Page:Antonín Dvořák by J. E. Vojan (1941).pdf/13

 where he found the greatest freedom for his turbulent temperament, that is in symphonies and in chamber music. Thus Dvořák became the greatest Czech symphony and chamber music composer. His achievement in this respect was enhanced by the fact that Dvořák had an inborn talent for instrumentation. He loved color effects, keen understanding of popular romance, reflected in folk and if you hear for instance Dvořák’s “Carneval Overture” (Victor Record 12159), you are fascinated by the lustre of his orchestration.

As a true son of late romanticism Dvořák showed a ballads and in the beauties of nature. These sources supplied Dvořák with material which enabled him to introduce new typical tones into Czech music. Foremost among these compositions rank Dvořák’s most beautiful opera “Rusalka” (The Water Nymph) which gives an excellent impression of the mysterious fairy-tale atmosphere of the woods, his symphonic poems “The Water Sprite”, “The Dove”, “The Golden Spinning-wheel” and “The Noon Witch” as well as his piano duets “From Šumava” (the name of the forests forming the southwest frontier of Bohemia) and some of his piano solo compositions “Poetic moods.”

In 1891, on his fiftieth birthday, the University of Cambridge in England conferred upon Dvořák the degree of Doctor of Music, the Czech University in Prague followed with the honorary title of Doctor of Philosophy, and the Austrian government with the elevation to the Austrian House of Peers.

The Old World was conquered,—shall the New World be next?

The American composer and conductor Dudley Buck who met Dvořák in London in September 1884 made the first suggestion that he cross to America. Dvořák was not willing to discuss the question at that time, so bound was he by his love for his native land. But the trips to England operated upon him. He became accustomed to go abroad. In March 1890 he went to Moscow and Petersburg in Russia, on his sixth visit to England he conducted his Symphony in G Major at the concert of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, then came the de-