Any list of classical music's most gifted melodists must surely include the great Antonín Dvořák (alongside, let's see now, Tchaikovsky, Puccini, and Rachmaninov; Schubert, Mendelssohn and Mozart. Will that do for starters?). The man wrote so many wonderful tunes that coming up with a best of Dvořák list is quite the challenge.
Apart from a wonderful facility for a good tune, Dvořák's distinguishing features as a composer incliude a gift for drama (take the wonderfully taut, foreboding Scherzo from the 'New World' Symphony for example, and a brilliant ability to merge classical forms with the rhythms and melodies that sprang from the folk music of his native Bohemia (now the Czech Republic).
So where to start among the melodious, folk-inflected, dramatic and often joyous soundworld of this great late Romantic composer? Here are six great gateway pieces to start you off on a long and fruitful Dvořák journey.
Best of Dvořák
Symphony No. 9, ‘New World’
Dvořák’s groundbreaking and memorable attempt to write a symphony using native American music and spirituals is blessed with ear-catching melodies and evocative orchestration.
Originally titled ‘From the New World’ and now often nicknamed the 'New World Symphony', Dvořak's final symphony was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and composed by Dvořák while living in the Big Apple.
Composed in the key of E minor, the 'New World' has four movements: an opening Allegro, a soulful Largo, a busy Scherzo and a fiery Finale. Of these, the Largo, with its soulful, swelling melody, is probably the most iconic. In 1922, Dvořák’s pupil William Arms Fisher adapted the main Largo theme into a spiritual-like song called ‘Goin’ Home’. The final movement, meanwhile, features echoes of the motifs that occur in the previous movements.
Fun fact: the building, in Spillville, Iowa, where Dvořák completed the symphony now houses the Bily Clocks Museum.
Recommended recording: Baltimore Symphony Orchestra/Marin Alsop Naxos 8.570714
Slavonic Dances
Dvořák originally composed his zestful tribute to the folk music of his homeland for piano duet. Such was the success of the first series that he wrote a sequel.
Recommended recording: Czech Philharmonic Orchestra/Charles Mackerras Supraphon SU 3808-2
Rusalka
Dvořák's most famous opera is widely known for the title character’s beautiful 'Song to the Moon'. The opera itself is based on Slavic folklore: a 'rusalka' is a water sprite, or fairy.
An aria for soprano, the 'Song to the Moon' (or 'Měsíčku na nebi hlubokém' in the original) is hugely popular in its own right. It's often performed as a stand-alone piece for concerts and recordings. 'Song to the Moon' has also featured on various film soundtracks.
Recommended recording: Ana María Martínez, Larissa Diadkova; Glyndebourne Chorus; LPO/Jiří Bělohlávek Glyndebourne GFOCD 007-09
String Quartet No. 12, ‘American’
Dvořák composed string quartets during most of his career. In fact, there are 15 of them and, broadly, they get progressively finer as you go along, with all of those from roughly number 9 onwards regulars in the performing and recording repertoire.
The best known, and as so often it's the one with the nickname, is his String Quartet No. 12 'American' - composed, like the 'New World' above, during his time living and teaching in the United States.
Recommended recording: Prazák Quartet Praga PR 250110
More best of Dvořák: chamber, symphonic and concerto masterpieces
Cello Concerto
Arguably the greatest of the Romantic cello concertos – an impassioned hymn to his homeland and a poignant tribute to his recently deceased sister-in-law.
On the one hand, it reflects Dvořák's nostalgia and yearning for his native land, after he left Bohemia for America. Alongside this, the Cello Concerto is a lament for the composer's sister-in-law Josefina, who passed away during the work's composition. Josefina had been a grand passion of Dvořák's: he had proposed marriage to her, but she had rejected him. Dvořák married her sister Anna instead, and the couple were very happy.
His Cello Concerto has been much admired in many quarters. Upon hearing the work, Dvořák’s mentor Brahms is believed to have commented that, had he realised that the cello could lend itself to the concerto form, he would have composed something similar himself.
Recommended recording: Pieter Wispelwey; Budapest Festival Orchestra/Iván Fischer Channel CCSSA 25807
You can hear Dvořák's Cello Concerto at the 2024 BBC Proms. It's being performed by the Russian cellist Anastasia Kobekina, accompanied by the Czech Philharmonic and conductor Jakub Hrůša, for Prom 49 (Tue 27 Aug).
Piano Quintet No. 2
Alongside those by Brahms, Schumann and Shostakovich (and actually, we'll add the wonderful work by Elgar as well), Dvořák's second Piano Quintet can take its place among the very finest examples of the piano quintet form.
Highlights include a first movement that, after a quiet opening, works through a series of elaborate and exciting modulations. Both viola and cello take centre stage here, before the violins develop the theme and we then move towards an effervescent coda.
Both middle movements are idiomatic and hugely captivating: the second movement is a Dumka, derived from Ukrainian folk music, while the third movement is a Furiant, a rapid Bohemian folk dance. Cello and viola are to the fore again here, trading a rhythmic pizzicato while the first violin carries the tune. There follows a slower trio section shared by piano and violin.
Symphony No. 7
OK, so (of course) we mentioned Dvořák's Ninth above, as it is one of the absolute cornerstones of the classical canon, and one of the best-loved and most-recorded symphonies in the repertoire. When it comes to the very finest Dvořák symphony, however, we might just sneak in its predecessor, the Seventh.
Composed in 1885, some eight years before the 'New World', the Seventh is an undoubted masterpiece. Highlights include a grave, solemn and dramatic first movement that calls to mind Dvořák's mentor Brahms; a lyrical slow movement featuring one of the most beautiful French horn passages in all of classical music; and another folk-inflected Scherzo that ripples with urgency and rhythm.