Symphony No. 6 (Dvořák)

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The Symphony No. 6 in D major, opus 60, was composed by Antonín Dvořák in 1880, and first published as no. 1. It is dedicated to the German conductor Hans Richter, who requested Dvořák compose a symphony for the Vienna Philharmonic (although they never performed it under Richter). Its first performance was given in Prague in 1881, with performances the following year in Leipzig and London.

The symphony is in four movements:

Allegro non tanto
Adagio
Scherzo: Furiant (Presto)
Finale: Allegro con spirito

The first movement shows the influence of Brahms's own symphony in D major, and features lyrical writing for the strings and woodwind with grandioso contributions from the brass. The slow second movement continues the pastoral mood, in a style which demonstrates Dvořák's reverence of Beethoven.

The Scherzo is reminiscent of his Slavonic Dances, and the symphony was so well received at its first performance that this movement was repeated as an encore. The finale again shows the influence of Brahms, and the coda brings the symphony to an exciting presto conclusion.

Rarely performed compared with Dvořák's later symphonies (particularly the ninth), his sixth deserves to be better known as a fine example of Dvořák's nationalistic expression.

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