Concert Program VII

DVOŘÁK’S AMERICA

Universally renowned at the end of the nineteenth century as one of the supreme composers of his generation as well as the greatest champion of his native Czech music, Antonín Dvořák received an invitation in 1891 to lead the National Conservatory in New York and guide America’s composers in discovering their own musical language. With the help of the African American singer and composer Harry T. Burleigh, whose arrangements and performances of Negro spirituals Dvořák lovingly absorbed, the Czech master became fluent in the melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic traits of American folk styles. During the summer of 1893, while living in the Czech community of Spillville, Iowa, Dvořák captured the essence of Americana in two classic chamber works: his Opus 96 String Quartet and Opus 97 String Quintet, both nicknamed American. The program also illustrates the evolution of American song since Dvořák’s time, featuring music by twentieth-century American masters Samuel Barber and William Bolcom.

PROGRAM

Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904)
String Quartet no. 12 in F Major, op. 96, American (1893)

Henry T. Burleigh (1866–1949)
Selected spirituals

William Bolcom (b. 1938)
Selected cabaret songs

Samuel Barber (1910–1981)
Four Songs, op. 13 (1940)

Antonín Dvořák
Quintet for Two Violins, Two Violas, and Cello in E-flat Major, op. 97, American (1893)

Friday, August 13

8:00 p.m., Stent Family Hall, Menlo School
Tickets: $72 adult; $35 student
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Prelude Performance*
6:00 p.m., Martin Family Hall
Free Admission

Saturday, August 14

8:00 p.m., The Center for Performing Arts at Menlo-Atherton
Tickets: $60/$50 adult; $30/$20 student

Prelude Performance*
6:00 p.m., The Center for Performing Arts at Menlo-Atherton
Free Admission

ARTISTS

Sasha Cooke, mezzo-soprano
Wu Han, piano
Erin Keefe, violin
Arnaud Sussmann, violin
Beth Guterman, viola
Laurence Lesser, cello
Jupiter String Quartet
   Nelson Lee, violin
   Megan Freivogel, violin
   Liz Freivogel, viola
   Daniel McDonough, cello

*Learn more about Prelude Performances »

Image: Nathaniel Currier (1813–1888) and James Merritt Ives (1824–1895). Across the Continent: “Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way,” 1868. Lithograph. Private collection/The Bridgeman Art Library