Book Review: Dvorak
Students Name:http://writers-corp.net
Professor’s Name:
Unit Title:
Unit Name:
Date Due:
Book Review: Dvorak (Life & Times) by Kurt Honolka
Introduction
Dvorak (Life & Times) by Kurt Honolka is a book talking about a man,
who was born and grew up in Czech, later becoming the composer of romantic
music. Antonin Leopaold Dvorak as the main character was born in September 8,
1841 and lived up to 1st May 1904, who received his early education
in Czech Republic. According to the author (Kurt Honolka), Antonin Dvorak
composed romantic music, through employing idioms of folk music of Moravia that
also included his native Bohemia. The life history and challenges faced by the
main character are analyzed in details, hence enabling the understanding of
which real this main character is.
Antonin Dvorak as the main character in this book ignores calls from his
father (Frantisek Dvorak) to be a butcher and decides to follow his dream of in
music. The challenges review by the author in this book about Dvorak includes
growth in music, challenges of finances, respect and recognition among many
more issues. In the book, the author
writes, “By the time he was only eighteen years old, Dvorak became a full time
musician. He made only $7.50 a month, thus constant need to supplement his
income pushed him to begin teaching piano lessons.” This quote is used by the
author to exactly imply the challenge of payments that the music composers
face.
The author then goes to analyze the love life of the main character
(Dvorak) and how he ended up moving to New York in pursuit of better paying
terms. The idea that the author is trying to imply here is that success does
not come out easily, and how exactly it relates to love. For instance, the
author writes, “He originally fell in love with his pupil Josefina Cermakova,
for whom he composed Cypress Trees, but she never returned his love, hence
ended up marrying another man.” From this quote, is likely that the main
character was struggling financially, something that hindered Josephina from
loving him back, hence marrying another man, who was stable financially by
then. Immediately after getting a high paying job at the church area, “Dvorak
married Josephina’s younger sister, Anna, of whom they had nine children, three
of whom died during infancy.” This depicts how financial freedom is related to
finding happiness in marriage (Honolka 64).
Another aspect of challenge in life is depicted in this book through the
way the main character is frustrated financially. Dvorak has disputes on his
contracts about the unsettled salaries in his contracts, something that later
made him leave New York back to his hometown, never to return. The author
writes, “However, problems with Mrs. Thurber about his salary, together with
increasing recognition in Europe – he had been made an honorary member of the
Gasellschaft der Musikfraunde in Viena”, this implies how music is totally
parallel form being recognized. Dvorak
is known to many and recognized, and in fact travels to many countries,
including several visits to London and Moscow, but he still has financial
issues with his employer.
The author has succeeded in his of relaying the grievances faced by
people in music industry. This message is clearly understood in the way of
which the author writes about Dvorak. He uses a consistent flow of ideas,
starting from the character’s birth, education, career and later life. All
these ideas are arranged in one chapter after another, which makes it less complicated
to understand. The author’s work also depicts Dvorak to have some influence in
the Czech folk music, in terms of elements, for example rhythms and melodic
shapes.
In as much as there is consistency and flow of history of the main
character, there is inconsistency in the numbering of his work. For instance,
Dvorak’s work was given opus numbers, which did not fully bear the logical
relationship towards the order of which they were written or published. The
author writes, “Dvorak provided new works with lower number opus deliberately,
in order to sell them outside contract obligations to other publishers.” This
implies that the music composed at various time intervals would be produced and
published at different time intervals, hence did not simply represent the character’s
brand new work at that particular moment.
There is also some confusion in the manner of which the author numbers
the symphonies in this book. At first instance, these symphonies were numbered
by the order of their publications, but not the order of composition. The first
four symphonies to be composed were published last. Then the last five
symphonies that the main character (Dvorak) composed were not really published
according to the order of their composition. This will eventually make the
reader confused, hence calling for much attention when reading the book in
order to understand the real flow of ideas (Wyburd 35).
The book however shows some concept of biasness in the way it addresses
the challenges faced by Dvorak in his life. The author has focused more on
challenges that merits of the main character. The aspects of recognition,
putting up of statue, receiving honorary appraisals are focused on from a
shallow perspective. For example, the author writes, “Despite protests from
then Czech president Vaclav Havel and other people to have Mr. Dvorak’s former
housed in New York preserved as an historical site, it was demolished to make
room for a Beth Israel Medical Centre.” This makes the reader to view the main
character’s life as lack of recognition and respect from the people he worked
for. Another aspect of biasness is depicted in the form of which the author
views Dvorak’s musical work. The author writes, “American music” in quotes.
This implies that the main character didn’t really have the intention of nurturing
American music at heart, but was only there for financial purposes.
Conclusion
This book is generally simplified in
the language used and paragraphs are well arranged. There is no or limited
grammatical errors in it, and the language used is direct to the point. It does
not require a lot of time for one to get the real message behind it, hence
would recommend to anyone who wants to read it. It is also advantageous in the
way it addresses the real life situations that people face in their lives,
hence could be an essential material for addressing these concerns. It is
generally an entertaining book to read.
Works Cited
Honolka, Kurt and Wyburd, Anne (transl.) “Dvorak.” London: Haus
Publications, 2004.
Honolka, Kurt. “Dvorak (Life & Times).” Haus
Publishing, April 2005.