| This dissertation is a detailed examination of Antonin Dvorak's Symphony in D Minor, op. 70. The first chapter argues that much of the reception history of both Dvorak and the Symphony in D Minor has more to do with biographical misinformation and stereotypical assumptions regarding the composer's national origin than with his actual music; because of the focus on Dvorak's so-called "nationalist" output at the expense of works like op. 70, this chapter also proposes that the history of the nineteenth-century symphony as it is presently taught is critically flawed.;The last four chapters constitute the main part of the dissertation, and consist of a Schenkerian analysis of the entire symphony, including complete foreground and middleground sketches, as well as commentary on the more salient features of the analysis. Both the analysis and the documents should help put to rest the common picture of Dvorak as a "naive nationalist" who wrote mainly from instinct and whose music is attractive but without much intellectual depth. As an ultimate goal, this dissertation seeks to contribute to the process of Dvorak's taking his proper place as one of the musical and intellectual giants of nineteenth-century romanticism.;Chapter 2 examines the primary sources of op. 70, including the holograph, the sketches, and cuts which Dvorak made to the 2nd movement after the 1885 premiere. This examination is not an exhaustive description of the documents, but rather a discussion of the work's genesis as it pertains directly to an analysis of the finished score. Based on the cuts to the 2 nd movement (all of which have been preserved), a hypothetical reconstruction of the movement's genesis is detailed. A complete transcription of the sketches is also included to give the discussion context. |
