Antonín Dvořák

Saint Ludmilla op. 71

Saint Ludmila was a well-documented historical figure from Bohemia in the late 9th or early 10th century who played a pivotal role in the Christianization of her homeland. After Ludmila married the Bohemian Duke Bořivoj in 874 at the age of 14, the couple converted to Christianity between 882 and 885—presumably for political reasons. None other than Saint Methodius, who—together with his brother Cyril—had translated the Holy Scriptures into Old Church Slavonic, presided over the baptism. In this way, a close relationship developed between Christianity in Bohemia and the Orthodox rite. However, the political unrest sparked by this conversion led to uprisings and ultimately to the couple’s exile. After Bořivoj’s death, Ludmila, now 28 years old, was allowed to settle in a castle near Prague, where she was later entrusted with the upbringing of her grandchildren—including Saint Wenceslaus. In this role, however, she came into conflict with her still-pagan daughter-in-law Drahomíra, who, fearing Ludmila’s power and influence, had her strangled in 921. Shortly after her execution, a cult sprang up around the martyr, establishing her as the patron saint of Bohemia and the Přemyslid dynasty to this day, as well as the patron saint of winemakers, mothers, grandmothers, converts, widows, duchesses, and Christian educators.

Following these historically documented events, the writer and translator Jaroslav Vrchlický created a comprehensive tetralogy about the life of Saint Ludmila. From this, Dvořák selected the first part, which deals with the saint’s youth and conversion and thus offered the composer greater opportunities for large-scale choral passages in the style of Handel, romantic interludes, and a triumphant finale. The oratorio is divided into three parts, with the historical events slightly altered to heighten the dramatic effect:

Part 1: During the consecration of a pagan statue of the goddess Baba before the assembled people, the Christian hermit Ivan (bass) bursts into the festivities and destroys the idol. The enraged crowd seeks revenge on him but is restrained by Ludmila (soprano), who stands up for the hermit.
Part 2: Ludmila finds herself in Ivan’s hermitage. There she is discovered by a hunting party led by Duke Bořivoj (tenor), who—accompanied by lush, romantic love music—is enchanted by the young woman’s beauty and humility and resolves to marry her.

Part 3: Bořivoj and Ludmila are baptized and married in a grand celebration, during which the Old Slavonic hymn *Hospodine, pomiluj ny* ("Lord, have mercy on us") from the 11th century is woven into the score as a Christian symbol and ultimately arranged as a C major fugue.

Although the oratorio *Saint Ludmila* is limited to the first part of the tetralogy envisioned by Vrchlický, it contains a good three and a half hours of music, and Dvořák soon found himself under great time pressure to complete the score in time for the planned premiere in October 1886. On September 17, 1885, he set to work and labored practically without interruption well into the winter, all the while reassuring Littleton about his concerns regarding the immediate printing of the piano scores and sending the composition in installments. In April, he even doubted whether he would be able to complete the new work at all ("The whole thing is very unpleasant and causes me the greatest concern"). Fortunately, however, the third movement turned out to be shorter than the other two, and on May 30, 1886—after a good nine months of compositional work—he succeeded in completing the full score.