Composer Fast Fact Sheet
Here are five fast facts about Antonín Dvořák you may not already know:
1. He Grew Up Humble! Dvořák was born in a Bohemian village to a very humble background. His father was an innkeeper and butcher who also played the Zither professionally to make ends meet. His parents encouraged his musical training despite their poverty-stricken background.
2. He liked trainspotting! His love for trains begun at an early age when he witnessed the construction of the railway track that passed through an area near the village where he grew up. Dvořák would obsessively record his trips on trains during his visits from Prague to Vienna. He also had a longstanding ritual of taking a morning walk above the tunnel through which trains coming from the main station at Prague would pass.
3. Dvořák suffered from Agoraphobia, meaning he was often afraid of going outside on his own. His phobia was so great that he missed his début performance of his New World Symphony but was somehow convinced to attend the next one.
4. Composer Johannes Brahms is the one responsible for getting Dvorák in the public eye. Brahms noticed Dvořák during the Austrian State Stipend for composers in which Brahms was a judge.
5. His most famous works were composed in America, including his 8th Symphony. The Guardian's Symphonies Guide says of his 8th "Dvořák's musical energy didn't just transfuse new life into his own music, it showed a way for the late 19th century symphony to be profound in its musical implications as well as brilliant and immediate in its communicative power, without all that Teutonic introversion and angst. It's 35 minutes (or so) of life-enhancing joy.."