By the 1880s, Antonín Dvořák was well established as one of the greatest composers in Europe, and the English were particularly fond of him. He was often invited over to conduct premieres of his own works or those of others, and he had a good relationship with England in every way. His 7th Symphony was composed in 1885 and premiered at St James Hall in London. Dvořák had been invited by the London Philharmonic Society to compose a symphony in connection with his recent admission as an honorary member. During this period he was strongly inspired by Czech folk music and the Czech people's struggle for a national identity, so it is unofficially dedicated to the Czech people.
Although the symphony is not among his best known, it is considered by many to be a masterfully executed and well-composed work, and I will discuss the main themes in the final movement of the symphony below.
We begin the movement with a presentation of the central theme, played by horns, supported by clarinets and cellos:
The orchestra then plays a variation on this theme, which is repeated a few times until the orchestra increases in intensity and leads to the flute taking over the theme for a while:
Dvořák then plays with the same idea of having the orchestra play light variations on this theme, while giving more and more freedom to the instruments involved. Eventually, however, it culminates in the whole orchestra, led by the violins, playing the theme, supplemented by a short fanfare from the trumpets:
After a few more reworkings, Dvořák takes on a new, much more melodic idea that he lets his woodwinds play between them:
He then again lets the violins take over and vary the theme, and notice how the timpani is allowed to unfold to complement the melodic development:
A longer development of the theme follows, with one small intermezzo where the strings and brass almost call-response to each other:
Slowly the intensity drops and eventually only the trombone responds, but there's no call... and into this gap enters the first theme that opened the sateen:
Dvořák doesn't let it stay quiet for long though, and soon the whole orchestra joins in, but this time it's as if the timpani are trying to interrupt the melody - notice that almost in every bar they hit the wrong note with a “da-dum-da-dum-dum” rhythm, which the flutes start to take over towards the end:
Soon we are led to a crossing between the first and second theme, where we are almost unconsciously led from one to the other:
As Dvořák - as usual - performs this theme for full orchestra, it's worth noting that the same timpani accompaniment, “da-dum-da-dum-dum” that was out of place in relation to theme 1, is now much more dynamic and almost wraps around theme 2:
Dvořák then composes towards the end of the movement and symphony: the tempo and intensity rise and rise... only to plummet in a second:
And from this dive, he resurrects the first theme, played far more majestically than we have yet heard it. The build-up is slow, dynamic and rounds off the symphony in a beautiful and complete way: