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Lesson 5: Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 "From the New World"- Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 "From the New World," analysis by Gerard Schwarz (part 1)
- Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 "From the New World," analysis by Gerard Schwarz (part 2)
- Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 "From the New World," analysis by Gerard Schwarz (part 3)
- Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 "From the New World," analysis by Gerard Schwarz (part 4)
- Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 "From the New World", a commentary by Joseph Horowitz
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Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 "From the New World," analysis by Gerard Schwarz (part 4)
Watch the full performance here . Created by All Star Orchestra.
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- Isn't the violin/cello theme at5:10from the first movement? Am I remembering wrong?(4 votes)
- No, it is from earlier in the finale after the jovial section at1:01, with the clarinet and cellos. Starts at about1:45. At5:10, however, the key has transposed to E Major as opposed to the G Major theme earlier.(4 votes)
- In the end of the piece, did Dvorak bring some messages? It ends with an extending symbol and most symphonies I've head didn't do this. Like he's not wanting to leave the place?(4 votes)
- The unusual quiet ending, in my guess, is to hint in a cyclic structure. Notice how at the very beginning of the symphony, the piece starts the same way: quiet, calm, so this hints that the symphony can be played over and over again with the front and back tied in a loop. That's my guess. Also since the same melody is repeated both places.(2 votes)
- At0:20does anyone else hear the Lord of the Rings theme from Rohan?(1 vote)
- I do and I think that Howard Shore possibly took that part and just reused the notes. I also hear the beginning of the Jaws theme as well(6 votes)
- Does anyone have a preferred version/recording of this Symphony? I'm looking into boxed sets or individual performances of Dvorak's work.(2 votes)
- Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic have a great recording on the Teldec label. The sound is clear and dynamic, and Masur's direction of the NYP is both dramatic and controlled. Herbert von Karajan and the Vienna Philharmonic's 1985 recording (for Deutsche Grammophon) is also well-known, although some see it as crude and even pedantic. Other great Dvorak interpreters include Rafael Kubelik and István Kertész.(3 votes)
- At the beginning of the video, where B and C are at the first measure played by the strings, I've heard of versions of playing them "titititita", is that a problem or we just couldn't interpret the thought of Dvorak? Or will it twist the meaning of "New World"?(2 votes)
- I say it's probably a mixture of the two, and not intentionally twist the meaning of New World(2 votes)
- Can I say the 4th mvt is a summary of the wholepiece? Shouldn't it be a unique one and with relations with the previous mvts?(1 vote)
- Similar structure for every finale of a symphony. It's called "recapitulation". In almost every finale of a symphony, you will find melodies from previous movements sprinkled here and there while its own melodies play with it.(3 votes)
- Does the melody the horns are playing around4:00remind anyone else of How to Train Your Dragon?(2 votes)
- Were several themes from other movements of the New World Symphony placed in the 4th movement? Or do the 5 themes cover the whole 4th movement?(2 votes)
- how does anyone make all of that up and remember everything they wrote(1 vote)
- Honestly there is something about writing a piece of music that is just different from anything else you might do. The playing and such that you do to create the song and then writing it down just makes you remember it. There is nothing you can say that truly explains it. You just have to do it.(2 votes)
- What does Schwartz mean when he refers to a fanfare?(1 vote)
- A fanfare is a kind of a celebratory, introductory bit--usually slightly grander than usual music. Imagine the kind of brass exclamation you'd hear when royalty is announced in a ballroom, or the sun rises. (One of the most famous examples of a fanfare piece would be 'Fanfare for the Common Man by Aaron Copeland. Look it up on youtube--it's a great piece!)(2 votes)
Video transcript
- The fourth movement begins what one could say aggressively. The string writing is fortissimo, almost as loud as possible. The first theme after
this short introduction is played by the trumpets, two
trumpets playing in unison. Immediately that first theme is repeated, this time the trumpet an octave. The second half of this
first theme then is extended, played in this case by the strings and then that gets repeated. We have a kind of exuberant second theme. It's a little different from anything we've heard from Dvorak before, because it's really not a melodic theme, it's not lyrical, the way
so much of his music is, rather it's jovial and happy, woodwinds carry a fourth and
this goes on for a while, until we arrive at the third theme, again piling up this
gorgeous melodic material. The third theme is introduced
now by the clarinet with a little echo from
the timpani and the cello. Eventually the flutes join
in, the first violins join in and it leads to yet
another theme, theme four, so theme four starts out very lyrical and then all of a sudden there's a few bars of agitated music. Then there's a fifth theme, you know, those of us that
study music all the time and you look at Beethoven,
Brahms, you look at themes and five themes in the last movement, I mean, it's unbelievable. This theme again is a kind of jovial one and it very much is reminiscent of Bohemian or Czech folk music. After this theme is somewhat developed, what happens is very interesting, the horns, all five horns come in and play the first
theme of this movement, but with a decrescendo, so
they're played very strong, it gets softer and then a
little fanfare on the trumpet, the woodwinds come back in repeating that fifth theme, or part of it, horns come back in again, repeated again as if to say, this is what's important, that's not important,
our theme is important and that leads to the development and of course it's amazing what Dvorak does in this development. He also brings back material from the second and third movements, so at one point we have
the woodwinds playing the English horn solo
from the second movement, while the strings come in
with a little comment on that, which is material from the third movement. This goes on quite long, until
the trumpets and trombones play again the slow
movement, English horn theme, but this time loudly. Then the third and fourth horn come in and they're playing the theme
from the first movement, it's answered by the cellos and basses, then he yet brings in another theme, one that I don't think we've heard before, it is gorgeous, played by the violins and then answered by the cellos. Again he now brings in all the
themes from all the movements and does it in an
absolutely remarkable way. Eventually he leads up to a real climax, which of course now becomes
leading it to the coda, leading it to the end of the movement and what you have is of course, you know, he's been repeating everything, but what he hasn't repeated yet were the opening chords
of the slow movement, remember the brass chords happened at the beginning and the
end of the slow movement, that hasn't come back yet, so in brilliant fashion he was waiting, you could just feel he's
waiting for that moment. Sure enough it comes back,
timpani banging away, the brass and the woodwinds playing this incredible harmonic sequence. This leads to the actual
resolution of the movement, very imaginatively done,
bringing back lots of material, varying the tempo and
then at the very end, he does something very unusual, composers generally like
to end pieces loudly, they like to have a big, crashing ending, so everybody screams and yells bravo. This symphony is a little
more introspective than that and so at the very end
of this great movement, he has the woodwinds and the brass play this last chord and make it softer and then what ends up happening of course is that the movement ends softly, it has not hurt the great success
of this great masterpiece.