Originally posted by Sorrano:
Out of curiosity, what number did the Dvorak 6th Symphony have assigned to it at that time? I know that the symphonies were renumbered fairly recently (as in the past 20 - 30 years).
Out of curiosity, what number did the Dvorak 6th Symphony have assigned to it at that time? I know that the symphonies were renumbered fairly recently (as in the past 20 - 30 years).
In Dvorak's time it was refered to as the Symphony No. 1 in D Major Op.60. The confusion about the numbering and opus numbers is brought about by two causes. His first two Symhonies were not published in his lifetime and along with two others were omitted from the numbering list thus No.6 was No.1 and No.7 was No.2, No.5 was No.3, No.8 was No.4 and finally No.9 was No.5. Fortunately back in the 1960's the the first two symphonies along with the other seven were finally put in the order we now know today.
As for the Opus numbers, Dvorak intentionally used lower opus numbers on some of his works to lead Simrock, his publisher, into believing that they were early works so that Simrock would not pick up his option on the works thus leaving Dvorak to sell them elsewhere at a reasonable price. One more hurdle revolves around the Symphony No.5 with the Opus number of 76, which was originally op.24. Symphonies Nos. 6 Op.60 and 7 Op.70 came after the Op.76 and the higher opus number is because Dvorak revised the work twice. Now that all this is straightened out all that is left is to sit back and enjoy the wonderful symphonic music of Dvorak, for that matter all of his music.
By the way, I have a Columbia Lp record of the Dvorak 6th and the title on the jacket is No.1. It is performed by Erich Leinsdorf and the Cleveland Orchestra. The date on the jacket is 1949
[This message has been edited by King Stephen (edited 02-04-2005).]
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