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Dvorak and the Birmingham Music Festival

Requiem

A persistent Festival Committee managed to secure Dvorak’s services for the 1891 Festival and he promised to deliver a setting of the Requiem Mass. Negotiations with Novello over the fee resulted in Dvorak receiving £650 for the work, a significantly higher figure than he received for The Spectre’s Bride.

Creation of the Requiem took place during an intensive 10-month period and it generated a positive audience reaction when premiered at the Festival.

Critics, on the other hand, were less impressed with the results of Dvorak’s labour.

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