Dvořák's overture to the first version of opera Král a uhlíř and its place in the concert overtures of the composer
Abstrakt
This paper examines the dramatic and especially concert overtures of Antonín Dvořák. It focuses on the genesis of Dvořák's Ouverture F dur [B 21a], which is the only part of the first version of the opera Král a uhlíř (King and Charcoal Burner) that "survived." This overture, moreover, was transformed by Dvořák into an independent concert overture, which will be illustrated on the basis of sources and literature.
Therefore, it is necessary to put this now unknown overture into the context of the composer's program overtures; this context is not yet complete, and thus our imagination of Dvořák's evolution in this genre cannot be complete either. For that reason the Ouverture F dur [B 21a] will be placed where it belongs: between the Tragická ouvertura (Tragic overture) [B 16a] (which was, similarly to the Ouverture F dur [B 21a], originally a dramatic overture to an unperformed work - the opera Alfred [B 16]) and the trilogy of concert overtures entitled Příroda, život a láska (Nature, Life and Love), Op. 91-93 (In Nature's Realm, Op. 91 [B 168], Carnival, Op. 92 [B 169], Othello, Op. 93 [B 174]), masterpieces of Dvořák's compositions in this genre of concert overtures.