In 1892, Antonín Dvořák composed three concert overtures (In Nature’s Realm, Carnival, and Othello) inspired by poetic visions of “Nature, Life, and Love.” After examining the composer’s notes, the biographer, Otakar Šourek, wrote,
Dvořák wished in this cycle to draw in overture-form musical pictures of three of the most powerful impressions to which the human soul is subjected: the impression of the solitary, wrapped about by the exalted stillness of the summer night; the impression of a man seized into the joyous vortex of life, and finally the feeling of a man in the power of a violent love poisoned by jealousy. In more concise terms: to present nature itself, free acceptance of it, and distortion of it.
Dvořák completed the triptych just before his move to New York, where he served for three years as director of the National Conservatory of Music, and assisted in the development of a fledgling “American” style of music. First conceived as a single work, the cycle was premiered in Prague on April 28, 1892, and was performed again six months later at Carnegie Hall. Soon, Dvořák reconsidered the idea of grouping the three Overtures together, and published them as independent, “self-contained” works.
Set in bright A major, Carnival Overture, Op. 92 begins with the jubilant, swirling motion we hear in many of Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances. The high-flying theme is propelled forward with celebratory tambourine, cymbals, and triangle. Festive flourishes erupt in the trombones. Dvořák imagined a “lonely, contemplative wanderer” who “reaches the city at nightfall, where a carnival is in full swing.” For a moment, the ecstatic party fades away, and we enter the inner world of the wanderer, with a shimmering nocturnal intermezzo. The nostalgic voice of the English horn is joined by the flute and solo violin. The clarinet intones the “nature motif” (4:55), first heard in the opening moments of the first Overture of the triptych. The ever-quickening coda section delivers a brilliant musical fireworks display. As the final bars surge forward, the timpani mischievously obscures our sense of the downbeat. Filled with vivid, glistening colors, dizzying motion, and pure fun, Carnival Overture is a celebration of the vitality of life.
This performance, featuring Alan Gilbert and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, was recorded in the ensemble’s iconic Hamburg concert hall on New Year’s Eve, 2021: