Antonin Dvorak (1841 - 1904)

Dvorak is yet another example of a great symphonic composer who was not above writing little pieces of a popular kind - indeed, with this Humoresque (one of a set), he wrote arguably the most popular of all his works. It was drafted in New York, in which city Dvorak lived for a few years in the 1890s, and where he wrote the New World Symphony.

This Humoresque quickly became immensely popular, and was heard in all kinds of places and arrangements, including the penny arcade. One day, about 1907, when he was an eight-year-old boy, George Gershwin was walking down a street near his home in New York when he heard this melody coming from a slot machine. He was transfixed, and thereafter always maintained that the experience of coming into contact with this music was the most important of all his early musical experiences. The original appeal of this tune is indeed timeless.

Antonin Dvorak on Guild Music

• GMCD 7235 Antonín DVORÁK / Victor HERBERT
• GMCD 7179 St. Petersburg Chamber Players play Dvorak and Borodin
• GMCD 7125 Humoresque Op. 101 No. 7

Page revised 28.11.2001