5. Chamber Music Concert

In 1895, after three years as director of the conservatory in New York, Antonín Dvořák returned to his native Czech Republic filled with a sense of overwhelming happiness. Shortly thereafter, he composed the String Quartet in G Major, which is characterized by its Slavic sound. While Dvořák had been lured to the United States by the Conservatory’s offer, Jan Novák was driven into exile by the political situation in Czechoslovakia in 1968. After settling in Neu-Ulm, he composed his work , which depicts that impudent satyr from Greek mythology who found Athena’s double flute and challenged Apollo. Also far from home, Bohuslav Martinů composed his septet in 1930, inspired by Czech folklore. The concert opens with a march by Leoš Janáček, in which the composer recalls his time as a member of the choir at the Brno monastery, whose members were nicknamed “Bluethroats.”