Carnival Overture, op. 92, B. 169

Carnival is the middle panel of the triptych Dvořák conducted in Prague in April 1892 under the title Nature, Life and Love, shortly before sailing for America. The three overtures were published two years later as separate pieces, opp. 91, 92 and 93, on the composer's own instruction from New York.

It is the one that gets played. A crowd, a festival, tambourine and triangle and a tempo that barely lets up — the piece has the reputation of being straightforward fun, and for most of its length that reputation is deserved.

Then the middle section arrives, and the noise drops away. Cor anglais, solo violin, flute; and underneath them the nature theme that binds all three overtures, brought in from the previous piece almost without ceremony. The crowd has not gone anywhere. Someone has simply stepped out of it for a moment. Dvořák does not linger over the transition back, and the carnival closes as loudly as it opened.