page_title: A Hero's Song
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: A Hero's Song / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Czech composer Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904) with his friends and family in New York, USA. Čeština: Antonín Dvořák se svou rodinou v USA Esperanto: Ĉeĥa komponisto Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904) kun sia familio en Usono
context_page_description: A Hero's Song, Op. 111, B. 199, also called Heroic Song for Orchestra, is a symphonic poem for orchestra composed by Antonín Dvořák between August 4 and October 25, 1897. It was premiered in Vienna in on December 4, 1898, with Gustav Mahler conducting the Vienna Philharmonic, and was later published in Berlin in 1899. Unlike Dvořák's other symphonic poems, this work is not based upon a specific text, and it may have been intended to be autobiographical. The piece is mostly energetic and triumphant, but it includes a slower section containing a funeral march. A typical performance lasts approximately 22 minutes.
context_section_description: A Hero's Song was Dvořák's last orchestral work and the final of his five symphonic poems, the others being The Water Goblin, The Noon Witch, The Golden Spinning Wheel, and The Wild Dove (Opp. 107–110). It is also the last instance of him writing purely instrumental music, as he dedicated himself to vocal and operatic works after its completion. He began working on the piece on August 4, 1897, immediately after revising the third act of his opera The Jacobin. The work was completed in three months, during which time Dvořák lived at his summer residence in his hometown of Příbram, and spent time at his chateau of the patron Josef Hlávka in Lužany. The piece was completed on October 25 of the same year, and was published in 1899 by Fritz Simrock in Berlin. The symphonic poem coincidentally anticipated Richard Strauss's similar tone poem Ein Heldenleben (A Hero's Life), which was composed a year later. In fact, Dvořák originally intended to title the piece A Hero's Life, a name which had been suggested to him by his pupil Vítězslav Novák.
  The work was premiered by the Vienna Philharmonic on December 4, 1898, conducted by Gustav Mahler, a friend and supporter of Dvořák. Mahler wrote to Dvořák before the premiere, "I have just received your second work 'The Hero's Song' and, as with [The Wild Dove], am quite enchanted with it." Dvořák was present at the premier and had planned to conduct it himself with the Berlin Philharmonic on November 14, 1899, but cancelled his plans due to a sudden nervous breakdown – in Dvořák's words, "I was so indisposed that I had to leave Berlin with my wife without even seeing Simrock." The piece had been performed the previous day, conducted by Arthur Nikisch. It was also performed in London, Hamburg, Boston and Leipzig in October and November 1899. Dvořák was finally able to personally conduct the piece in Budapest in December of that year.
caption: Antonín Dvořák (right) with friends and family in New York in 1893, four years before he composed A Hero's Song
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