About this edition
Antonín Dvořák's Carnival Overture, Op. 92, is one of the most exhilarating concert openers in the orchestral repertoire — a whirl of blazing brass, chattering woodwinds, and tambourine-driven momentum that evokes a festival crowd at full tilt. Composed in 1891 as the central panel of a linked trilogy of concert overtures (alongside In Nature's Realm and Othello), it shares with its companions a serene recurring "nature" motif, heard here in the hushed central episode where solo violin, cor anglais, and flute depict a pair of lovers slipping away from the throng. Dvořák himself conducted the premiere in Prague in April 1892, on the farewell concert he gave before departing for his celebrated years in the United States.
This volume reproduces the first edition of the full score, published in Berlin by N. Simrock in 1894 (publisher's number 237, plate 10103). Simrock was Dvořák's principal publisher for much of his career — the firm that had carried the Slavonic Dances to international fame — and its scores were prepared in close cooperation with the composer. As the earliest engraved edition of the work, the Simrock print remains the foundational text from which later editions and performing materials descend, preserving the orchestration, phrasing, and dynamic markings as they first reached conductors across Europe and America.
About this edition:
- Complete full orchestral score (conductor's score), not a set of parts
- Printed on 8.5x11 inch pages for comfortable study and desk use
- Faithfully reproduced from a public domain historical edition
- Published by Purple 4R Publishing
By reprinting this historic score, we hope to keep a beloved classic within easy reach of conductors, orchestral musicians, students, and scholars. This edition reproduces a public domain work, freely and legally available for everyone to study, perform, and enjoy.
