57 fall program - Southeast Iowa Symphony Orchestra

Program Notes
by Jim Priebe
Symphony No. 7 in d minor, Opus 70
Antonin Dvořák (1841 – 1904)
Allegro Maestoso
Poco Adagio
Scherzo: Vivace
Finale: Allegro
Program Notes
Except for those who live in the Czech Republic – the modern name for Dvořák’s native Bohemia
– concertgoers are likely to be unfamiliar with much of Dvořák’s music beyond the Symphony
No. 9 in e minor (From the New World) the wonderful b minor Cello Concerto, and the
Slavonic Dances. Those who regularly attend concerts by the Southeast Iowa Symphony are
exceptions, however, since Maestro McConnell has programmed not only the aforementioned
works but the Symphony No. 8 in G Major and now the Seventh as well. In this writer’s opinion
our audience is well-served by this programming since Dvořák wrote a great deal of music
which deserves to be heard more frequently. Certainly the Symphony No. 7 falls into this category:
many believe that it is Dvořák’s finest symphony (Ted Libbey calls it “one of the nineteenth
century’s greatest symphonic scores”), the popularity of the New World Symphony notwithstanding!
Dvořák was energized. His Symphony No. 6 in D Major had been a big success (though it was
regarded as being more important as a work in the Bohemian national style than a work of international
standing). He had been greatly inspired by the 1883 premier of Brahms’ Symphony No.
3 and was motivated to compose a work of similar stature which would closely follow classical
conventions and avoid, he hoped, the parochial Bohemian label. His Stabat Mater had been a
sensation when introduced in England in 1883 and there he had, in the words of Michael
Steinberg, become “beloved and revered like no composer since Mendelssohn.” The Royal
Philharmonic Society had invited him to conduct concerts in London in 1884, his first appearances
as a conductor outside his own country, and he had been received with great warmth and
enthusiasm. The Society invited him to compose a new symphony to be performed the following
year and the Symphony No. 7 was the result.
Lives and emotions are seldom purely and unambiguously simple, however, particularly the
lives and emotions of artists. Energized he may have been, but Dvořák was also troubled. His
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