Date of composition: 1879-1882
Premiere: 14 October 1883 in Prague by the Orchestra of the des Prague National Theatre, conductor: Mořic Anger, violin: František Ondříček
Duration: 32 minutes
Performances by the Berliner Philharmoniker:
First performed on 31 May 1891 conducted by Felix Weingartner and with Carl Halir as soloist
By 1877, Antonín Dvořák had already composed four operas, five symphonies, and eight string quartets – but the music world hardly took notice. Instead, he had to scrape together a living as a violist in the Prague Opera Orchestra and by playing light music in cafés. That changed only when he applied for a state scholarship in Vienna, with the renowned Johannes Brahms serving on the jury. Brahms was so impressed by the talent of the Bohemian nobody that he immediately put him in touch with his publisher, Fritz Simrock. For Simrock, Dvořák composed a series of Slavonic Dances – and with that, his rise to international fame began.
Brahms also introduced Dvořák to the famous violinist Joseph Joachim, for whom he himself had just written a violin concerto. Following this example, Dvořák was expected to compose something for Joachim as well. But things went thoroughly awry. Although Dvořák delivered the work quickly, Joachim had numerous criticisms. Even the revised version failed to please the virtuoso – he didn’t respond until two years later, with further “requests for improvements.” Dvořák complied again, without success. Joachim never once performed the concerto publicly, despite being the dedicatee.
What could have bothered him? Right from the start, Dvořák takes an unconventional approach: he allows the tutti to play only four bars, like a fanfare raising the curtain, and immediately the solo violin enters in a prelude. This interaction repeats, unleashing a free flow of thoughts chained together rhapsodically. Little remains of the sonata-form rules with their contest between two themes. And Dvořák completely omits the solo cadenza at the end of the movement.
Instead, he moves seamlessly into the slow movement, revealing a heavenly violin cantilena lasting almost two minutes. It is painfully beautiful music, captivating in its mixture of joy and sorrow – like a smile through tears. Yet a contrasting passage reveals an underlying turmoil, where the violin emphasizes individual notes marcato, hinting at an inner burden.
For the finale, Dvořák adopts a folkloristic approach. The refrain is a furiant, a fast Bohemian folk dance whose name means “the furious one.” The delicate instrumentation is extraordinary: this furiant seems to float above the ground, danced high in the air. As a contrast between the refrain episodes, however, Dvořák introduces more elegiac tones, such as in the second episode, which presents a Ukrainian folk song, a dumka – literally, “the little thought.” Musically, the interplay of light and shadow, sorrow and consolation, is magnificent. It is precisely this breadth of emotions in a single breath that makes Dvořák’s music so unique. The concerto’s premiere on 14 October 1883 was performed not by Joseph Joachim, but by Dvořák’s friend František Ondříček – and it was a rousing success.