Revised works, Dvorak's violin concerto op.53

Antonin Dvorak, 1841-1904

For a composer as prolific as Dvorak, it may seem surprising that he was also an almost compulsive reviser of his works. One feature that unites his Violin Concerto and the Second Piano Quintet is that both came about as the result of a process of revision, though in intriguingly different ways. Even in his compositional maturity, Dvorak was prone to revising works from earlier in his career, partly to satisfy requests from publishers, but also in order to reassess the music's sheer richness.

In 1887, while reviewing a number of earlier pieces, Dvorak considered revising his three-movement piano quintet of 1872.  Although he greatly improved his original score, the best result of his delving into the past was that he was prompted to compose another piano quintet, also in A major, which has since become one of the most popular chamber works in the repertoire.

Revision also played its part in the creation of Dvorak's Violin Concerto. He wrote it during the summer of 1879 when his reputation was fast acquiring an international dimension with the huge success of the first set of Slavonic Dances.

The friendly intervention of Brahms had found him a German publisher with an international reputation and also provided an introduction to influential friends in the broader musical world. One of these was Brahms's violinist friend, Joseph Joachim - Without him, the violin repertoire we can hear today would have been drastically reduced; we should also be grateful that he was a friend of Brahms. 

During a visit to Joachim at the end of July 1879, the concerto was discussed and the violinist recommended numerous revisions which Dvorak undertook meticulously. Even these far-reaching changes, which according to the composer touched every aspect of the concerto's musical fabric were not enough for Robert Keller, an adviser of the publisher Simrock, who wanted a new ending to the first movement rather than letting it lead straight into the slow movement. For Dvorak the time for accommodation was past and he refused to make this change, not least, perhaps, because the passage linking first and second movements is one of the loveliest in the concerto.

Simrock accepted the composer's judgement and in 1883, the works was finally published. Joachim may have been in agreement with Keller since although he was the concerto's dedicatee, he never performed it in public; the premiere was given in 1883 by Dvorak's friend, the Czech violinist Frantisek Ondricek.

- If Joseph Joachim, the tribute to this work, premiered this, it might have become a much more famous and popular work.

Even by Dvorak's standards, the concerto is a richly lyrical work. The first movement begins boldly with a forceful unison statement from the orchestra answered with bitter-sweet melody by the violin. Another exchange between solo and orchestra leads into the main part of the movement in which the violin is rarely silent.
A miniature cadenza inititiates the exquisitely crafted link into the slow movement, whose rapt melodic lines are interrupted by a stormy minor-key central episode - a direct anticipation of the slow movement of the cello concerto composed sixteen years later. The Finale is close to the world of the Slavonic Dances composed the year before; it poens with a main theme imbued with the cross rhythms of the Czech furiant.
This ear-catching melody provides a frame for a number of memorable episodes before the exhilarating close.