the spectre's bride
OPUS NUMBER | 69 |
BURGHAUSER CATALOGUE NUMBER | 135 |
COMPOSED | 26 May - 27 November 1884 |
PREMIERE - DATE AND PLACE | 28 March 1885, Plzen |
PREMIERE - PERFORMER(S) | Berta Schmidova-Smetanova - The Maiden, Alois Schmidt - The Spectre, Hugo Krticka - Storyteller, 35th Infantry Regiment Orchestra, Hlahol of Plzen, conductor Antonin Dvorak |
FIRST EDITION | Novello, Ewer & Co., 1885, London |
TEXT | Karel Jaromir Erben |
INSTRUMENTATION | 1 piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 1 English horn, 3 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, 1 tuba, timpani, triangle, tam-tam, bells, harp, violins, violas, cellos, double basses + mixed choir + soloists (soprano, tenor, bass) |
PARTS / MOVEMENTS |
- Introduction
1. Coro ("Uz jedenacta odbila") 2. Soprano solo ("Zel bohu, zel, kde muj taticek?")
3. Tenore e Basso solo e Coro ("Pohnul se obraz na stene")
4. Duetto. Soprano e Tenore solo ("Hoj, ma panenko, tu jsem jiz!")
5. Basso solo e Coro ("Byla noc, byla hluboka")
6. Basso solo e Coro ("A on tu napred skok a skok")
7. Duetto. Soprano e Tenore solo ("Pekna noc, jasna")
8. Basso solo e Coro ("Knizky ji vzal a zahodil")
9. Basso solo e Coro ("A on vzdy napred - skok a skok")
10. Duetto. Soprano e Tenore solo ("Pekna noc, jasna v tento cas")
11. Basso solo e Coro ("A byla cesta nizinou")
12. Duetto. Soprano e Tenore solo ("Pekna noc, jasna v tu dobu")
13. Basso solo e Coro ("Tu na planine siroke")
14. Duetto. Soprano e Tenore solo ("Hoj, ma panenko, tu jsme jiz")
15. Basso solo e Coro ("Skokem preskocil ohradu")
16. Basso solo e Coro ("A tu na dvere: buch, buch, buch!")
17. Soprano solo ("Maria Panno, pri mne stuj")
18. Basso solo e Coro ("A slys, tu prave nablizce")
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DURATION | approx. 1 hr. 20 min. |
composition historyIn 1883 Dvorak received a commission from England to write a major vocal-instrumental work which was to be performed at the music festival in Birmingham. Dvorak agreed to the commission. He had spoken to his librettist Marie Cervinkova-Riegrova of his intention to write an oratorio based on a theme taken from Czech history. He had, for instance, considered the story of St Wenceslas or Jan Hus but, in the end, he turned to the literary works of K. J. Erben, from whose Bouquet he chose the ballad The Spectre’s Bride. He worked on his composition from April to November 1884 and the cantata was published by Novello the following year. Antonin Dvorak to his friend Alois Gobl: “I am delighted that my new work is coming along so well; I plan to finish the sketch this week and the rest should go like clockwork. I thank God that my guardian spirit hasn’t abandoned me; and why would he, when I’m so fond of him. I think (and you’ll see I’m not deceiving myself) that this work surpasses all my others in every respect, including Stabat. But I ask you not to mention this to anyone, I wouldn’t want people to think I’m blowing my own trumpet! – you know me.” |
![]() public notice announcing the premiere |
English title of the workThe Czech title of the work, Svatebni kosile [The Wedding Shirts], refers to an old folk custom which is described in the text: before her wedding a girl would give her betrothed a wedding shirt that she had made herself. A different title was chosen for the first performance of the cantata in England, namely “The Spectre’s Bride”, which passed into common usage for performances of the work outside the Czech environment. |
period press reviewThe Athenaeum, 5 September 1885: “The culminating point of interest of the festival was reached on the Thursday evening, when Dvorak’s cantata ‘The Spectre’s Bride’ was produced. All the works of the great Bohemian master which have yet been heard in this country have shown such striking individuality of style and such complete mastery of technical resource, that curiosity was naturally excited to the highest pitch. [...] To avoid too great realism, and at the same time to give appropriate musical expression to the terrific situations of the libretto without overstepping the line of true beauty, would have taxed the utmost resources of any musician of less genius than Dvorak. That he has passed triumphantly through the ordeal, that he has been able throughout a cantata lasting more than an hour and a half in performance to keep the attention of the audience at the highest stretch, without inducing the slightest feeling of weariness or monotony, is an achievement of which he may well feel proud. A well-known musician remarked during the performance, “The man is a magician!” and we heartily endorse the statement. While the weird and supernatural elements of the story are treated with the and of a consummate master, the necessary relief is obtained by solos and duets of the most exquisite beauty. Dvorak never tortures his melodies; they flow as naturally as those of Mozart, while they are throughout perfectly fresh and original. Such numbers as the two soprano airs, “Mine did I once a lover call” and “O Virgin Mother, gracious be,” and the duets “Ah, dearest child,” “Fair is the night,” and “Now when the night so fair doth show,” are as beautiful as anything in music; while the choruses describing the fearful journey, and more especially the scene in the dead-house, are overwhelming in force and intensity. The orchestral colouring is wonderfully picturesque and dramatic, and it is not too much to say that ‘The Spectre’s Bride’ dwarfed into absolute insignificance all the other novelties of the festival. [...] The composer, who conducted his own work, received at the close an ovation which he will certainly never forget.” The Monthly Musical Record, 1 October 1885: “Thursday evening brought to hearing what was, after all, the real magnum opus of the festival – Dvorak’s cantata, The Spectre’s Bride. Within my assigned limits description or analysis is impossible. My readers will be sure to obtain such a masterpiece, and study it for themselves; but the pianoforte arrangement, clever as it is, conveys no sort of idea of the effect produced in performance. Such descriptive orchestral colouring, such weird, but always artistic, treatment of the supernatural, I never heard before.” |