Dvorak: Alfred

Förster, Heiko Matthias, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, soliści

UP 0140

The circumstances surrounding the composition of Dvorák's first stage work are rather obscure. Why did the young composer (at that time violist at the Prague Theatre) decide in the late 1860s to write a large-format heroic opera about a 50-year-old German text? In autumn 1870 the fair copy of the score was made. • The subject refers to a historical figure, Alfred the Great (849-899), who became King of Wessex in 871. He fought successfully against the Vikings and sought allies in neighbouring English principalities. In peacetime he worked on reforms in the army and fleet as well as the legal system and tax administration. An exceptionally educated man for his time, he also translated philosophical and theological texts into English. It is not known whether the composer ever tried to bring the work on stage during his lifetime. • Ten years later he worked on a concert arrangement of the overture and on this occasion he revised the score. The opera only had its premiere at the Olomouc theatre in 1938, but only had six performances. This first recording offers the work reminiscent of Wagner with the best acoustics Prague has to offer: the recording took place in the Dvorák Hall of the Rudolfinum. An important contribution to the understanding of Dvorák's early work.

CD x 2

Arco Diva

2016-02-26

8594029811409