Antonin Leopold Dvorak was born on September 8, 1841 in Nelahozeves, Bohemia, Austrian Empire (Now Czech Republic) and died on May 1, 1904 in Prague, Austrian Empire. He was mainly known as the first Bohemian composer to receive worldwide recognition. He was the eldest of nine children. He religion was Roman Catholic. His parents were Frantisek Dvorak and Anna Zdenkova. Frantisek was a violin musician who helped teach Antonin how to play the violin later in his early life but he was also an innkeeper. His mother, Anna Zdenkova, was a servant in the house of Prince Lobkowitz and was the daughter of one of the Prince’s stewards. Prince Lobkowitz was ruler of Bohemia from 1772 to 1816 and was a friend and patron of Ludwig van Beethoven. His early childhood life was filled with musical encounters. He started off learning how to play the violin by his dad and the village schoolmaster, Josef Spitz. He started performing with his dad in ensembles and celebrations when he knew well enough how to play the violin. He was also taught how to read music and sang in the church choir as well. And at age 12, he had learned all the basic aspects of music. …show more content…
They let him go and he became an apprentice to a butcher and went to school as well. The schoolmaster was called Antonin Liehmann who taught Antonin to play the organ, piano, and voila and became part of an orchestra. Antonin recounted who his teacher was by saying this, “Liehmann was a good musician, but he was quick tempered and still taught according to the old methods; if a pupil could not play a passage, he got as many cuffs as there were notes on the sheet.” (Neil Butterworth,