Antonin Dvorak

• Sculptor: Ivan Mestrovic
• Date: 1963
• Medium: Bronze bust, under life-size.
• Location: Northwest corner of Stuyvesant Square Park, near 17th St. and Ave. B.

Photo not included due to copyright issues.

September 8, 1841: Birth of Dvorak

Influenced by Beeethoven, Schubert and Liszt as well as Czech folk traditions, Dvorak was a prolific composer beginning in the mid-1870s. In 1892 he began a three-year tenure as director of the National Conservatory of Music in America. His most famous composition during this period was Symphony #9 in E minor, the “New World Symphony” (1893). In 1895 Dvorak returned to Bohemia; he died in Prague in 1904.

According to the Grove Dictionary,

With Smetana, Fibich and Janacek he is regarded as one of the great nationalist Czech composers of the 19th century. … He earned worldwide admiration and prestige for 19th-century Czech music with his symphonies, chamber music, oratorios, songs and, to a lesser extent, his operas.” (New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians, 2nd ed., VII:777)

This bust is by a student of Rodin – not a big surprise, given the texture. Originally dedicated in 1963 on a rooftop terrace of Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, it was moved in 1997 to its present location, to honor the neighborhood where Dvorak lived during his time in America.

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