Programme note
Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)
Symphony No. 5 in F major (1875)
I: Allegro ma non troppo
II: Andante con moto
III: Andante con moto, quasi l'istesso tempo - Allegro scherzando
IV: Finale: Allegro molto
Dvořák’s ascent to fame was a swift one, helped in no small part by a stipend he received from the Austrian Government in 1874. The young Dvořák, at that time working as an orchestral violist and church organist, submitted a number of his works to a judging committee that included both Johannes Brahms and the critic Eduard Hanslick. He was successful – winning a significant stipend not just that year, but also in 1876 and 1877, and with the help of Brahms and Hanslick he also found a publisher for his music. Buoyed by his successes, 1875 proved to be one of the most creatively fertile years of his life, with the completion of his opera Vanda, his first Piano Trio and Piano Quartet, his second String Quintet, the Serenade for Strings, a handful of other chamber music, and his Fifth Symphony.
At this early stage in his career, Dvořák’s works conformed to a popular ‘nationalist’ style, with the use of ‘exotic’ Czech folksong proving an easy – perhaps even opportunistic – method of attracting the attention of the critics, which were dominated by the Austro-Germanic provinces. But beneath the veneer of this folk style, Dvořák’s works display a cyclical coherence not seen since Beethoven, and his rigorous approach to form signals his clear allusions to Brahms and the symphonic tradition. His Fifth Symphony in F major marks a milestone in his development as a composer, for the first time marrying the Czech folksong of his earlier years with a mature command of symphonic form. While many of his earlier works bear the traces of Wagnerian harmonic colouring and Mahlerian motivic design, in the Fifth Symphony Dvořák finally seems comfortable with his own voice.
Though not specifically a programmatic symphony, the pastoral key (F major) sets the tone for a pastoral work, which begins with a buoyant Allegro and pairs of woodwinds – first clarinets, then flutes – introduce the chirruping, bird-like opening theme. The vibrant woodland scene is set and the winds are quickly joined by the full orchestra in what amounts to a rich panorama of the surrounding landscape. By contrast, the melancholy Andante in A minor that follows opens with a sombre melody for the cellos – borrowed, it appears, from the opening movement of Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto, which was completed earlier the same year. Whether Dvořák might have heard Tchaikovsky’s work before completing his own is unclear, but Dvořák’s treatment of theme is altogether more tender than that of his contemporary, spinning out the similar four-note motive into a much softer, languorous slow movement. The slow movement eventually comes to a firm close after a final glimpse of the four-note motive, but in a cyclical Beethovenian move, Dvořák briefly reprises the theme at the opening of the third movement. This reprise segues into the sprightly Allegro scherzando, which once more returns us to the pastoral landscape, so it is quite a shock when this graceful dance concludes and we are launched head-first into the tumultuous finale – which begins, unexpectedly, in A minor. It remains for the finale to find its way back to the tonic of F major – a battle that occupies the whole of the last movement and which endures as one of Dvořák’s most breathtaking and innovative symphonic moments.
© Jo Kirkbride
