Antonin Dvorak - Symphony No. 1 in C Minor "The Bells of Zlonice" (1865)

Symphony No. 1 by Antonin Dvorak. Conducted by Julian Kovatchev with the Orchestra of Teatro Giuseppe Verdi Trieste.

I. Allegro - 00:00
II. Adagio Molto - 13:55
III. Allegretto - 27:33
IV. Finale - Allegretto - 38:22

The first surviving symphony by Dvořák, Symphony No.1 in C minor, was written in February and March 1865. It is said that the descriptive title The Bells of Zlonice was chosen by Dvořák himself, although it does not appear on the title-page, and it has been supposed that the title might have been used if the work was the one that the composer had entered for a competition in Germany and of which the score had thereafter been lost. To all intents and purposes the music was lost in the composer's life-time, bought in a Leipzig second-hand bookshop in 1882 and introduced to the public only long after his death, with performance in Brno in 1936. The title refers to the town in which Dvořák had his early schooling, and the imaginative have detected its bells in the opening of the first movement. The period of its composition coincided with the composer's unrequited affection for his piano pupil Josefina Cermáková of the Czech Provisional Theatre, whose sister, the contralto Anna Cermáková, he was to marry in 1873.

The symphony is scored for an orchestra that includes a piccolo, cor anglais, four horns, three trombones, trumpets and timpani, as well as the usual pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassoons, with strings. The work opens with an impressive introduction, leading to the Allegro principal section of the movement, in which an ominous enough theme leads eventually to a gentler melody that soon moves into further turbulence of feeling. The slow, movement, an A flat major Adagio, is introduced by woodwind chords, accompanied by plucked strings, followed by a finely drawn oboe melody and a strongly felt violin theme. This is followed by a scherzo, relaxing from its opening C minor into an E flat major section, its woodwind dominated passage leading to a passage of more lyrical mood, before the repetition of the opening section. The symphony ends with a brilliant finale in the necessarily triumphant key of C major, a movement with formal touches of counterpoint, reminiscences of what has passed, and more that a hint of the Zlonice bells audible, to those who wish to hear them, in the resonant notes of the French horns.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Antonin
• Dvorak
• Symphony
• No
• in
• Minor
• The
• Bells
• of
• Zlonice
• 1865

[OisirM]

This symphony really depresses me. I am someone aspiring to be a composer. And then I hear this, which was Dvorak's first gift to the symphonic musical world, and I know for a fact that I will not be able to write anything so moving or beautiful.

[1927Anna]

Wonderful! This is the "lost" symphony. First published in 1961 and first recorded in 1966.

The bells of Zlonice still ring only 32 km from Prague.

[JDvorak2009]

I have 170 of his compositions and I love this symphony of his. A true work of art!

[MasterAzunai]

I absolutely adore this symphony. For once I actually know something you put on here, but im so glad I've found a way to listen to this again.