Antonín Dvořák

Festival March op. 54

The “Festival March” was first heard on April 23, 1879 during the performance of Shakespear’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream.” On the occasion of the visit of the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I with his wife Elisabeth to Prague, “A Midsummer Night's Dream” was premiered there to celebrate their silver wedding anniversary. The march was created at the suggestion of the management of the Bohemian State Theater. Dvorák reassigned the opus number 54 a year later for the eight piano waltzes he published and reassigned it again a year later when he arranged two of the piano waltzes for string quartet with double bass or string orchestra. At that time, the “Festival March” was only printed in Prague, which is why the German publisher Dvoráks preferred to publish the piano waltzes under the opus number 54, which quickly sold better.

In keeping with the occasion of the composition, the march has a very festive character. It is laid out in a classic three-part form and progresses until it culminates in an impressive finale. Dvorák's composition was then added to Mendelssohn's scene music.

Jindrich Brejsek's classical transcription retains Dvorák's original key of C major and allows the wind orchestra to sound radiant.