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Technical Notice
| Classical Composer: | Dvořák, Antonín |
|---|---|
| Work: | Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Op. 10, B. 34 |
| Year Composed: | 1873 |
| Instrumentation: | 2(+picc)2.ca.22/4230/timp.perc/hp/str |
| Publishers: |
Edwin F. Kalmus Boosey & Hawkes Bärenreiter Verlag The Edwin A. Fleisher Music Collection Simrock Artia |
| Duration: | 00:33:00 |
| Period: | Romantic |
| Work Category: | Orchestral |
Work Information
Available Recording(s)
Dvorák's nine symphonies span a period of nearly thirty years. The first two were written in 1865, and the last in 1893. Both the numbering of the symphonies and the opus numbers assigned to them have caused some confusion. The first four symphonies were originally omitted from the list, so that the last five were numbered, although not in order of composition, the basis of the more usual numbering today. Opus numbers were also manipulated to some extent, a simple subterfuge to outwit Simrock by allocating earlier opus numbers to new compositions, on which he would otherwise have had an option.
Third Symphony was written in 1872 and probably scored the following year. It was first performed at a Philharmonic concert in Prague in 1874, the first of the symphonies that the composer had heard played. The symphony is scored for an orchestra that includes piccolo and cor anglais, in addition to pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons and trumpets, four horns, three trombones, timpani, triangle and strings. A harp is used in the slow movement and a tuba added in the finale. The work is in only three movements and shows the continuing influence of Wagner in its instrumental writing.
The choice of the key of E flat has led some to seek comparisons with Beethoven's Eroica Symphony, in the same key. There is a broad parallel in the suggestions of a funeral march in the C sharp minor second movement, interrupted by a D flat major section with its harp accompaniment and busy accompanying figuration for divided violas and cellos. The finale, announced by the timpani, might suggest in mood, if not in structure, the work of Beethoven, dominated by the jaunty rhythm of its principal theme, with suggestions of Wagner at moments of dramatic climax.
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