Dvořák’s Stabat Mater in Vienna in 1888: Presentation of an Unknown Letter from Antonín Dvořák to Alfred Littleton and Period Critical Reaction
| Pages | 110–166 |
|---|---|
| DOI | 10.37520/muscz.2024.004 |
| Keywords | Antonín Dvořák, Stabat Mater, Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, Hans Richter, Alfred Littleton, Žerotín Vocal Music Society, Vienna, Olomouc, Budapest, premiere, reception |
| Citation | VEJVODOVÁ, Veronika a KADLÍČKOVÁ, Barbora Števanka. Dvořák’s Stabat Mater in Vienna in 1888: Presentation of an Unknown Letter from Antonín Dvořák to Alfred Littleton and Period Critical Reaction. Musicalia. Journal of the Czech Museum of Music / Časopis Českého muzea hudby . Prague: National Museum, 2024, 16(1-2), 110–166. DOI: https://doi.org/10.37520/muscz.2024.004. ISSN 1803-7828 (Print), 2533-5634 (Online). Also available from: https://publikace.nm.cz/en/periodicals/musicalia-journal-of-the-czech-museum-of-music-casopis-ceskeho-muzea-hudby/16-1-2/dvoraks-stabat-mater-in-vienna-in-1888-presentation-of-an-unknown-letter-from-antonin-dvorak-to-alfred-littleton-and-period-critical-reaction |
This study sets out to analyse evidence of the reception the Viennese orchestral premiere of Dvořák’s Stabat Mater given on 19 February 1888 under the baton of Hans Richter at a concert of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. The composer mentioned negative reviews of that premiere in a previously unknown letter to Alfred Littleton dated 1 April 1888, which the National Museum succeeded in purchasing in 2017 for the collection of the Antonín Dvořák Museum. The first part of the text is devoted to that letter and the problem of acquiring the composer’s correspondence, and it concludes with a critical edition of the letter. The study also devotes attention to other facts connected with the work’s orchestral premiere, such as the exchange of Czech-German polemics in the Olomouc press after the performance of the Stabat Mater in Vienna or the work’s successful performance in Budapest under the composer’s baton on 28 March 1888, shortly after the Viennese premiere.
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