The Palais Garnier hosts a performance in the Midi Musical series curated by the Orchestre de Paris: a program entitled Dvořák in New York, featuring an hour of chamber and symphonic music. The program features wind quintets by Pavel Haas and Endre Szervánszky, and a tribute to Dvořák with a wind arrangement of the famous Quartet in F major, Op. 96, "American," renamed "quintet" for the occasion. This short concert represents an effective and refined way to introduce the listener to the musical language of the Czech composer. Antonín Dvořák (1841 - 1904) was a central figure of Romantic musical nationalism. Born in Bohemia, active between Slavic folklore and international ambitions, he became director of the National Conservatory of Music of America in New York between 1892 and 1895. During that period he composed two of his best-known masterpieces: the Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95, known as “From the New World,” and the Quartet in F major, Op. 96, “American,” written in Spillville, Iowa, during a Summer stay with his family. The Symphony “From the New World” is one of the most successful examples of European Romantic symphonic music contaminated by American influences. Commissioned by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and composed between December 1892 and May 1893, this symphony evokes African-American spirituals and melodies inspired by Native American music, but always filtered through the harmonic language and symphonic form of Europe. The celebrated second movement, Largo, contains a pastoral theme, often associated with homesickness - the famous "Going Home" - while the rhythmic progression of the third movement draws inspiration from Czech dances, a sign of Dvořák's dual identity. The finale brings together all the themes in a grandiose symphonic-painted allegory: a dialogue between the Old and New Worlds embodied in composition. The Parisian evening will thus offer both a close-up of the chamber music microcosm, with music by composers of the mid-20th century, and the epic perspective opened by the American-inspired symphony. For the audience, it will be an invitation not only to rediscover Dvořák, but also to understand his role as a bridge between cultures and continents, in the spirit of a symphonic style that is always relevant and surprisingly modern.
