Abstract
The issue of different versions of works of music is one that is discussed in the case of Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904), and in a certain sense it is connected with the theme "old and new", when an older, earlier, or first version becomes the basis for a newer one. This text focuses on a specific example of different versions, that of the overture to the first setting of Dvořák's opera King and Charcoal Burner from the year 1871.
An overture which, as an integral part of the opera, was based on the musical material contained in the work, which eventually was never performed. And at the same time an overture that was the only part of this opera to "survive", was later transformed by the composer himself to a concert overture and thus became an independent work, while the opera's libretto was set to new music.
This is in a nutshell the rather complicated genesis of the opera King and Charcoal Burner, during which the Concert Overture in F Major took shape as a new composition, created from the musical material of an old one.