Portland Chamber Orchestra - Strings Attached - with music by Antonin Dvorak

Antonín Dvorák was born into poverty in rural Bohemia, but was fortunate enough to be able to study in Prague. He developed into a good violist and played in the National Theatre orchestra under Bedrich Smetana, who exerted a strong influence on him. By 1873, Dvorák was making his living primarily as a teacher and composer. Grants from the Austrian government allowed him to concentrate more on composition, and he attracted the attention of Johannes Brahms, who arranged for the publication of his works by Simrock, one of the major European publishers. His reputation grew throughout Europe, especially in England. In 1891 he was appointed to the Prague conservatory.

In 1892, Dvorák traveled to New York to serve as director of the newly formed National Conservatory in New York. He held this position for three years; during this time he spent his summers in a Czech community in Spillville, Iowa. While in America, he composed some of his best-known works, including two quartets, a cello concerto and his Symphony No.9 "From the New World".

Dvorák's musical style is generally classical in its approach, owing much to Johannes Brahms, whom he admired greatly. At the same time, he used native Czech elements extensively. His interest in nationalist ideals carried over into his work in the United States. In America he discovered the music of Native Americans and African-Americans and declared that in them American composers could find "all that is needed for a great and noble school of music," and the music that he composed in this country shows some of that influence.

Dvorák wrote his Serenade in E Major Op.22 for string orchestra during a two-week period in May 1875. The serenade was at one time traditionally identified with the mating habits of homo sapiens. Originally it was a song to be sung by a suitor under the window of the lady of his choice. If perchance the young man's assets did not include an acceptable singing voice, he might substitute an instrumental performance. Toward the end of the 18th century, the serenade lost its purely romantic associations and became a term applied to a group of shorter pieces, sometimes called a divertimento or cassation. This was a form somewhere between the suite and the symphony, frequently of a light and romantic nature.

The genial tone of Dvorak’s Serenade for String Orchestra might easily be attributed to the composer's happy circumstances at this time - to his young marriage, the birth of his first son and the growing recognition of his talent - though it should be remembered that the casual demeanor and avoidance of overly dramatic gestures that mark this work have always been a requirement of serenade music. Such qualities in no way indicate an inferior level of inspiration or compositional skill, of course, On the contrary, this serenade, like those of Mozart, is very much the work of a conscientious artist. Its expressive harmonies, unpretentious counterpoint, skilled use of the string choir (Dvorák's experience as an orchestral viola player undoubtedly served him well in this) and formal coherence all attesting to a high order of musical craftsmanship.

The Serenade is in five movements. Apart from the finale, which follows a modified sonata form, each unfolds along broad, A-B-A lines. And yet, the music often proves more intricate than this simple format might suggest. After the opening movement, Dvorák does not rarely juxtapose contrasting melodic ideas but develops these in imaginative ways. Imitative counterpoint plays a prominent role in both the presentation and extension of the work's themes. Indeed, the Serenade opens with a flowing melody punctuated by echoes of its initial phrases in the cellos and basses, and more elaborate canonic writing is heard in each of the succeeding movements.

The warmly expressive first movement gives way to a waltz colored with wistful minor-key harmonies. We then hear a Scherzo with both a well-developed Trio section and a coda combining material from the Scherzo and Trio. After a tender slow movement, the finale conveys the spirit of a Bohemian village dance. Here Dvorák recalls the melody of the preceding Larghetto and, later, the opening theme of the first movement, thus bringing the work full circle, as it were, to its point of origin.