Dvořák: "The Golden Spinning Wheel", Op. 109, B 197 (with Score)

Antonín Dvořák:
Symphonic Poem "The Golden Spinning Wheel", Op. 109, B 197 (with Score)
Composed: 15 January - 25 April 1896
Conductor: Theodore Kuchar
Orchestra: Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra

The Golden Spinning Wheel (Zlatý kolovrat), Op. 109, B 197, is a symphonic poem for orchestra by Antonín Dvořák, composed from January to April 1896. The work is inspired by the poem of the same name found in Kytice, a collection of folk ballads by Karel Jaromír Erben.

A semi-public performance was given at the Prague Conservatory on 3 June 1896 conducted by Antonín Bennewitz. Its first fully public premiere was in London on 26 October 1896, under the baton of Hans Richter.

≪Story≫
While out riding in the countryside, a king happens upon a beautiful village girl, Dornička, and falls in love with her. He asks her step-mother to bring her to his castle. The step-mother and Dornička's identically looking step-sister set off towards the king's castle with Dornička. On the way, they murder her, hack off her feet and hands, and cut out her eyes. They bury the body but keep the amputated parts, "lest someone fix them back". The step-sister then poses as Dornička and marries the king, after which he is called away to battle.

Meanwhile, in the midst of the forest, a hermit skilled in magical arts finds Dornička's remains and decides to bring her back to life. He sends a page to the castle to persuade the step-sister to part with "two feet" in return for a golden spinning wheel, "two hands" for a golden distaff, and "two eyes" for a golden spindle. The body complete again, the hermit brings Dornička back to life.

The king returns from battle and bids his wife to spin for him on her new wheel. As she obliges, the magical spinning wheel sings a song betraying the two women's treacherous plot and relaying all the gruesome details of Dornička's murder. The king goes off into the forest to find his true betrothed. The two murderesses are thrown to the wolves, their bodies mutilated in the same way they had mutilated Dornička's.