published in 1879, about a year after its completion. Along with the Wind Serenade and earlier compositions, the Opus 46 Slavonic Dances became available for the first time, and the resultant rise in name recognition assured the composer a satisfying career.

The D minor Serenade opens with a movement remarkable for the regularity of its phrasing and the clarity of its formal design. The music, while fraught with Bohemian melodic idioms, offers no harmonic or formal surprises. The "B" section is in the expected relative major, and the reprise of "A" expands most agreeably into a tonic major coda containing recollective hints of the movement's "B" material.

The menuetto, the second movement, represents considerable sophistication: the phrases are often irregular, the harmonic departures are fairly extreme, and the first sub movement itself, reprised literally after the much faster Trio, is similar to a rondo form construct. The Trio, cast in the movement's subdominant key, is a Furiant begun without pause, bridged into by a passage of linking sixteenth notes in parallel thirds in the pair of clarinets. The Trio spends itself quickly and ends in silence. The return of the menuetto comes as a welcome relief.

The heart of the Serenade, opus 44 is its third movement, set in the Serenade's dominant key. More than a little reminiscent of the parallel movement from Mozart's Gran Partita, the Andante con moto offers arching antiphonal melodies over an ostinato bass and gently syncopated accompaniment in the horns. Perhaps most remarkably, at least in a formal sense, a deceptive cadence at measure 79 ushers in a long section of new closing material, which yields to an equally substantial coda. The movement's A-major finish prepares the Finale's return to D minor.

The Finale is formally the most interesting of the movements. A 20-measure furioso introduction sets the stage for a restless main theme which sequences again and again into increasingly remote keys, and the eventual appearance of the movement's second theme (an F-major country dance in clarinets over a broken-octave bass) furnishes the most vigorous, full-hearted music of the entire composition. It is this theme which, during the development section, will form the basis for the darkest, most threatening-sounding stretto of the work. The movement lacks a formal recapitulation. Instead, a new pastoral-sounding theme furnishes an extended bridge to the reappearance of the closing material from the first movement; and this, in turn, is followed by a triumphant D-major coda in fast tempo.

Analysis by David Goza, Drury College

SELECTED RECORDINGS:

RELATED WEBSITES:

Dvorák Biography - http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/dvorak.html

Dvorák Society - http://www.musicweb.force9.co.uk/music/dvorak/