The a cappella cycle In Nature was composed to selected poems from Vítězslav Hálek’s collection of the same title, to whose poetry Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) returned repeatedly.
In Nature’s Realm. A cycle of songs for mixed choir by Vítězslav Hálek. Composed by Antonín Dvořák. Autograph, 1882. NL CR, 59 R 1953.
Digitised in 2025, see Manuscriptorium >>
The a cappella cycle of five songs In Nature’s Realm was composed to selected poems from Vítězslav Hálek’s collection of the same title, to whose poetry Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) returned repeatedly. The choice of texts reflects the composer’s profound love of nature, attested both in his letters and in the recollections of contemporaries. The music of the individual choruses is distinguished by melodic beauty and a rich variety of moods, shifting from the solemn and mysterious, through joyful and carefree, to celebratory. Dvořák composed the cycle in the winter of 1882, and it was published that same year by the Hamburg firm of August Cranz. The individual songs were first performed over the following three years.
The first page of Dvořák’s autograph contains the notation of the song The Rye Field, dated 24 January 1882. This was the first of an originally written group of four songs. A month later, when the composer added the fifth piece, he altered their order and placed The Rye Field at the centre of the cycle. The notation, written in a small hand and containing all 38 bars of the song, bears traces of compositional revisions in the form of erasures, crossings-out, and rewritings. To the original Czech text, which Dvořák himself entered into the manuscript, a later, unknown hand added a German version in pencil, evidently in connection with preparing a translation for publication in Germany.
The pink cover dates from 1884, when Antonín Dvořák donated his autograph of the In Nature’s Realm cycle to a bazaar held at Žofín in Prague in support of the National Theatre in Brno. In addition to the inscription on the front – written, it seems, by the organizers of the bazaar in large letters: “In Nature’s Realm. Songs for mixed choir. Manuscript of Ant. Dvořák.”, there is also a note on the back recording the date of sale: “Bought at the bazaar. On the Island of Žofín. In aid of the Brno theatre. 18 15/5 84. […]”. This May date coincided with the grand festivities of St John of Nepomuk, accompanied by cultural and other events that each year drew visitors to Prague from across Bohemia and Moravia. On 15 May 1884, the day on which the bazaar took place, Prague also saw the magnificent, ceremonial funeral of the composer Bedřich Smetana.
