Symphonic Variations (Dvořák)

Antonín Dvořák's Symphonic Variations on the Theme “I am a fiddler” (Czech: Symfonické variace z písně „Já jsem huslař“) for orchestra, Op.

[2] Dvořák chose the third of his set of three part-songs for unaccompanied male voices (Sborové písně pro mužské hlasy), B.

[1] The work was first performed in the Žofín concert hall[5] in Prague on 2 December 1877, by the Provisional Theatre [Prozatímní divadlo] Orchestra, under conductor Ludevít Procházka.

[1][5][6] The occasion was a charity concert to raise money for the construction of a church in Prague's Smíchov district,[5] and, although the audience liked the piece, there was no press coverage of it.

In the audience were Dvořák and his friend Johannes Brahms, who presented the composer with an exquisite cigarette holder to mark the occasion.

[11] The work is scored for piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, triangle and strings.

[6] The theme is introduced Lento e molto tranquillo in C major, then proceeds through 27 variations in various tempi, ending in an ingenious fugal finale Allegro maestoso.

Currently available recordings include those conducted by Marin Alsop, Jiří Bělohlávek, Colin Davis, Iván Fischer, John Eliot Gardiner, Stephen Gunzenhauser, Neeme Järvi, István Kertész, Rafael Kubelík, Theodore Kuchar, Zdeněk Mácal, Sir Charles Mackerras, Václav Neumann, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Peter Tiboris and Arturo Toscanini.