How good is unsung music--and how would we know?

[Alan Howe]

I hear somebody who finally got around to trust his own voice and stopped trying to write something "serious" like Brahms and/or Wagner did

Well, he didn't finally get round to trusting his own voice and stop trying to write something serious. That implies that his own voice was incapable of producing such a thing. In fact, what he did was to trust his own voice - a personal synthesis of various influences - in order to write something serious when it was his intention to do so, as clearly was the case in respect of the three masterpieces which I mentioned in my previous post. In fact, he was such a great genius that he was capable of writing at all levels, from the lightest to the most serious, and mastering them all.

I don't recall ever hearing one of his operas where presumably Wagner's influence would be more clearly traceable (Leitmotifs for example).

His early opera Alfred is very Wagnerian:

In the libretto the story was originally arranged into seven tableaux, but Dvorak separated the first of these and combined others to create three acts. The musical setting was greatly influenced by Dvorak's special – and, at that time, still considerably uncritical – interest in Wagner's music. The score for Alfred bears a series of traits typical of the Bayreuth Master: copious use of leitmotifs, a compact orchestral setting, and "endless", richly modulating melodies. When the opera was first staged many years later, the critics even noted that "the score of Alfred is more Wagnerian than Wagner; Dvorak's submission to his great example is here almost unqualified in its sincerity". The work may be seen as formally fragmented and indistinctive in terms of expression, yet it is nevertheless a promising demonstration of the composer's sense of the impact of choral scenes and the full orchestral sound. (emphasis added)
http://antonin-dvorak.cz/en/alfred

Anyway, this diversion has run its course; let's get back to the unsungs...

[sdtom]

But a good diversion for me as I learned about Dvorak.

[eschiss1]

I wonder though, are Dvorak's middle/late liturgical works seriously underknown (outside of UK, Czech rep) because they're lesser works? Are the requiem, the Te Deum, Stabat Mater, Mass in D (also, while near the subject, Kate, Armida, etc.) - well, probably preaching the choir to, here... Pun in ten...

[Alan Howe]

Personally, I wouldn't say they're lesser works. They simply prove the great range of the composer...

[matesic]

My inability to recall a single note of the Requiem may reflect nothing more than my own ignorance and/or inattention, but I can't help feeling that the English choral society tradition for which he wrote it didn't unleash the best of his native qualities. The Te Deum, on the other hand, has a passion and vibrancy that even seem to anticipate Janacek. Like the nearly contemporary Op.96 quartet (always a joy to play) he didn't waste time worrying about his illustrious predecessors but just let it all hang out.

[Double-A]

I was singing in a choir for a few years and we rehearsed and performed the Stabat Mater--written according to the conductor in response to three of his children dying within a year (not sure I remember the number correctly, but horrific for Dvorak and his wife in any case).  This is a long time ago now but I began with skepticism about the work and ended up convinced.  I think it would be well worth a few more performances than it has been getting. 

I have to say that "Stabat Mater" is one of my favorite church music texts.  It deals with its subject from the point of view of a single person and in simple verses (Latinists say it is bad Latin, but that does not bother me), giving the composer guidance as well as room to operate.  If what the conductor told us is true a more fitting text could not have been found.

[Alan Howe]

My inability to recall a single note of the Requiem may reflect nothing more than my own ignorance and/or inattention

It does 

[matesic]

Maybe so, but Dvorak's Requiem is definitely an unsung piece in my neck of the woods. Somehow in all my years of accompanying choral societies it's never come up (the Te Deum has on 3 occasions I think). Given a choice between it and yet another Elijah or Israel in Egypt I'd welcome the chance to get to know it better.

[Alan Howe]

Sure, it's unsung. But it shouldn't be. At least it's been recorded multiple times.

[sdtom]

Which raises another question. If an unsung work is recorded a number of times does it then become sung?

[Alan Howe]

Well, recordings and public performances are two entirely different things. A work can be receive multiple recordings, but be almost unknown to to the wider public because it's so rarely performed in concerts.

[chill319]

the synthesis-hypothesis

One way Dvorak synthesized Wagner was in his use of "nontonal" half-diminished seventh chords -- those created by chromatic alteration of the scale. This refers, of course, to the famous Tristan chord.* In the opening of Dvorak's Symphony 9 the composer finds several places to insert these chords. Many other composers employed "Tristan chords," too, but I think Dvorak found fresh paths of his own. It's been some years since I was repetiteur for a production of Rusalka, but I recall a few well-chosen Tristan chords there, too.

In the coda of the last movement of Symphony 9, Dvorak combines the themes of his four movements the way that Bruckner does in his Symphony 8. As you all know, Dvorak scoots off for further exploration after a few measures. The point here is that the passage shows that D was listening to new and "serious" music by more composers than just Brahms and Wagner -- seeing what he could do himself with new ideas. Sometimes in certain passages I wonder who heard whom first, Dvorak or Grieg?

------------------
* which Wagner probably borrowed from Liszt. That said, if it were Liszt Dvorak were synthesizing the latter's music would use far more augmented triads as pivot chords.

[sdtom]

Another great example of an unsung work is Glazunov's 1st symphony written in his teenage years but certainly has the sound of a mature composer.Has been recorded a few times but mostly in sets of all of his symphonies.
Tom

[matesic]

I do believe that one should take one's prejudices for a drive round the block occasionally, so I've been listening to Dvorak's relatively unsung Requiem in the hope that something would stir in my memory or my musical pleasure centres. It didn't, and I can't imagine it will next time either. The problem for most unsung composers, I believe, is that in spite sometimes of very considerable talent they failed to develop a distinctive voice, so audiences when confronted with an unfamiliar work are never prompted to think "Oh yes, that's Ebenezer Prout". in this case, however, Dvorak seems to have deliberately stifled his own voice in the belief that an English choral society shouldn't be taken out of its comfort zone. Yes, it's a requiem, but does it have to be so serious? I'd be grateful to hear of anyone's contrary views, particularly if they can dissect and articulate what it is they like about the work.

[Alan Howe]

Which recording of Dvorak's Requiem do you have?