Evening Concert for Valentine’s Day
Time
Location
Composer
The concert opens with “The Moldau” by Bedřich Smetana, the best-known part of his cycle “My Fatherland” (“Má vlast”).
In vivid musical images, Smetana depicts the course of the Moldau, from its sources to the majestic river. The distinctive main theme shows a melodic relationship with the Renaissance song “La Mantovana”, a melody that also lived on in other musical traditions, including the Israeli national anthem “Hatikvah”.
The programme continues with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23, composed in 1874/75. Initially rejected harshly by Nikolai Rubinstein, the work was later taken up by the conductor and pianist Hans von Bülow and received its successful premiere in Boston in 1875.
The evening concludes with Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95, “From the New World”, his ninth and final symphony. It was composed during Dvořák’s stay in the United States and premiered at Carnegie Hall in New York in 1893.
Although written in America, the symphony remains deeply rooted in Dvořák’s own musical language. It combines impressions of the “New World” with Bohemian melodic character and forms a powerful conclusion to the concert.
