Jiří Bělohlávek
celebrates 70th birthday

WORLD IN 1879

• Who was Born? Albert Einstein - Josip Visarionovich Stalin - Alma Mahler - Oscar Back - Coen de Koning(2x winner Elfstedentocht)
• What happened? Anglo-Zulu war - Edison patented light bulb - milk was sold in glass bottles for 1st time - Utrecht horse tram rides for 1st time - premiere of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin - premiere of Brahms violin concerto - premiere of Dvořák's Slavonic Dances

DVOŘÁK VIOLIN CONCERTO IN A MINOR

• Composed july-september 1879 for Joseph Joachim
• Premiered 14th October 1883 František Ondříček-violin Moric Anger-conductor National Theater Orchestra

INFLUENTIAL JOSEPH JOACHIM

• Joachim's virtuoso debut at age of 13 with*Beethoven's violin concerto Mendelssohn conducts
• Inspiration figure for violin concertos of *Brahms, Spohr, Bruch
• Violin concertos composed for him by Schumann, Dvořák, (never played either of them) Brahms Double concerto
• Joachim ambasador of chamber music and reviver of Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin

Than and now

• Joachim
• Špaček
• Ondříček

DVOŘÁK'S MUSICAL MESSAGE IN VIOLIN CONCERTO

• First movement: musical aspect overrules virtuosity
• Second movement: endless source of melodies
• Third movement: Dvořák's Slavonic period- celebration of folk melodies in Furiant

WILD DOVE (1896)

• Symphonic poem inspired by story of K.J. Erben from collection of 13 Ballads: Bouquet of Czech Folk Tales(Kytice)
• Wild Dove connecting giants of classical music: premiere 20th March 1898 by L. Janáček in Brno, 2nd performance by Mahler in Vienna
• monothematic principle in compact structure
• Story line in 4 major sections: funeral march-encounter of widow and the youth-wedding scene-tragic conclusion (with catharsis epilogue)

LEOŠ JANÁČEK´S TARAS BULBA (1915-1918)

PROFILE OF LEOŠ IN TARAS BULBA

• Russian inspirations
• Story of Gogol's cossacks Taras Bulba and his sons, Andrij and Ostap
• Janáček's musical language tools- visionary of rap?
• Speech tunes and time capsule 'sčasovka'