Talk:Symphony No. 1 (Dvořák)

needs expansion. — Andy W. (talk/contrb.) 13:33, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

Some media clips of the various movements might be useful... Vltava 68 (talk  contribs ) 21:31, 9 November 2008 (UTC)

Subtitle
About the subtitling of this work... was it by Dvořák himself? If so, did he really name it "Bells of Zlonice", in ENGLISH? If not, what is the actual subtitle, untranslated? Smyslov (talk) 19:08, 10 March 2009 (UTC)


 * List of compositions by Antonín Dvořák tells us the Czech title is "Zlonické zvony". It seems a little obscure as to how the subtitle came about.  Dvořák was said to have referred to the work by this title (this was when he believed it to have been destroyed), but my money is on some publisher's fancy, not unlike "Moonlight", "Emperor" and other epithets being added by publishers without the composer's imprimatur. --  JackofOz (talk) 19:32, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

Length of the 1st movement
In the 3rd alinea, it is said that "the first movement, marked Allegro, is the longest movement of all his symphonic works".

I doubt if that is true. The 1st mouvement of the 1st takes 13:34 minutes at my recording, but, for example, the 2nd mouvement of the 3rd takes 17:58 minutes. I have the complete symphony cycle with Rafael Kubelík conducting the Berliner Philharmoniker. Unless the tempi Kubelík uses differ so much from the usual tempi, I think that sentence should be removed. I thought it would be better to ask here first, just to make sure.

--Hanserblich (talk) 17:22, 30 June 2009 (UTC)


 * That came from the liner notes by Ray Minshull to the Istvan Kertesz complete cycle. The full quote is: "The first movement is sombre in character and the longest of all Dvorak's symphonic movements."  However, the first performance in 1936 was in a heavily edited form, and most later recordings also make substantial cuts in the final movement.  The liner notes say "... it seems likely that the present recording represents the first occasion on which it [the symphony] has been performed complete and uncut". It's possible that Kertesz is the only major conductor to have recorded the full version.  I only have an LP, with no timings shown, and I haven't been able to find the track timings for the Kertesz set on google, but I can play it and time it if you like.   --  JackofOz (talk) 01:49, 1 July 2009 (UTC)
 * I have just looked at my father's CD box with Kertész and I see that you're right! It's 18:55 minutes. I will add 'in the original version' in the sentence. Hanserblich (talk) 10:39, 1 July 2009 (UTC)
 * I confirm that 18:55 via iTunes. Here’s a perf of Mvt 1 (without the repeat, mercifully) on YouTube (in two parts). No wonder the score disappeared for over half a century! A.D. started as a doubtful orchestrator, but he got a lot better. ---Schweiwikist (talk) 07:09, 26 July 2010 (UTC)