In Nature’s Realm, Op.91

The three overtures In Nature’s Realm, Carnival and Othello were originally intended as a trilogy to be called Nature, Life and Love. Dvorak’s later decision to issue them separately was fine for Carnival but not so good for the other two, which have always been overshadowed by their very lively colleague. In Nature’s Realm, the one he wrote first in 1891, has suffered also by being the introductory work in the set. This is not to say that it is not complete in itself but, concerned lest it should steal all the thunder, Dvorak ends it as quietly as it begins, taking a last chance to fix an impression of a theme which is to play a part in Carnival and Othello as well.

That theme, according to the composer, represents Nature. It appears first in a preliminary version on bassoons and lower string, amid snatches of bird song, and then in its definitive version as first subject of the overture on clarinet. When the whole orchestras takes it up in Wagner-like jubilation another first-subject theme, a happy outburst on violins, is added to it. The prolific second subject begins as a lightly scored dance episode but contains two other melodic ideas, including a particularly one which, unfortunately, is not heard again until the recapitulation.

The Nature theme preoccupies the development, but not exclusively, since most of the others appear in combination with it at one point or another. In compensation, Dvorak treats it with discretion in the recapitulation until the other themes have been given due emphasis. It then makes a brilliant appearance on horns and trumpet and, finally, a lyrical disappearance amid the bird song that accompanied on its introduction.

(Rupert Avis BBC PO 24/5/02)

Carnival, Op.92

Othello, Op.93

Although you rarely get the chance in the concert hall, the best way to experience the three overtures In Nature’s Realm, Carnival and Othello is to hear them played together as a group and in that order. Throughout the period when he was working on them and up to the point where he sent the manuscript to his publisher with the title Nature, Life and Love, Op.91, it was Dvorak’s intention that they should be presented in that way - as they were when they were first performed, under the composer’s direction, in Prague in April 1892 - and it was only just before publication that he instructed Simrock to issue them separately. “Each overture is a work of its own,” Dvorak told him. In fact, not even Carnival, which has pushed the other overtures to the fringes of the repertoire, is entirely independent of its companions. As for In Nature’s Realm and Othello, if they are to be understood as they were conceived, the former has to be heard as the understated prelude to the trilogy and the latter as its dramatically inspired finale.

In Nature’s Realm

The influence of nature on man is not, in Dvorak’s experience and as Othello so painfully indicates, universally benevolent. To begin with, however, in the overture sketched in 1891 as “Summer Night” man is as at ease in nature’s realm as Siegfried in his forest, the sounds of which are echoed here to confirm the happy situation.The force of nature is represented by a melody which is hinted at by bassoons and violas amid woodwind birdsong in the opening bars and which is definitively introduced as the main theme in F major by clarinet. There is other melodic material - including a more vigorous addition to the first subject and two lyrical second-subject ideas, both introduced by violins - but the Nature theme dominates the development in one way or another and provokes an extraordinary harmonic reaction in the coda.

Carnival

The central piece in the set owes its superior popularity not so much to its superior quality, dynamically conceived and brilliantly coloured though it is, as to its comparative self-sufficiency as an overture. The intervallic relationship between the exuberant opening in A major and the Nature theme is interesting but, from the short-term point of view, irrelevant. The two second-subject melodies - one passionately expressive E minor, the other playful in E major - are both highly attractive. The only problem, if it is one, is that after a brief diversion towards the Venusberg, the idyllic episode in the middle incorporates allusions to the Nature them on clarinet and cor anglais - which makes complete sense only in the broader context. To make up for any distraction here, Dvorak restricts the recapitulation to the first subject only, which means that the ending is no less exuberant than the beginning.

Othello

With Othello Dvorak set himself a formidable task. Making the third overture both complete in itself and the culmination of an integrated series would be difficult enough. But there was the additional problem that, having found the inspiration for the work in Shakespeare, he would have to find a way of accommodating a significant symphonic-poem element within the concert-overture form. Except in the title, he avoided drawing attention to his poetic sources but it is very clear from the manuscript, where his pencilled annotations associate certain passages in the music with certain events in the relationship between Othello and Desdemona - “They embrace in silent ecstasy,” for example, or “Othello murders her at the height of his anger” - that there is a very precise programmatic content here.

Up to a point, Othello proceeds more or less as a late-romantic overture might be expected to proceed. The dramatic function of the Lento introduction it is not clear until later but the chorale on muted strings in the opening bars is so fervently presented that neither its future nor its past - it derives from the Nature theme, which duly appears here on flute and clarinets - is of immediate concern. What is clear is that a short descending phrase, vehemently articulated on the strings, will have a prominent role to play. In fact, when the Nature theme provokes a tempo change, that angry phrase is presented as the first main theme of the Allegro con brio, initially in its original form on woodwind in F sharp minor and later in a broader and more heroic variant in the same key. The second subject is similarly in two parts - a lovely open melody introduced by oboe and repeated by violins and a more passionate theme rising in chromatic steps on the strings.

A concert overture up to the end of the exposition, Othello now becomes a symphonic poem, the first and second subjects representing Othello and Desdemona respectively. A love scene featuring the chromatic theme (and Wagner’s “Magic Sleep” motif) is followed by a ff outburst where Othello’s jealousy, rising on lower strings and brass, takes hold of him. On a hint from Dvorak’s own Requiem theme on woodwind and with eerie promptings from the Nature theme on muted horn, Othello’s anger mounts and, at its height, he kills Desdemona, the jealousy motif now descending on cellos and basses. Desdemona’s voice is heard for the last time on flute, provoking despair in Othello and a (non-Shakespearean) prayer on the opening chorale. Prompted once more by the Nature theme, Othello kills himself.