ANTONÍN
DVOŘÁK
CARNIVAL
Overture
Op. 92
Critical Edition based on the Composer's Manuscript
Edited by Otakar Šourek
FULL SCORE
Ill
"CARNIVAL"
(Karneval)
Overture for large orchestra, op. 92.
Instrumentation: piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets in A,
2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, tympani, cymbals, tambour
ine, triangle, harp and strings.
Written in sketch between July 28th and August 14th, and score completed
by September 12th, 1891, at Vysoka.-First performance as for the overture "In
Nature's Realm" (p. 295).-Score, parts and four-handed piano arrangement
(Oskar Nedbal) published by Simrock, Berlin, 1894.-Duration: 9 minutes.
The second overture of the cycle "Nature, Life and Love", en
titled "Carnival" (originally "Life") has no more definite or de
tailed programme than the overture "In Nature's Realm", and,
with one small deviation, is also very similar in form. Still filled with
the elevated feeling of solitude, man finds himself, all at once, caught
up in the gay whirligig of life - and is happy! Willingly he yields
to the carnival mood of merriment and, throwing reserve to the
winds, he enters into the spirit of youthful revel ry with care-free
abandon, grateful for all its joys and beauties. Thus, in a few
words, we may describe the general atmosphere of the first part of
the overture, which comprises the exposition of the sonata form
IV
"CARNIVAL"
(Allegro, A major, 2/2). The orchestra enters in full force with the
vigorous principal theme spread broadly over-a two-part.paragraph.
Allegro
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After a short modulating digression, the second principal theme,
equally radiant, is presented in undiminished strength, but still
grander and prouder in its corformation.:
I fY Ga I r J\ .J 3 r I J J J I r J
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The theme concludes with a swiftly-moving unison passage in the
strings whereupon, with admirable invention, the violas create out
of its metrically augmented figures the rising sequences of a mock
pious melody:
f2.
t Ir L
11. I
I t
L I
I
L
f)lij#
p
r; I r EE
Its obviously caricatured gravity turns into a grimace in the vio
lins above the diminished chord of the principal theme (9), and a
short tranquillizing passage in the syncopated rhythm of the first
bar of the same theme provides the transition to the paragraph con
taining the secondary theme. The passionatelly swelling melodic
line of this lovely motif is worked out in dialogue through a full
thirty bars:
Vl. ----=--
1
i . q -:-- J. � J � J :--- g - . g
E f IF r I- r021• r r t f1 r· prrr, g §pp IOF
2.
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Pmolto espress. CLO -
1f -
V
PROGRAMME MUSIC
It is first given to the violins, with counterpoints in the wood
wind, but on its repetition the groups of instruments exchange
roles. Scarcely has the song with its expression of longing and desire
died away than the violins break in with the second subsidiary
theme which, to the accompaniment of the light rhythms of the
wood-winds, strings, tambourine and delicate fanfares of trumpets,
combines with the rhythmic figures from theme 10, acquiring in
the process an air of carnival gaiety and abandon:
This theme is presented by the violins in the key of G major, then
with a richer accompaniment by the clarinet in E major, finally
rising by a steep gradation to the final theme in which the whirlin.�
gaiety of the dance seems to reach its climax.
Tutti
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Dr�vjC �L-Lc IE E:tF ,-..-r
t-FICECtc
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ffE maj A min E maj A min E maj A min E maj A min
After a continuation of theme 13 has been presented in rising
sequences, the wild revelry is suddenly cut short: above the eddying
movement of the diminished chord e-g-b flat-c sharp in the harp, the
first two bars of theme 9 appear in the violins. The swinging quavers
of the second bar rise sharply, then gradually lose force, subside and
ebb away till they settle at last on the sharply struck g of the horns.
It is as if a man, having torn himself away from the giddy vanity
of life's fair and withdrawn into inner contemplation, should put
the question: Where then is the true source of all this happiness;
who is the giver of all this life and intoxicating joy? And the reply
VI
"CARNIVAL"
rings out-Nature! A stroke of genius is the short, lyrical intermezzo
(Andantino con moto, G major, ¾J interpolated at this point in the
composition, the pure poetry of its mood dying away in a silvery
beam of sound. Above the ostinato of the cor anglais, which repeats
the rhythmic figurer from the principal theme, there sound in the
inner harmonies the meltingly soft chords of the divided and muted
violins and violas, and over them, again, the flute draws a dreamily
beautiful line of melody (15), to which the clarinet significantly adds
the gentle motif of Nature from the first overture (1):
Andantino con moto
l.- =-..
pr
13. .--_
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11 espress. j
The poetic charm of this passage is further heightened when the
solo violin repeats the melody (15) and the cor anglais concludes it,
whereupon a few bars in the same mood bring the intermezzo to
a close.
And then, as if the vision had faded and the spirit were back
again in the reality from which it had withdrawn itself, the harp,
along with the clarip.ets and the bassoons, start the eddyings of a
diminished chord, above which the violins deliver the first two bars
of the principal theme (9). The development begins. The key
(G minor) and the mood have their special significance. On returning
to the whirl of gaiety, the impression evoked by that moment of
inner contemplation still persists as, on passing from darkness into
a brilliantly lit ballroom, we see its outlines blurred and bizarrely
distorted. The chief role is given to theme 10 which, in its original
form and in rhythmic diminutions, passes from one group of in
struments to another, finally appearing in combination with the
VII
PROGRAMME MUSIC
principal theme (9) and even with allusions to the theme of Nature
in the deep brass instruments (1).
The blurred and distorted outlines suddenly come into focus.
Once more theme IO is delivered in full strength and, in combina
tion with theme 11, presented with great pomp by the trombones.
A rapid gradation based on the first principal theme (9) leads to
the recapitulation, which is a regular repetition of the first part of
the exposition but, in its further course, is considerably shortened
and concentrated. All the more unified and powerful in effect is
its rise to a short coda, which works up in an accelerated tempo
(Pocco piu mosso) the opening figure of theme 9, the composition end
ing in a final whirl of intoxicating gaiety.
