In Nature's Realm, Op. 63, B126

Opus number

63

Burghauser catalogue number

126

Date of composition

24 January – 27 January 1882

Premiere - date and place

No. 4: 22 November 1882, Tábor
No. 3: 8 March 1884, Prague
No. 1: 23 March 1884, Prague
No. 2: 7 December 1884, Prague
No. 5: 13 December 1884, Prague
complete performance: 17 November 1889, Prague

Premiere performer(s)

No. 4: Society of Singers "Hlahol", conductor Josef Pfeiffer
No. 3: Society of Singers "Lukes", conductor Josef Zubatý
No. 1: Hlahol of Prague, conductor Karel Knittl
No. 2: Society of Singers "Lukes", dir. Josef Zubatý
No. 5: Society of Singers "Lukes", dir. Josef Zubatý
complete performance: conductor Augustin Vyskočil

First edition

August Cranz, 1882, Hamburg

Author of the text

Vítězslav Hálek

Parts / movements

1. Songs Descended on My Soul (Napadly písně v duši mou)
2. Bells Ring at Dusk (Večerní les rozvázal zvonky)
3. The Rye Field (Žitné pole)
4. The Silver Birch (Vyběhla bříza běličká)
5. With Dance and Song (Dnes do skoku a do písničky!)

Duration

approx. 12 min.

The cycle for unaccompanied mixed choir In Nature’s Realm is a musical setting of selected poems from the collection of the same name by Vítězslav Hálek. After the Hymn “The Heirs of White Mountain and the song cycle Evening Songs, this is the third time that the composer turned to the work of this poet. The choice of texts containing rural themes was evidently influenced by Dvořák’s love of nature, as is well documented in his correspondence and in his contemporaries’ memoirs. The setting is characteristic for its melodic charm, and its music is almost impressionistic. This applies particularly to the strong evocation of the atmosphere of the evening woods in the second part of the cycle, one of Dvořák’s most beautiful choruses. The work is largely homophonic; only in the final part of the cycle does he use imitative and canonic approaches. It was written in January 1882 and was published that same year by Cranz Publishing in Hamburg. The premieres of the individual parts were held in stages over a period of almost three years after the completion of the work. The first performance of the cycle as a whole probably took place in Prague on 17 November 1889.