The Water Goblin

The Water Goblin (Czech: Vodník; initially published by N. Simrock with the English title The Water-Fay) is a symphonic poem, Op. 107 (B. 195), written by Antonín Dvořák in 1896.

The source of inspiration for The Water Goblin was a poem found in a collection published by Karel Jaromír Erben under the title Kytice. Four of the six symphonic poems that Dvořák composed were inspired by works of poetry found in that collection.

Vodník tells a story in four parts of a mischievous water goblin who traps drowning souls in upturned teacups.

Dvořák's symphonic piece, which is written in the form of a rondo, follows Erben's written verses remarkably closely; in many places the text fits literary to Dvořák's music. This may well be a result of the fact that Dvořák derived his themes from putting Erben's words to music. This way Dvořák produced 7 themes, mostly four bars long for this symphonic poem.

First the water goblin is introduced with a four bar theme starting three repeated notes. These three repeats prove to be vital for the whole composition: Most other themes start with three repeats, the timpani gives a three beat rhythm to the section where the girl wants to go to the lake, the church bells ring three times each at eight o'clock, the water goblin knocks three times on the door.

Second the daughter is introduced with a lovely innocent theme, where the triangle gives her a sparkling twinkle in her eyes. However nice this theme may sound the basis is the same three repeat that formed the basis for the goblin theme. The great difference is in the way they are played: the goblin is in a staccato form presented, where all three notes are short and distinctive of sound, and the girl has a legato played theme, where the three notes are played long, and almost glide over in each other.

The third theme introduces the mother with a suspense theme in B minor which makes the mood even more sad. Again her theme starts with three notes, though the rhythm of the notes is turned around. The suspense is formed by the chromaticism in the secondary theme. Later on Dvořák uses these two themes the other way around, as if the secondary theme becomes the primary, and primary the secondary.

The next section Dvořák changes from the minor to B major to indicate the persistent state of mind of the daughter when she heads off to the lake. In this section an important role has been given to the timpani, who play a solo, even though it is to be played less loud than the rest of the orchestra. They again play the three note repeats, but Dvořák makes a variation on it as well. He changes from three 8th notes to five 16th notes and back and forth and so on. He might have wanted to show the spell the daughter is under, but for sure it makes the coming apocalypse more vivid than if he had only used the original 3 beats. This section ends with a ritardando (slow down), so the listener is prepared for a sudden fast and short swirl in the violins when the bridge cracks.

The next section starts with a sudden E–C–G chord, as the girl hits the water. Dvořák changes key back to B minor for the water goblin theme, and he speeds up the tempo to a lively allegro vivo, which depicts the swirling waters engulfing the girl, for which Dvořák uses as well the Russian device of a descending whole tone scale and the diabolic delight of the water goblin.

The Water Goblin is scored for piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, tam-tam, bells and strings.

The work had its full public premiere in London on 14 November 1896. It had received a semi-public performance on 1 June 1896 at the Prague Conservatory under Antonín Bennewitz.

For the Austrian première in Vienna by the Vienna Philharmonic under Hans Richter on 22 November 1896, Dr. Robert Hirschfeld was asked to write the program notes. For this occasion Dvořák composed a letter stating his intentions and musical solutions for the translation of Erbens poem into music.