Dvořák – Biblické písně (Biblical Songs), op.99 – Soukupová / Moravec (1968)

Antonín Dvořák – Biblické písně, op.99 (1894)

00:00 – I. Oblak a mrákota jest vůkol něho
02:38 – II. Skrýše má a paveza má Ty jsi
04:59 – III. Slyš, ó Bože, slyš modlitbu mou
08:22 – IV. Hospodin jest můj pastýř
11:49 – V. Bože! Bože! píseň novou
14:40 – VI. Slyš, o Bože, volání mé
18:16 – VII. Při řekách babylonských
21:48 – VIII. Popatřiž na mne a smiluj se nade mnou
25:08 – IX. Pozdvihuji očí svých k horám
27:41 – X. Zpívejte Hospodinu píseň novou

Věra Soukupová – contralto
Ivan Moravec – piano
(1968)

Never before, or since has Dvořák penned such an intimate musical confession as in the Biblical Songs. In them we get a glimpse of Dvořák's faith, and trough it his reconciliation with death. The texts, which are in the composer's native language, originate from the Book of Psalms from the Bible of Kralice, the first translation of the Bible into Czech from the 16th century. It has been said, they are Dvořák's reflection on the deaths of his colleagues – Tchaikovsky and von Bülow, perhaps the approaching death of his father, but the true background of these melancholic masterpieces is uncertain.