Synopsis

In London on today’s date in 1896, Czech composer Antonín Dvořák conducted the first performance of his Cello Concerto.

Two years earlier, while teaching at the National Conservatory in New York, Dvořák attended the Brooklyn premiere of a cello concerto by American cellist and composer Victor Herbert. Herbert had been the principal cellist for the premiere performance of Dvořák’s New World Symphony at Carnegie Hall and was a superb player and the soloist in the premiere of his own concerto.

After the concert, Dvořák rushed backstage, embraced Herbert, and told him his concerto was “splendid — simply splendid.”

Inspired by Herbert’s example, Dvořák began a cello concerto of his own, completing it in just three months. It was the last work he completed during his three-year stay in America, but on the final page of his manuscript score, he wrote, “I finished the concerto in New York, but when I returned to Bohemia I changed the end completely the way it stands here now.”

The concerto was written for and dedicated to Dvořák’s countryman, Czech cellist Hanuš Wihan, but due to a scheduling conflict, British soloist Leo Stern played its world premiere in London.

Music Played in Today's Program

Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904): Cello Concerto; Yo Yo Ma, cello; New York Philharmonic; Kurt Masur, cond.