RomanticAntonín Dvořák
Antonín Dvořák was born in a Bohemian village by a river.
Antonín Dvořák’s life
The big moments of this life, and what was happening in the world at the same time.
A life at a glance
- 1841👶 Birth
Born in Nelahozeves on 8 September, son of a butcher and innkeeper
- 1857📚 Trainingage 16
Prague Organ School
- 1859🎩 Careerage 18
Violist in a dance band, then at the Provisional Theatre (under Smetana)
- 1873❤️ Private lifeage 32
Marries Anna Čermáková; first success with the hymn The Heirs of the White Mountain
- 1874🎩 Careerage 33
Austrian state grant; Brahms, on the jury, notices him
- 1874🌍 Meanwhile
First exhibition of the Impressionist painters
- 1875🌍 Meanwhile
The Palais Garnier opera house opens in Paris
- 1878🎼 Workage 37
Slavonic Dances: international success
- 1884🧳 Journeyage 43
First of nine triumphant trips to England
- 1889🌍 Meanwhile
The Eiffel Tower opens for the World’s Fair
- 1893🎼 Workage 52
‘New World’ Symphony; ‘American’ Quartet
- 1895🎼 Workage 54
Cello Concerto; returns to Bohemia
- 1903🌍 Meanwhile
First powered aeroplane flight (Wright brothers)
- 1904🕯️ Deathage 63
Dies in Prague on 1 May
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Excerpts of up to 90 seconds, freely licensed recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
Once upon a time…
Antonín Dvořák was born in a Bohemian village by a river. His dad was a butcher and wanted his son to do the same job. But Antonín preferred playing the violin in the family inn!
He became an orchestral musician and then a composer. The great Brahms noticed his talent and helped him become famous. His energetic Slavonic Dances went all round Europe.
One day he was invited to New York, in America. There he listened to African American songs and composed his “New World” Symphony. It is so famous that a recording even went to the Moon with the astronauts!
Dvořák loved trains: he knew all the timetables of the locomotives at Prague station by heart.
Antonín Dvořák’s instruments
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