Carnival Overture, Op.92

For Dvorak at the height of his powes in the 1890s an overture was more than an introduction to something else. It could be a meaningful piece in itself devoted to, say, his thoughts and feelings about such fundamental matters as Nature, Life or Love. In fact, the Triple Overture he completed in 1892 - a series of three separate overtures, In Nature’s Realm, Carnival and Othello - was at one time called Nature, Life and Love. Much the most popular of the three is Carnival which, from its explosive beginning to its brilliantly vigorous ending, is inspired by nothing less lively than Life itself.

Written in 1891, in the most fruitful period of Dvorák’s career - between the Eighth and Ninth Symphonies and not long before the Cello Concerto - Carnival is one of the most popular of all concert overtures. Although In Nature’s Realm and Othello, the other two parts of the Triple Overture (originally called Nature, Life and Love) were written at the much the same time they, however, have achieved nothing like the same kind of currency. The reason must be that, whereas Dvorák at the age of 50 looked to nature for tranquillity and had a somewhat disillusioned viw of love, his zest for life was undiminished. Indeed, the opening bars of the Carnival Overture are so explosive with energy that their impulse survives not only a slower second subject, with a faintly rueful melody in the dominant minor, but also a period of tranquillity in nature’s realm. Certainly the pulse is still racing in the development section and, once the tonic key is re-established, there is no time to stop for either regrets or contemplation of nature.