Antonin Leopold Dvorak - biography & summary of his work

This essay hasn't yet been marked by one of our teachers

You can view 23 essays on Music that have been Marked by Teachers

The first 200 words of this essay...

ANTONIN LEOPOLD DVORAK

Born: Muhlhausen, Sept. 8, 1841

Died: Prague, May 1, 1904

Occupation: violist, organist

Nationality: Czech

Born in a Bohemian village about fifty miles north of Prague, Dvorák was the son of the local butcher and innkeeper. He learned to play the violin as a small boy and was a chorister in the local church. When he reached the age of twelve he was sent to the neighbouring village of Zlonice to learn German and to study piano, viola, organ and harmony under Antonin Liehmann.

In 1857, when he was only sixteen, Dvorák went to Prague to study at the organ school there. While there he give in to the magic of Wagner and Smetana. He spent most of the 1860's as an orchestral player, first in a small band and then in the Czech National Opera Orchestra, conducted by Bedrich Smetana. All during this time he composed furiously but did not publish any of it. In fact, he burned most of his works.

It was only in the early 1870's that recognition started to come to Dvorák. In 1873 he left the Opera Orchestra to become the organist