Hidden treasures - Antonín Dvořák - Serenade for strings in E major (1876) - II. Tempo di valse

Quote: "The serenade is the earliest of Dvorak's compositions in which a detached listener is likely to discover enchantment". - Gervase Hughes.

History (based on materials from Misha Rachlevsky's program notes for the Chamber Orchestra "Kremlin"): 1875 was a particularly happy time and a turning point for the Czech composer Antonin Dvorak (1841-1901): he finally married his former piano student, Anna Cermakova, their first child (out of the six who survived beyond infancy) was soon born and, after years of financial difficulties, he was steadily employed as the organist of one of Prague's churches, a position which allowed him to document his poverty at the City Hall. With these papers and a stack of recent scores (in particular, the Fifth Symphony and the Moravian duets) in tow, Dvorak applied for a government grant. A distinguished jury which included Johannes Brahms, the young composer's idol and one of his greatest champions in later years, did not fail to recognize the "genuine and original gift" of Dvorak, and a recommendation to the Minister of Culture enabled the latter to receive the highest stipend available under the program which lead to a bout of compositional inspiration. One of the resulting works was the Serenade for strings, allegedly written in a matter of ten days, the chamber qualities of which allowed Dvorak to practice in a genre that allowed for the provision of pleasure and entertainment. The piece was premiered in Prague on the 10th of December, 1876, by Adolf Čech and the combined orchestras of the Czech and German theatres and was promptly published in 1877 in the composer's piano duet arrangement and in 1879 in the original orchestral version.

Music: While the whole serenade is a unified stream of the utmost gentility, I've ultimately decided to post solely the second movement - a particularly handsome waltz - which constitutes, for me, the height of Dvorak's inspiration in the piece. The movement is remarkably simple in execution yet all the more striking in its freshness. From a dramatic point of view, it is a series of elegant dances, suggesting, in its juxtaposition of emotional unsteadiness and genuine ardor, a meeting between two lovers on the dance floor. The piece is built around the familiar ABA construct with a few surprising touches. The A section is divided into two contrasting segments. First, an elegant, vaguely agitated and even melancholic principal motive that is stated by the first violins and then repeated three times with light ornamentation (in particular, its second half is elaborated by the progressive addition of a new note, moving from duplet to quadruplet), while the remaining forces play the booming bass line, suggesting the dancers' feet clicking on the floor (0:08). The section is restated complete (0:28), overflowing into the second segment which opens with broad descending passages (0:48) before moving, after a playful violin rise (1:01), to a charming (though a hint frantic) polka, played by the second violins and the cellos (1:04) with the remaining instruments slowly adding their voices, gradually elaborating and augmenting the material. Just as earlier, the segment is repeated without changes (1:13). A series of bold violin runs lead into a repeat of the first two phrases of the principal waltz (1:36) which is then slowly deconstructed by the violins and cellos in the subsequent coda (1:50). Two fortissimo chords herald the beginning of the B section, an altogether more introverted experience, a trio for violins, playing extended lyric lines, violas and cellos, doubling and echoing the violins' ardent cantabile (2:05). The music slowly grows into an impassioned romanza, delicately contrasting the pizzicatos of the cellos and the high-flying line of the violins (2:25), an episode very much in the style of Tchaikovsky. Once again, the section is restated complete (2:47). This moment of pure serenity is set against a much more emotionally unhinged agitato, moving from ornamental lines passed between the various strings (3:29) to a surprising return to the thematic material of the A section in the quadruplets of the first violins over the long lines of violas/cellos (3:57), ultimately reaching a restatement of the main lyric theme of the B section (4:24). Finally, we return to the principal waltz for just one statement of each musical segment (5:05). Though perhaps one does wish for a certain variety in the recapitulations of the main themes, Dvorak's creation is one of the loveliest waltzes that I've had the pleasure of encountering for a while.

Score: http://imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/2/2d/IMSLP52707-PMLP59797-Dvorak_op.022_Serenade_fs_SNKLHU_3_16.pdf (pages 12-25).

Recording: The 1990 Philips recording of both Dvorak's String and Wind Serenades is an elegant venture for Academy of Saint Martin-in-the-Fields under Neville Marriner.

Hope you'll enjoy =).

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