Connection: Dvorak's New World Symphony and The Tragedy of King Lear

(Before reading this entry, becoming familiar with Dvorak's New Symphony would help the reader to understand this blog better)
Mvt 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OAXCy3YS54
Mvt 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ENf4VEhI40&feature=related
Mvt 2 (part 2): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phbYpnPlYq0&feature=related
Mvt 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cp0-FVuLtOk&feature=related
Mvt 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yctfXIqugXc&feature=related 

       Content, phrasing, form, and transitions are all important pieces in both music as well as books, especially plays. An art piece that masters these proponents would make it what we call, "successful," lucky for us history and time has brought us people who can tie in most or all of these components, i.e. Shakespeare and Dvorak.
      In Dvorak's "New World Symphony" we start by analyzing each movement, each expressing a multitude of emotions and sections. Similarly, in King Lear, we notice that there are different sections in the play that call for different emotions. For example, sadness (as Cordelia is disowned by Lear), regret (both Gloucester and Lear as they realize what they've done to their children), and hope (Not all the bad stays bad - Albany). In the "New World Symphony," the 1st movement, the ending is much more energized with powerful string parts and the band instruments blowing the melody, compared to the beginning of the 2nd movement where the oboe is a solo along with an quiet and peaceful harmony in the back. These differ as a section in King Lear might differ. For example, the oboe solo could be seen as some of the soliloquies delivered by Edgar and Edmund, while the beginning of the 1st movement can be seen as the fanfares made in King Lear as Lear decides to hold a contest among his daughters. An interesting parallel is that the 1st and 2nd movement start out very quietly and somewhat establish a melancholy and quiet atmosphere, however as the symphony progresses the beginnings of both the 3rd and 4th movement are empowered by strong string sections and in general a much louder entrance. In King Lear, this can be seen through the acts, in the first couple of acts there isn't much "action" occurring, simply the stage is being set up and warming up the audience for what is ahead. After act 2 we start to climb towards the drive of the play everything is set up so the piece just drives full speed ahead. For example, the actions being fulfilled by Edmund in order to get rid of his brother. Just like how the 3rd movement and 4th movement are essentially the driving forces of the piece after the audience has been warmed up by the first 2 movements, which are mixtures of the excitement seen in the 3rd and 4th mvt. In acts 1 and 2, we see glimpses of the action in the future, Edmund's plan, Cordelia being sent off, and the two sisters having a discreet discussion.
        Interestingly, the "New World Symphony" has quite instantaneous transitions, it'll go from heavy woodwinds to a quiet choral of strings. This is quite similar to the transitions in King Lear, where many scenes and acts have no solid transition, rather it's just one event happens and then moves onto the next important detail to mention. It's very direct, which is what Dvorak's symphony also accomplishes, moving swiftly from a slow 30 measures to 30 measures of sixteenth notes for the strings and scales up and down for the wood winds. In King Lear, even though we know there was a lot of preparation to set up Edmund's plan (the soliloquy, the letter), but when the events actually occur, we are taken aback by exactly how much Edmund is willing to do. Similarly, although the build up in the 1st movement might have shown us what lies in movement 4, when we reach movement 4, it's very different than what we might have expected, with the sudden Jaws-like theme.
       In my opinion, when we see parallels like this between a symphony and a play it says a lot about the pieces as well as the writer and composer. The fact that a play can be compared to a symphony, that says the play is in some ways like music. Overall we may not see the entirety of the play as a song, but the sonnets and when Shakespeare uses heightened language, that translates into music. This "New World Symphony" like King Lear can be seen as battles within each movement and battles between the different instruments as well as "allies." For example, we hear some little battles between the woodwinds and the strings in the 4th movement, as the strings are involved in high fast notes, the winds will either support them, or have their own melody on top of the strings. (Where the strings have short notes while the winds are playing the melody) In King Lear there are battles among the characters as well as alliances (Goneril, Regan, and Edmund vs. Cordelia, Albany, Edgar). This says also a great deal about this symphony, it tells a story it has conflicts, a climax, and the filler parts. I think that whether we write a story or compose a song, there are so many similarities, conflicts, battles, climax, a set up of the climax. So the techniques used in writing is not exclusive to simply writing, but to the arts as well, and vice versa.