Concert Response
Dvořák Symphony No 9 “New World” Celibidache, Münchner Philharmoniker, 1991
The classical concert entertained audience with Symphony number 9 called “From the New World” that was played in the E minor scale (Kurt, 2004). To majority of the audience, the symphony was simply referred to as “New World Symphony” which was originally composed by Antonin Dvorak back in 1893. In the concert, the symphony was played by the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) musical group. The presentation by the group was very fascinating because they selected the most popular among all the symphonies for the concert (Beckerman, 2003). The musical orchestra concert was performed in Munich in 1991 and conducted by Sergiu Celibidache. He was a Roman conductor who was educated in Romania and Peris. At the time of the performance he was director of the Munich Philharmonic and Berlin Philharmonic. The concert was a typical symphony because it had over 30 musician playing different instruments from the violin, viola to the double bass.
The symphony was composed by Antonin Dvorak in 1893 who was born in Nelahozeves, Czech Republic in 8141, but moved to America (Lang, 2015). The composer lived in New York when during that time and he worked as a director of the ‘National Conservatory of Music of America’. This is part of his work on symphonies that has remained the most popular across the world. Dvorak was interested in native American music because of his persona spiritual beliefs about African-American (Kurt, 2004). In the course of his work, he was influenced by Harry Burleigh who inspired him with traditional spiritual songs. The spirit later became the major part of his inspiration while he composed the symphony number nine. In the symphony, Dvorak properly combined rhythm and a relatively slow movement to produce the scherzo melody (Lang, 2015). He did not have a leading note and a weak pitch. According to the composer, the slow movement was used to demonstrate Hiawatha persuasion of Minnehaha (Kurt, 2004). The premiere performance of symphony 9 was in New York on the 16th of December 1893 at the Carnegie Hall (Lang, 2015). Dvorak died in 1904 at the age of 62 years after battling with stroke for several weeks. He is best remembered for his “New World Symphony” that is not only popular in the world, but a major source of vital material in classical compositions. His work has influenced many people like Johannes Brahms.
‘From the New World’ is a song presented in the symphony genre played in the E minor scale. In the original performance, the symphony combined elements used in American music especially through the traditional spirituals common to the native Americans. The concert was a typical symphony because it had over 30 musicians playing different instruments. The symphony had four movements as; Adagio, Largo, Molto and Allegro (Beckerman, 2003). Instrumentation in the symphony was excellent throughout the 55 minutes of the presentation. The instruments used in the symphony include; flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, trumpet, trombone (alto, tenor and bass), tuba, timpani, triangle, cymbals and strings (Sullivan, 1999). The first movement was based on the adagio through a leitmotif founded on the E minor to be utilized to provide responsive phrases. Towards the end of the first movement, there is a coda where the main theme is indicated by the tutti. The second movement the largo starts with a harmonic progression from the wind instruments. The main theme in the second movement is provided by the English horn in company of muted strings. In the middle of the movement, he uses the C minor so that he could achieve a nostalgic mood. This is supported by a quasi-scherzo that combines themes in the first and second movements. In the second movement, the bas trombone (Tuba) featured as the only instrument However, it concludes by a relatively soft return of its main theme. The third movement of Molto is based on a ternary form using a stirring rhythm that is later interrupted by at the middle. This are later followed by coda from the first movement. The last movement of Allegro is based on a sonata where horns and trumpets depict the main theme with sharp cords.
Previously, I had attended concerto performances, but this was the first time I was attending a symphony performance with very many musicians playing and instruments. The main enjoyable part of the concert was the large-scale musical composition that was used in the performance. In the previous performance, I only observed performance where a few musicians and violin were played. In this particular concert, I enjoyed the first movement because it was brisk and lively. In the future, the concert response can be improved through incorporating diverse programming and style by combining standard and non-traditional pieces to improve the level of motivation so that the audience can increase the demographics and education (Bertolini, 2018).
References
Beckerman, M. (2003). New Worlds of Dvorak: Searching in America for the Composer’s Inner Life. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Bertolini, D. (2018). Management and Structure of the Symphony Orchestra: A professional orchestra case-study into the techniques and philosophy applied within the industry. 10.13140/RG.2.2.30708.19846.
Kurt, H. (2004). Dvořák. London: Haus Publishing.
Lang, K. (2015). Celibidache and Furtwangler: the great post-war conflict at the Berlin Philharmonic. Bucureşti: Humanitas.
Sullivan, J. (1999). New World Symphonies: How American Culture Changed European Music. New York: Yale University Press.