Dvorak Piano Trio "Du Muka" Ethnic Characteristics

Antonin Dvorak is one of the most important composers in 19th-century national music school, who devotes all his life to the creation of national music and makes a significant contribution to the national independence, revival and the development of nationalistic culture. Dvorak has written a variety of musical works all of which display a unique national character. While borrowing the nationalistic fashion from Smetana who is the father of Czech’s national music school, Dvorak incorporates his own strong national sentiment with musical creation very well, follows the trend of the time, and contributes greatly to the development of national music all over the world.Substantively speaking, Dvorak’s music possesses not only national flavor but also internationality. He is a composer who loves his country passionately and has a strong national sentiment. Influenced by the thoughts of reviving the nation and developing the national culture, he always puts the nationality at the first place in his composition, no matter it is opera, symphony or chamber music. At the same time, Dvorak learns a lot from classical and romantic music of Europe, thus he mixes the creative technique of classical and romantic music into his works so as to get close to perfection. The piano trio “ Dumka ” is just a representative work which combines the nationality with classical and romantic style of Europe.This “Dumka” of Dvorak is beautiful in melody and also has a hint of sadness,which represents the individuality and the touching point of his work. The thesis makes an analysis of his piano trio “Dumka”. From the perspectives of Dvorak’s life story and the background of his writing, the thesis makes an analysis of the national element contained in “Dumka” by studying the presentation of the national language and tone,melody and rhythm, and traces the origin of its nationality systematically,and harmony in the aspects of culture and inheritance. And, the content of Dvorak’s music is also discussed in order to provide a theoretical reference and help to appreciating and performing Dvorak’s works.