Hussite Overture (Husitská), Op. 67, B132

Opus number

67

Burghauser catalogue number

132

Date of composition

9 August – 9 September 1883

Premiere - date and place

18 November 1883, Prague

Premiere performer(s)

National Theatre Orchestra, conductor Mořic Anger

First edition

Simrock, 1884, Berlin

Main key

C major / C minor

Instrumentation

1 piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 1 English horn, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, 1 tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, harp (ad libitum), violins, violas, cellos, double basses

Duration

approx. 13 min.

composition history

Dvořák wrote this work in the summer of 1883 at the request of the Committee for the Completion of the Prague National Theatre. The composition was originally intended as a musical introduction to a planned trilogy set in the Hussite era, written by the director of the National Theatre, František Adolf Šubert. The latter, however, did not realise this objective and so the Hussite Overture was performed for the first time at a gala concert held on the day the theatre was reopened to the public on 18 November 1883. Dvořák regarded this commission from the National Theatre as a task of honour, which is evident from the fact that he cancelled his planned visit to see his closest friend Alois Göbl at Sychrov castle in order to devote himself to his writing. Dvořák worked on the Hussite Overture at his summer residence in Vysoká u Příbramě; it took him exactly one month, from 9 August to 9 September. 

underlying ideas and musical content

The form of the work was originally to have corresponded to Šubert’s planned trilogy: “The rise of the Hussite movement, the struggles of the Hussites and, after the wars, reconciliation”. However, Dvořák had in mind a somewhat broader framework. While he essentially maintains the proposed outline, he characterises Hussitism not only through the realistic depiction of battle, but also as the victory of heroic ideas. During his time, Dvořák naturally did not yet perceive Hussitism as a historical period of contradictions and questionable ethical codes. The approach to the work as pure music also reflects this. It consists of three main themes, of which two are deliberately taken from universally familiar melodies: the Hussite hymn Ye Who Are Warriors of God, and the St Wenceslas Chorale. His use of both these melodies together led to subsequent criticism that he was ideologically mistaken; today this view is regarded as outdated. All the more, then, do we appreciate the work’s extraordinary music for its own sake.

From a formal point of view the composition might be characterised as a sonata-form movement with a slow introduction. The solemn opening bars most likely represent the dawn of the Hussite movement, the exposition and development describe the Hussite wars, and the recapitulation and coda are a noble apotheosis celebrating the final victory of Hussite ideals. The thematic treatment reflects Dvořák’s exceptional musical imagery, from which the composer builds the individual passages and artfully combines the various motifs in order to achieve maximum impact. The exquisite instrumentation is a triumph in itself – one of the greatest accomplishments of Dvořák’s entire oeuvre. Music critic Eduard Hanslick noted after the Viennese premiere that the music “is so fanatical that, in places, it seems to have been orchestrated using scythes, flails and maces”. Yet Dvořák achieves these devastating sound effects (Hussite battles) while essentially still employing a classical orchestral roster.

premiere and subsequent performances

Dvořák’s Hussite Overture was one of the composer’s most performed works during his lifetime. This interest was probably also fired by its non-musical subject matter, rather than by its worth as pure music. The work was premiered on 18 November 1883 during a gala concert to mark the reopening of the National Theatre and it was played once more the very next day before the start of the evening performance. In both cases the National Theatre Orchestra was conducted by Mořic Anger. Dvořák conducted the work himself six times: in London on 20 March 1884, in Berlin on 21 November 1884, in Prague on 3 April 1887, in Frankfurt on 7 November 1890, in New York on 6 April 1893, and in Worcester, USA, on 28 September 1893.