Vítězslav Novák Vítězslav Augustín Rudolf Novák (5 December 1870 – 18 July 1949) was a Czech composer and academic teacher at the Prague Conservatory. Stylistically, he was part of the neo-romantic tradition, and his music is considered an important e ...

's Májová symfonie, Op. 73 (''May Symphony''), also known as Jarní symfonie (''Spring Symphony''), was composed in 1943, during the

German occupation of Czechoslovakia German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

. It is a strongly patriotic

choral symphony A choral symphony is a musical composition for orchestra, choir, and sometimes solo (music), solo vocalists that, in its internal workings and overall musical architecture, adheres broadly to symphony, symphonic musical form. The term "choral s ...

based in Karel H. Mácha's 1836 poem

May May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the third of seven months to have a length of 31 days. May is a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, May ...

, Novák's second contribution to the genre after his 1934 Autumn Symphony. Dedicated to

Iosif Stalin Iosif may refer to: People *Iosif Amusin, Soviet historian *Iosif Anisim, Romanian sprint canoer *Iosif Blaga, Romanian literary theorist and politician *Iosif Bobulescu, Romanian bishop *Iosif Capotă, Romanian anti-communist resistance fighter ...

as the liberator of Czechoslovakia, the symphony was premiered in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

on 5 December 1945, seven months after the German defeat.

Structure

The composition consists of three movements:18/09/12 schedule
of

Czech Radio Český rozhlas (ČRo) is the public radio broadcaster of the Czech Republic operating since 1923. It is the oldest radio broadcaster in continental Europe and the second oldest in Europe after the BBC. The service broadcasts throughout the Cz ...

's ČRo D-Dur #''Andante sostenuto'' #''Andante'' #''Alla marcia funebre'' A typical performance takes around 60 minutes.

References

{{symphony-stub 1943 compositions Choral symphonies

Novak Novak (in Serbo-Croatian and Slovene; Cyrillic: ), Novák (in Hungarian, Czech and Slovak), Nowak or Novack (in German and Polish), is a surname and masculine given name, derived from the Slavic word for "new" (e.g. pl, nowy, cz, nový, s ...

Compositions by Vítězslav Novák