Piano Trio No. 4 (Dvořák)

The Piano Trio No. 4 in E minor, Op. 90, B. 166, (also called the Dumky trio from the subtitle ''Dumky'') is a composition by Antonín Dvořák for piano, violin and cello. It is among the composer's best-known works.

It is also a well-known example of chamber music that significantly deviates from the traditional structure of classical chamber music, in terms of both the number of movements and the formal organization of those movements.

Title

''Dumky'', the plural form of ''dumka'', is a Ukrainian term. Originally, it is the diminutive form of the term ''Duma'', plural ''dumy'', which refers to epic ballads, specifically a song or lament of captive people.Keller, James. ''Chamber Music: A Listener's Guide''. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011, 177–78. During the nineteenth century, composers from other Slavic countries began using the ''duma'' as a classical form to indicate a brooding, introspective composition with cheerful sections interspersed within. Dvořák used the ''dumka'' form in several other compositions, including his Dumka for Solo Piano, Op. 35; Slavonic Dance No. 2; String Sextet; and his Piano Quintet, Op. 81.

History

Dvořák completed the trio on 12 February 1891. It premiered in Prague on 11 April 1891, with violinist Ferdinand Lachner, cellist Hanuš Wihan, and Dvořák himself on piano. The same evening, Prague's Charles University awarded the composer an honorary doctorate.
The work was so well received that Dvořák performed it on his forty-concert farewell tour throughout Moravia and Bohemia, just before he left for the United States to head the National Conservatory of Music of America in New York City. The trio was published while Dvořák was in America and was proofread by his friend Johannes Brahms.

Structure

The piece is in six sections:

The composition features six ''dumky'' episodes throughout. The initial three ''dumky'' are connected together without interruption in the harmonically complementary keys given above, in effect forming a long first movement. The final three ''dumky'' are presented in unrelated keys, thus giving the overall impression of a four-movement structure.

Music critic Daniel Felsenfeld describes the form as follows:

The form of the piece is structurally simple but emotionally complicated, being an ''uninhibited Bohemian lament''. Considered essentially formless, at least by classical standards, it is more like a six movement ''dark fantasia''—completely original and successful, a benchmark piece for the composer. Being completely free of the rigors of sonata form gave Dvořák license to take the movements to some dizzying, heavy, places, able to be ''both brooding'' and yet somehow, through it all, ''a little lighthearted''.

Musicologists Derek Katz and Michael Beckerman observe, "Whereas in the quintet p. 81he had borrowed a plan from Schumann to mold his ''dumka'' into a quasi-traditional framework, here he allows each of the six ''dumky'' to stand fully realized on its own."Katz, Derek and Beckerman, Michael (2004). "The Chamber Music of Smetana and Dvořák." In ''Nineteenth Century Chamber Music,'' Stephen Hefling, ed. New York: Routledge Press, 2004. 341.

Discography

* Suk Trio (2001, recorded 1978): Dvořák: Complete Piano Trios, Supraphon 3545.
* Dvořák, Suk, Shostakovich: Piano Trios. Ahn Trio, EMI Music Germany (1998)
* Dumka No. 5, with Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma and Rudolf Firkušný, Sony CD (1994) and Kultur DVD (2007)
* Dvořák: Piano Trios, Op. 65 & 90 "Dumky". Busch Trio, consisting of Mathieu van Bellen (vn), Ori Epstein (vc), Omri Epstein (pf). Alpha Classics (2016)
* Dvořák: Piano Trios Nos. 3 & 4. Christian Tetzlaff (vn), Tanja Tetzlaff (vc), Lars Vogt (pf). Ondine (2018)

References

External links

*
* , performed by the Beaux Arts Trio

{{DEFAULTSORT:Piano Trio No. 4 (Dvorak)
Piano trios by Antonín Dvořák
1891 compositions
Compositions in E minor