Dvorak Symphony No. 8

Bucolic. Sunny. Cheerful. Joyous. Folksy. Ebullient. Thrilling.
These are all words that I found while researching Dvorak’s 8th
symphony. Dvorak’s gift for writing the most gorgeous of melodies
is on full display in his 8th symphony, a piece that has been
charming listeners ever since its very first performances. It is,
on its surface, an uncomplicated piece, bursting at the seams
with melody after melody after melody, almost mirroring one of
Brahms’ greatest one-liners, where he referred to his summer
country home as a place where melodies were so heavily present
thatt one had to be careful to avoid tripping on them! The
overriding characteristic of this 8th symphony is joy, from its
childlike key of G Major, to its raucous use of folk music, and
even its smiling through tears slow movement.


Very often on this show I try to take pieces that are quite
complicated and break them down for you to show you how to follow
their twists and turns despite their complexities. But today, I’m
going to do the opposite. Today, I’m going to take a piece that
is, on its surface, quite simple, and I’m going to show you how
this symphony is not quite as simple as it seems. It is a piece
full of invention and of the scintillating energy of trying out
new ideas. As Dvorak said, he would try to make this symphony
”different from the other symphonies, with individual thoughts
worked out in a new way.” So today on the show we’re going to
talk about how this symphony is different from other symphonies,
and also how Dvorak constructs his chains of melodies that add up
to the joyful whole of this piece, though tinged with the
melancholy that is almost always present with Dvorak. Join us!