Dumky Trio, Op.90

When Dvorak started on his Dumky Trio in 1890 not even he was entirely certain what “dumky” actually meant. He knew of course that it was the plural of “dumka” and, having written several dumky in his chamber music before, he was clearly aware that a dumka was essentially an expression of Slavonic melancholy. Although he turned to an academic specialist in the field to find out more about it, what he actually set out to do in his Dumky Trio was not to provide authentic examples of the dumka but to make use of it to construct a piano trio in a new, distinctively Slavonic way. Most of the six movements are based on the contrast between the brooding or melancholy quality of the traditional dumka with (unauthentic but aesthetically desirable) dance episodes in a quicker tempo. And what Dvorak so persuasively presented as a “dumka” here is what “dumka” has come to mean to most musicians.

Attractive concept though the Dvorak dumka is, however, the composer was taking an enormous risk in putting a whole series of them together in one work in six different keys. He succeeded in creating an unprecedented masterpiece here partly through the irresistible quality of his melodies, partly through his resourcefully seductive scoring for the three instruments and partly through his varied use of the slow-quick structure. The first and shortest dumka is an introductory movement in which the Lento maestoso material anticipates and offsets the two quick sections but assumes little importance in its own right. In the second, on the other hand, the lament and dance elements are evenly balanced. The next three movements present progressively smaller contrasts of tempo, with the result that the Allegro is scarcely a dumka at all. The sixth and last dumka is constructed on much the same lines as the first, except that it is designed to end with a brilliantly conclusive coda.

Gerald Larner ©2004

When Dvorak started on his Dumky Trio in 1890 not even he was entirely certain what “dumky” actually meant. He knew of course that it was the plural of “dumka” and, having written several dumky in his chamber music before, he was clearly aware that a dumka was essentially an expression of Slavonic melancholy. To find out more about it, however, he had to turn to an academic specialist in the field.

If he was told that a dumka is definitely not a dance he chose not to take any notice of the advice. There was no reason why he should. What Dvorak set out to do in his Dumky Trio was not to provide authentic examples of the dumka but to make use of it to construct a piano trio in a new, distinctively Slavonic way. Seven years earlier in his previous work of this kind, the Piano Trio in F minor, Op.65, he had conscientiously respected the Viennese classical conventions long associated with the form. In this case, most of the six movements are based on the contrast between the brooding or melancholy quality of the traditional dumka with (unauthentic but aesthetically desirable) dance episodes in a quicker tempo. And since the brilliantly successful first performance of the Dumky Trio in Prague in 1891 - which was followed by no fewer than forty more performances in five months - what Dvorak so persuasively presented as a “dumka” is what “dumka” has come to mean to most musicians.

Attractive concept though the Dvorak dumka is, however, the composer was taking an enormous risk in putting a whole series of them together in one work in six different keys. He succeeded in creating an unprecedented masterpiece here partly through the irresistible quality of his melodies, partly through his resourcefully seductive scoring for the three instruments and partly through his varied use of the slow-quick structure.

The first and shortest dumka is an introductory movement in which the Lento maestoso material anticipates and offsets the two quick sections without extending itself enough to assume much importance in its own right. In the second, on the other hand, the lament and dance elements, each of which appears twice in alternation with the other, are evenly balanced. The next three movements - which are linked by allusions to the theme introduced by the unaccompanied right hand of the piano shortly after the opening bars of the Andante - present progressively smaller contrasts of tempo, with the result that the Allegro is scarcely a dumka at all. The sixth and last dumka is constructed on much the same lines as the first, except that it is designed to end with a brilliantly conclusive coda.

Gerald Larner©2004