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Sam

11/7/02

Antonin Dvorak was born in the Bohemian town of Nelahozeves, Czechoslovakia on September 8, 1841. He was soon to be one of the most famous Czechoslovakian composers. The most important landmark in the village was a square castle owned by Prince Franz Joseph, who happened to be a patron and friend of Beethoven. Antonin's mother worked in the castle and, Father was an innkeeper and butcher. Both were devoted Catholics. Antonin was the oldest of nine children. Music was very important to his town. Dvorak started playing instruments, such as the violin, early in life with his father at weddings and such. One of the instruments his father played was a zither. Antonin also played folk songs often at his father's inn.

Antonin was Catholic his whole life and very religious. Antonin's first violin teacher was Josef Spitz, who was also a schoolmaster. When Dvorak was about 12 years old, he was sent to Zlonice to study German. The city was about 20 miles away. He began apprenticeship to become a butcher, living with his uncle Zdenek. His German teacher also taught him organ, piano and viola. In 1855 all of Antonin's family moved to Zlonice. A few years later Antonin completed his apprenticeship. His father became an owner of a very large inn.

He was expected to follow in his Grandfather's and Father's footsteps. Antonin got a certificate qualifying him in the butcher's trade, but Dvorak wanted to be a musician, so his uncle convinced his father to allow him to move to Prague and to study at the Organ School. There he was looked down upon because he was a country boy and he didn't speak German very well. He was not considered an exceptional student, because he did not study music theory or composition. Yet Dvorak composed works, but did not show them. Dvorak played viola in the Society of St. Cecilia orchestra. But before he could complete his studies, his uncle ran into financial problems and could not pay the money. Yet, Dvorak supported himself by teaching viola and playing in the orchestra, so he could stay at the school. Antonin left the school when he was about 14 years old. During the following fourteen years he composed large orchestral pieces.

On November 17, 1873 he married a lady named Anna Cermakova, who sang in the choir. They had nine children, but three died before age five. Dvorak left the orchestra and accepted the organist position at a place called. Adalberts St Church. He started composing his fourth symphony. In January 1874, he applied to the Austrian Government for a prize for "young poor composers who were talented." He turned in his Symphony No. 3 and 4. He was awarded a large amount of money each year, for five more times. He was offered a job as Director of the Conservatory of Music in New York, He took it and earned $15,000 per year, which was a lot of money back then. When he moved there, he had many students, one who introduced him to African-American Spirituals; this students name is Henry Thacker Barleigh. He composed a famous symphony called "From the New World," which was influenced by his visit.

Antonin's doctor discovered he had kidney disease and on the 30^th of March, 1904, he caught pneumonia. He never fully recovered and passed away in Prague from a heart attack on May 1, 1904 at the age 63. He was buried at the cemetery of Vsysehrad, which is located next to the River Vltava. I personally think his music is wonderful and that information is from listening to his piece called "Slavonic Dance No. 1". It was presto [very fast] which is a musical term. "I play piano myself."