Festival Song, Op. 113, B202
Opus number
113
Burghauser catalogue number
202
Date of composition
completed 17 April 1900
Premiere - date and place
private performance: 29 May 1900, Prague
public performance: 15 December 1904, Prague
Premiere performer(s)
private performance: students of Prague conservatory, conductor Antonín Dvořák
public performance: Prague Hlahol, conductor Adolf Piskáček
First edition
Editio Supraphon 1972, Prague
Author of the text
Jaroslav Vrchlický
Instrumentation
1 piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, triangle, violins, violas, cellos, double basses + mixed choir
Duration
approx. 7 min.
At the beginning of the year 1900 the board of directors of the Prague Conservatoire asked Dvořák to write a festival cantata to mark the 70th birthday of Dr Josef Tragy, an eminent figure in Prague music circles at that time. The work was to be set to a text Jaroslav Vrchlický had been approached to write. Dvořák was considering a new opera at that time, however, he agreed to the commission and produced a short, three-part piece of dazzling, festive character for mixed choir and orchestra.