Cocktail Party Fact: This early masterpiece earned Dvorak an Austrian government stipend thanks to the advocacy of an awards jury that included Brahms. It was the beginning of a lifelong friendship between the two composers.

Commitment Factor: About 40 minutes

Vital Statistics: Romantic Period (1872). This symphony is a highly successful experiment: it contains three movements, the last of which combines the functions of  Scherzo (Joke–a light dance-inspired movement) and finale. The orchestration is also rich, including a harp, and some extra percussion (a triangle).

What to Listen For: Dvorak’s early works are grossly under-rated. Very few listeners know that as a symphonist, he predates Brahms, Bruckner, and Tchaikovsky. Part of the problem stems from the fact that the four early symphonies were not published until years after his death, and this naturally leads people to assume that they were somehow inferior to the later works. They aren’t, any more than Beethoven’s early symphonies are inferior to the Ninth. They are simply different–less poised, more experimental–but full of great things all the same. Take this symphony: the lilting theme of the first movement immediately proclaims the composer’s individual voice. The heart of the work is the long slow movement–a funeral march until the entrance of the harp leading an angelic procession. The idea clearly comes from the Wedding March (”Here Comes the Bride”) in Wagner’s Lohengrin, but the effect is totally fresh and original. The lively finale, full of good spirits led by the piccolo and triangle, sets the seal on music whose inspiration Brahms was quick to recognize. So should we.