Homeland

Kate Molleson discusses Dvořák’s identity and nationhood.

Antonin Dvořák was one of the most heartfelt tunesmiths in classical music - a man who not only brought the sound of Czech folklore to the world, but also had an indelible impact on the musical nationhood of America. As a character he was sometimes shy, sometimes melancholy, routinely homesick and deeply passionate. Through the week Kate Molleson explores five windows onto Dvořák’s soul, aspects of life that were really central to his convictions and his music.

Today - his love of his homeland and its people. Although Dvořák wasn’t a man who got too involved with active patriotic organisations, his Czech identity mattered to him deeply, and his work was nonetheless political in his choices of language, of folk melody, all the proud and painful yearning that saturates his music. Over in America, hopes were pinned on him to foster a common musical language for a pioneering polyglot nation – and against a backdrop of segregation and persecution, he stuck his neck out and demanded respect for the power of indigenous and minority cultures.

‘Possibility’ (Moravian Duets, No 1)
Markéta Cukrová, soprano
Simona Šaturová, mezzo
Vojtěch Spurný, piano

Slavonic Dances, Op 46 No 3
Czech Philharmonic
Zdeněk Košler, conductor

‘My Home’ Overture, Op 62
Prague Symphony Orchestra
Tomáš Brauner, conductor

Serenade for Winds in D minor (1st and 2nd movements)
Wind Players of the Vienna Philharmonic
Myung-Whun Chung, conductor

Piano Trio No 4 ‘Dumky’, Op 90 (2nd movement)
Busch Trio

The Noonday Witch
Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal
Kent Nagano, conductor

Produced by Amelia Parker for BBC Audio Wales and West