Like his countrymen Smetana (who was half a generation older than Dvorák) and Janácek (half a generation younger), Antonín Dvorák may be described as nationalist composer. He dedicated much of his life to blending specifically Czech musical elements into the mainstream European musical language of his day. Although he accepted official honours from the rulers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, who governed his native land throughout his lifetime, he was proud of and prickly about his Czech identity. Dvorák refused to live in Vienna, despite the invitations of Brahms and other powerful figures in the capital's musical life; he wanted his publishers, who were German, to print his first name in its original Czech form rather than in its German form (Anton), which they preferred; he turned down an enviable commission from the director of the Imperial Opera in Vienna to compose an opera to a German text; and he was happiest when he was at home with his family, speaking his native language and enjoying life's simpler pleasures. Dvorák was the son and grandson of butchers in the village of Nelahozeves, Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic) - on the banks of the river Vltava (Moldau), about 45 miles north of Prague. His family was poor and had a hard time fostering his musical talent, which manifested itself early. At 16, after several years of preliminary studies, he was sent to the Prague Organ School, where he not only mastered keyboard technique but also learned music theory and became a good violist. In the 1860s he supported himself by working as principal viola in the Provisional Theatre orchestra in Prague, and by teaching; one of his pupils, Anna Cermáková, became his wife in 1873.

Some of Dvorák's early compositions attracted favourable attention, but it was Brahms's encouragement, in the mid-1870s, that gave Dvorák the big push he needed. By the early 1880s Dvorák's Fifth Symphony, his first set of Slavonic Dances (Op. 46; 1878), concertos for piano and violin, and a considerable quantity of chamber music were being performed in much of Europe and in the United States. By the mid-1880s, with continued support from Brahms, Dvorák's international fame was firmly established. He often conducted his own works abroad, particularly in Germany and in England: a number of his most important works had their first performance in Birmingham, London and Leeds. In 1892 he travelled to New York to begin what was to be a stint of nearly four years as director of the National Conservatory of Music. Along with the String Quartet in F Major and the String Quintet in E flat major (both nicknamed "American"), the Symphony No. 9 in E minor - subtitled "From the New World" - is the most enduring achievement of Dvorák's American years. It is also the last and best-known of his symphonies, and for many decades it has been one of the most popular works in the whole symphonic repertoire. Dvorák composed it in New York in 1893, just before setting off with his family for a delightful summer holiday in Spillville, Iowa, a Czech community. The symphony's premiere by the New York Philharmonic under the composer's friend Anton Seidl, on 16 December of the same year, was a great occasion for Dvorák, who wrote to his publisher: "The papers say that no composer ever celebrated such a triumph. Carnegie Hall was crowded with the best people of New York, and the audience applauded so that, like visiting royalty, I had to take my bows repeatedly from the box in which I sat." On his return to Prague in 1895, Dvorák devoted most of his creative energies to writing operas, only one of which - Rusalka - has ever achieved a measure of international success. During these years, honours and recognition poured in from all sides, but Dvorák remained the modest, unpretentious and deeply religious family man he had always been, still referring to himself as "a simple Czech musician". Following a brief illness, he died in Prague at the age of 62, and was given a hero's funeral. Harvey Sachs Biographical notes (c) 1996, reprinted by permission of Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, HamburgA selection of major works: Orchestral: 9 Symphonies (the best known being No. 9 "From the New World"), Concert Overtures (Carnival, Hussite, In Nature's Realm, My Home, Othello), Symphonic Poems (Heroic Song, The Noon Witch, The Water Goblin, The Wild Dove), American Suite, Czech Suite, Scherzo capriccioso, Serenade for Strings, Slavonic Dances, Piano Concerto, Violin Concerto, Cello Concerto Chamber: 2 Piano Quintets, 2 String Quintets, 14 String Quartets (No. 12 being the famous "American"), Bagatelles (2 violins, cello and harmonium), 4 Piano Trios (the best known being No. 4 "Dumky"), Silent Woods, Slavonic Dances, Violin Sonata. Instrumental solo: 8 Humoresques, Poetic Tone Pictures, 8 Preludes and Fugues, 8 Waltzes. Vocal: Songs (10 Biblical Songs, 7 Gipsy Melodies and many more) Choral: Mass in D, Requiem, Stabat mater, Te Deum. Stage music: Armida (opera), The Jacobin (opera), Kate and the Devil (opera), Rusalka (opera).