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Antonin Dvorak (1841 - 1904)
 Dvorak was born on 8th September 1841 in Nelahozeves, Czechoslavakia. His father was the local butcher and Antonin worked in his shop as a boy. However, his talent as a violinist became apparent and at the age of 14 he was sent to stay with relatives in Zlonice, where he learnt German, the viola, organ, piano and counterpoint. In 1857 he want to Prague to attend the Organ School. When he left two years later at the age of 21, he became a viola player first in a band and then with the Prague National Theatre Orchestra, which was conducted by Smetana. Strongly influenced by the work of Wagner at this time, he started to compose but destroyed much of what he wrote.Eventually he started keeping his work, and in 1874 his Symphony in E flat won an Austrian National prize. Brahms was on the jury, and started taking an interest in the young man's work, eventually directing him towards a publisher. By this time Dvorak's own voice and nationalist sentiments were apparent in his music, and he was writing such works as the Slavonic Rhapsodies which won him increasing recognition. He was commissioned to write, amongst other works, a symphony for Hans Richter and a violin concerto for Joachim. He gave up playing in the orchestra, took an organist's job, was granted a small pension by the Austrian Ministry of Fine Arts and devoted himself to composing.His fame spread abroad, and he visited Great Britain nine times. His first visit in 1884 followed the success there of his Stabat Mater, and he wrote several works for England, including the Requiem which was premiered in Birmingham in 1891 (the year in which he received an Hon. D.Mus. from Cambridge University). He also became professor of composition at the Prague Conservatoire in 1891. The following year however he was granted permission to accept an invitation to New York to be the head of the National Conservatory there. He stayed for three years and the music he wrote during this period was heavily influenced by his experiences in America and particularly by Black American music. The most famous example of this is Symphony No.9, The New World, but the cello concerto and Biblical Songs are other examples.In 1895 he returned to his teaching post in Prague, where he continued composing. Although he wrote several operas during his life, the only one which has travelled successfully beyond Czechoslovakia is Rusalka (The Water-Nymph) which he wrote in 1900. This work is as popular with Czech children as Hansel und Gretel is with Germans.Dvorak became head of the Prague Conservatoire in 1901 and remained there until his death on 1st May 1904
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