PT Journal
AU Jung, H
TI Towards a Characterization of the Symphonies of Zdenek Fibich and Antonin Dvorak
SO Musicologica Olomucensia
PY 2010
BP 151
EP 161
VL 12
IS 2
DI 10.5507/mo.2010.019
DE Symphony in 19th century; Bedrich Smetana; Antonin Dvorak; Zdenek Fibich
AB Previously, researchers have classified Fibich's three completed symphonies in one of two extreme categories: as epigonal compositions that merely follow the example of his contemporaries, or as works that anticipate the future as predecessors of the symphonies of G. Mahler. A comparison of these works with B. Smetana's compositions, and particularly with A. Dvorak's, shows that Fibich's mastery of symphonic norms for motivic and thematic transformation within the standard cyclic form evolved to freely composed, paratactic, musically depictive episodes. Dvorak's symphonic works take a somewhat different path. Fibich's symphonies are comparable to those of Dvorak's middle period. Although Fibich did not attain the quality or quantity of Dvorak's compositional output, he clearly is a significant European symphonist from the close of the nineteenth century.Translated by Judith Fiehler
ER