Dvořák's Violin Concerto Reconsidered: Joachim's Influence, Bruch's Model and Romantic Innovations in Sonata Practice

Abstract

Dvořák's Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53, maintains a curious position among the finest Romantic‐era compositions of the genre. Although it holds a secure place in the concert repertoire, it has achieved neither the exalted status of Beethoven's and Brahms's violin concertos, nor the popularity of those by Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky and Bruch. Scholars invariably cite the failure of the concerto's dedicatee, Joseph Joachim, to perform the work as evidence of his disapproval, and attribute that reputed disapproval to the first movement's truncated sonata form. These critics rely on Joachim's authority to shut the door precipitously, without detailed engagement with the concerto's technical attributes. The record of Joachim's participation in the concerto's creation calls into question this received wisdom and raises the possibility that Joachim may have encouraged Dvořák to pursue his unusual formal strategy. Short of that scenario, Joachim may not have discouraged the composer from following a path of inspiration originating in either his own imagination or the example of another violin concerto strongly influenced by Joachim's input – the Bruch G minor. Comparison of the Dvořák and Bruch concertos supports the notion of a modelling and reveals Dvořák's immersion in many of the most innovative strategies that Romantic‐era composers adopted to reimagine late eighteenth‐century sonata conventions. Holistic analysis based on the theories of Caplin, Hepokoski and Darcy, and Schenker illustrates both the cogency of the first movement's sonata deformations and the centrality of the Adagio in overturning the tragic impact of the resulting formal ‘catastrophe’ in favour of a positive expressive outcome.