Piano Trio No. 4 (Dvořák)

The Piano Trio No. 4 in E Minor (also called Dumky trio from the subtitle Dumky) is a piece by Antonin Dvořák for piano, violin and cello. It is among the composer's most well-known works.

At the same time it is a prominent example for a piece of chamber music deviating strongly from the sonata form.

Title

Dumky, the plural form of dumka, is a term introduced into Slavic languages from the Ukrainian. Originally, it is the diminutive form of the term duma, plural dumy, which refers to epic ballads, specifically a song or lament of captive people.^[1] During the nineteenth century, composers from other Slavic countries began using the duma as a classical form used to indicate a brooding, introspective composition with cheerful sections interspersed within. Dvořák used the dumka form in several other compositions, including his Dumka for Solo Piano, Op. 35; Slavonic Dance No. 2; String Sextet; and his Piano Quintet, Op. 81

History

The trio was completed on February 12, 1891. It premiered in Prague on April 11, 1891 with violinist Ferdinand Lachner, cellist Hanuš Wihan, and Dvořák himself as pianist.^[1] On the same evening of the concert, the composer received an honorary doctorate from Prague’s Charles University. The work was so well received that it was presented on a forty-concert tour throughout Moravia and Bohemia, just before the composer departed for the United States to head the National Conservatory of Music in New York City, where he would encourage American composers to explore their own folk music as a source for inspiration (see also Symphony No. 9 (Dvořák)). The Trio was published while Dvořák was in America and was proofread by none other than his friend Johannes Brahms.^[2]

Structure

The piece is in six sections:

• Lento Maestoso (E minor and major)
• Poco Adagio (C♯ minor)
• Andante (A major)
• Andante Moderato (Quasi Tempo di Marcia) (D minor and major)
• Allegro (E♭ major and minor)
• Lento Maestoso (C minor and major)

The composition features six dumky episodes throughout. The initial three dumky are connected together without interruption in the harmonically complementary keys given above, in effect forming a long first movement. The final three dumky are presented in unrelated keys, thus giving the overall impression of a four-movement structure.^[3]

Style

Music critic Daniel Felsenfeld describes the piece in the following way:

The form of the piece is structurally simple but emotionally complicated, being an uninhibited Bohemian lament. Considered essentially formless, at least by classical standards, it is more like a six movement dark fantasia — completely original and successful, a benchmark piece for the composer. Being completely free of the rigors of sonata form gave Dvořák license to take the movements to some dizzying, heavy, Slavic places, able to be both brooding and yet somehow, through it all, a little lighthearted. ^[4]

In his assessment, musicologist Stephen Hefling adds that "Whereas in the [Opus 81] quintet he had borrowed a plan from Schumann to mold his dumka into a quasi-traditional framework, here he allows each of the six dumky to stand fully realized on its own."^[5]

External links

• This is a Video (Audio) by YouTube of a live performance, where all six movements of the piece are being performed in San Francisco 2008 by the Beaux Arts Trio,^[6]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Keller, James. Chamber Music: A Listener's Guide. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
2. ^ Antonin Dvorak
3. ^ Ulrich, Homer (1966). Chamber Music, 2nd Edition. Columbia University Press.
4. ^ Felsenfeld, Daniel (2006). “Dvorak Chamber Music.” In Dvorak Trios (p.4) [CD booklet]. New York: Koch Records.
5. ^ Hefling, Stephen, Ed. Nineteenth Century Chamber Music. New York: Routledge Press, 2004.
6. ^ Beaux Arts Trio plays Dvorak "Dumky" Trio, i - YouTube