Antonín Leopold Dvorák was a Czech composer, violist and pianist whose melodic voice expressed his love of his native Bohemia. As a young musician, he earned his living by giving music lessons as well as playing viola in local orchestras and the organ at church services. It wasn’t until the famous music critic and close friend of Johannes Brahms, Edward Hanslick, took notice of Dvorák that his career took off. With Brahms’s help, Dvorák’s music was published by Simrock, bringing him work as a conductor and composer around Europe and Russia. In 1892, Dvorák moved to New York City where he was the director of the National Conservatory of Music and became interested in American music, studying everything from Native-America to African-American styles. His famous Symphony No. 9, "From the New World," and the "American" String Quartet date from this time. Dvorák later returned to his homeland where he died in 1904.
The Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano, Op. 65, was written in 1883 and contains four movements. While Dvorák adheres to traditional forms, the work is striking in its melodic sensibility and beautiful atmosphere. Dvorák opens the work with the violin and cello doubled in octaves, marked "very softly," creating an ominous beginning. The piano then enters in its low register and brings the music to its first large climax. The first movement, Allegro ma non troppo, is in the traditional Sonata-Allegro form. The second movement, Allegro grazioso, is a change in mood and Slavic in the different layers of rhythmic and stately motives. Throughout the movement, the opening theme that was stated in the piano reappears in different forms and keys within different textures. Roughly halfway through, Dvorák employs a very strong cadence to trick the listener into thinking that the movement is over. He then follows this false ending with a complete change in the "trio" section with legato lines and the major mode. The opening section returns with its dancing rhythms, creating an ABA form. The third movement, Poco Adagio, opens with a beautiful, slow cello melody accompanied by chords in the piano. The violin then joins the cello in a lovely duet, which leads to the violin presenting the next material. The third movement takes its time in developing the cello melody in different manners while moving between the three instruments. The fourth and final movement, marked Allegro con brio, is a tour de force in the minor key in which the material is spun out before a surprising slowdown. An unexpected Vivace ends the work with a fiery close.
Program Notes are by Kyle Blaha, a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree at The Juilliard School and faculty member in the Juilliard Pre-College and Evening Division.