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Dvorák was born in Nelahozeves near Prague where he spent most of his life. He studied music in Prague's Organ School at the end of the 1850s, and through the 1860s played viola in the Bohemian Provisional Theatre Orchestra which was from 1866 conducted by Bedrich Smetana.
From 1892 to 1895, Dvorák was director of the National Conservatory in New York City. The Conservatory was founded by a wealthy socialite, Jeannette Thurber, who wanted a well-known composer as director in order to lend prestige to her institution. She wrote to Dvorák, asking him to accept the position, and he agreed, providing that she were willing to meet his conditions: that talented Native American and African-American students, who could not afford the tuition, must be admitted for free. She agreed to his conditions, and he sailed to America.
It was during his time as director of the Conservatory that Dvorák formed a friendship with Harry BurleighHarry Burleigh (1866-1949) was the first African-American to become a successful Classical composer. He attended Jeannette Thurber's National Conservatory of Music, where he became the protege of Czech composer Antonin Dvorak. He, in turn, would spend hou, who became an important African-American composer. Dvorák taught Burleigh composition, and in return, Burleigh spent hours on end singing traditional American Spirituals to Dvorák. Burleigh went on to compose settings of these Spirituals which compare favorably with European classical composition.
It was during his visit to the United StatesThe United States of America also referred to as the United States U. America ą or the States is a federal republic in central North America, stretching from the Atlantic in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. It shares land borders with Canada in that he wrote his most popular work, the SymphonyA symphony is an extended piece of music for orchestra, especially one in the form of a sonata. The word "symphony" The word symphony is derived from the Greek syn (together) and phone (sounding), by way of the latin symphonia''. The term was used by the No.9 "From the New World"The Symphony No. 9, opus 95, "From the New World popularly known as the New World Symphony was composed by Antonin Dvorak in 1893. It is by far his most popular symphony, and one of the most popular symphonies in the modern repertory. It is in four moveme.
Also while in the USA he heard a performance of a celloString instruments Alternate meaning: Cello web browser A cropped image to show the relative size of a cello to a human The cello (also violoncello or cello is a stringed instrument and part of the violin family. The cello is much larger than a violin, an concertoOrigin Etymology Concerto (from the latin concertus from certare to strive, also confused with concentus , in its most general sense, is a name for a piece of classical music in which there are two distinct groups of instruments, one larger than the other by the composer Victor HerbertVictor Herbert ( February 1, 1859 May 26, 1924) was a popular composer of light opera. He was born in Dublin and played cello in the orchestra of Johann Strauss in Vienna before emigrating to the USA, where he joined the Metropolitan Opera Company, again. He was so excited by the possibilities of the cello and orchestra combination displayed in this concerto that he wrote a cello concerto of his own, the Cello Concerto in B minor ( 1895). Since then the concerto he wrote has grown in popularity and today it is frequently performed. He also left an unfinished work, the Cello Concerto in A major ( 1865), which was completed and orchestrated by the German composer Günter Raphael between 1925 and 1929.
Dvorák eventually returned to Prague where he was director of the conservatoire from 1901 until his death in 1904. He was interred in the Vysehrad cemetery in Prague.
Dvorák's works are in a variety of forms: his nine symphonies stick to classical models which Ludwig van Beethoven would have recognised and are comparable to Johannes Brahms, but he also worked in the newly developed symphonic poem form and the influence of Richard Wagner is apparent in some works. Many of his works also show the influence of Czech folk music, both in terms of rhythms and melodic shapes; perhaps the best known examples are the two sets of Slavonic Dances . As well as his already-mentioned works, Dvorák wrote operas (the best known of which is Rusalka), chamber music (including a number of string quartets, the American among them) and piano music.
Dvorák's works were catalogued by Jarmil Burghauser in Antonin Dvorák. Thematic Catalogue. Bibliography. Survey of Life and Work (Export Artia Prague, Czechoslovakia, 1960). In this catalogue, for example, the New World Symphony (Opus 95) is B178.