The Golden Spinning Wheel

Truth prevails

Antonín Dvořák composed the symphonic poem The Golden Spinning Wheel, Op. 109 (B.197), between January and April 1896. It premiered in London on October 26 of the same year under the baton of renowned Wagnerian conductor Hans Richter. Notably, Dvořák enjoyed immense popularity in England, making nine triumphant visits there. Like the three other symphonic poems he wrote around the same time (The Water Goblin, The Noon Witch and The Wild Dove), this work is based on a folk ballad from Kytice (A Bouquet of Folk Legends), a collection by Czech poet Karel Jaromír Erben.

The story, like many fairy tales, contains elements of cruelty. While wandering through the forest, a king falls in love with a breathtakingly beautiful young woman, Dornička, who lives in isolation with her stepmother and stepsister. He orders that she be brought to the castle the next day to become his wife. However, her jealous stepmother and stepsister instead lure her deep into the woods and dismember her, taking her eyes, legs and arms to the castle. The king marries the stepsister, who resembles the ill-fated Dornička. While the king is away at war, a sorcerer and his son, using a miraculous spring, restore Dornička’s body after acquiring her severed limbs from the stepmother in exchange for a golden spinning wheel. Upon returning, the king learns the truth through the enchanted wheel. He rushes into the forest to reunite with Dornička, who has been brought back to life, and orders the stepmother and stepsister to suffer the same fate they inflicted upon Dornička.