logo
episode-header-image
Oct 2023
2 m

Dvorak's Violin Concerto

American Public Media
About this episode

Synopsis


On today’s date in 1883, the premiere of Antonín Dvořák’s Violin Concerto was given in Prague by Czech violinist František Ondrícek with the National Theatre Orchestra, led by Czech conductor Moric Anger, an old friend of Dvořák’s and his onetime roommate.


The concerto was commissioned by distinguished violinist Joseph Joachim, an old friend and collaborator of German composer Johannes Brahms. Brahms had sent Joachim two of Dvořák’s chamber works for strings. Joachim expressed enthusiasm for these pieces and urged Dvořák to write a concerto for him.


So far, so good.


Dvořák had a finished score by December 1879, but Joachim had what we now would call “some issues” with the score, and, by the time Dvořák was finishing the last revisions, three years had elapsed with no talk of a premiere. Dvořák realized Joachim was unlikely ever to premiere the new concerto, so he offered it to Ondrícek, a young virtuoso who eagerly championed it in Prague and abroad.


We should note that Joachim finally did perform Dvořák’s concerto in Berlin in 1894, about 15 years after he had commissioned it.


Music Played in Today's Program


Antonin Dvořák (1841-1904) Violin Concerto in A minor

Up next
Jul 4
Wagner's American Centennial commission
SynopsisOn today’s date in 1876, America was celebrating its Centennial, and the place to be was in Philadelphia, where a Centennial Exhibition was in progress. This was the first World’s Fair to be held in the United States. It drew 9 million visitors–this at a time when the ent ... Show More
2 m
Jul 1
Britten's 'Cantata Academica'
SynopsisOne way composers help make ends meet is to accept commissions for occasional pieces — works written for some special occasion, a private or public celebration or anniversary of some event, large or small. Sometimes these works go on to have a life of their own apart from ... Show More
2 m
Jun 8
Tomaso Albinoni
SynopsisFor some composers, what made them popular in their own day is not always what makes them popular today. Take, for example, Italian Baroque composer Tomaso Albinoni, who was born in Venice on today’s date in 1671.Albinoni was the son of a wealthy paper merchant, so he was ... Show More
2 m
Recommended Episodes
Oct 2022
Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1
In almost every one of the past shows I’ve done about Shostakovich, the name Joseph Stalin is mentioned almost as much as the name Dmitri Shostakovich, and of course, there’s a good reason for that. Shostakovich’s life and music was inextricably linked to the Soviet dictator, and ... Show More
1 h
Aug 2023
Jennifer Higdon on her Duo Duel and Concerto for Orchestra
Jennifer Higdon wrote her Concerto for Orchestra for the Philadelphia Orchestra and its then-Music Director Wolfgang Sawallisch who gave the work its premiere in 2002. Since then it's been recorded by the Atlanta Symphony and, on a new Naxos album just out, by the Houston Symphon ... Show More
30m 31s
Jan 2024
Dvorak Cello Concerto
When you think of the genre of the concerto, you might be thinking of something like this: virtuoso fireworks, perhaps over romantic gestures designed simply to show the soloist off, and a rather pedestrian orchestral part, giving the soloist all of the spotlight while the conduc ... Show More
48m 53s
Jun 2022
Bruch's Violin Concerto
A Violin Concerto in G minor, Opus 26, became the best-known work of the German composer Max Bruch. Originally written in 1866 it went through many revisions before finally being completed in 1867. It was performed extensively but having sold both the publishing and the manuscrip ... Show More
27m 48s
Mar 2010
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto
Series exploring famous pieces of music and their emotional appeal.When Mendelssohn wrote his Violin Concerto in 1844 he could hardly have imagined how famous and well loved it would become. In this programme, people tell how it has played an important part in their lives. Violin ... Show More
27m 57s
Nov 2021
Paavo Järvi Conducts Beautiful Music
(Recorded June 2021) Estonian conductor Paavo Järvi is one of the most in-demand maestros in the world, and one of Alec’s favorite conductors. Järvi is currently the chief conductor of the NHK symphony orchestra in Tokyo and the Tonhalle Orchester-Zürich. Over his career, he’s le ... Show More
44m 36s