Dvořák · Antonín Dvořák
Dvořák Symphony No. 2 in B♭ major
The symphony left with a friend because he couldn't pay for binding
- Key
- B♭ major
- Composed
- 1865
- Premiere
- 1888 Prague
- Duration
- about 50 min
- Movements
- 4 movements
- Instrumentation
- Woodwinds 2·2·2·2 (+ piccolo) · Brass 4·2·3·0 · Timpani · Strings
The story behind this piece
He wrote this piece in August to October 1865, just a few months after finishing No. 1. Dvořák was poor and couldn't afford to have the score bound, so his friend and roommate Moritz Anger paid for it. Later, when Dvořák wanted to destroy the piece, Anger kept the score on the excuse of the money he had lent and wouldn't give it back until he felt it was safe. That's why the piece survived.
Dvořák reworked the heavy scoring in 1887, and it was finally premiered in Prague in March 1888 under Adolf Čech. That was more than 20 years after it was written.
What to listen for
- All four movements start with a short introduction rather than getting straight to the theme.
- Introduction to movement 4: The four-note motif heard here returns more than 30 years later in the opera 'Rusalka.'
Listen · Score
Credits