The Golden Spinning Wheel, Op. 109

• The Golden Spinning Wheel is one of several symphonic poems that Dvořák wrote in 1896 based on folk poetry by Karel Jaromir Erben (also see The Water Goblin).¹
• Listen for – the steady churn of the spinning wheel in the low strings heard from the very start of the piece.

Synopsis of “The Golden Spinning Wheel” –

A young king is riding in the forest and he comes upon a beautiful girl named Dornička. He falls in love with her and wants her to become his wife. He asks her stepmother to have Dornička come to him at the castle. But the evil stepmother offers him her own daughter, who is supposedly the spitting image of Dornička. But the king is insistent – he will have none other than Dornička. Then he returns to the castle. The stepmother makes use of this opportunity: she and her daughter go to the forest and cut off Dornička’s hands and feet, and then gouge out her eyes. Then the stepmother sends her own daughter up to the castle in place of Dornička. The king suspects nothing and a grand wedding is organized. After the wedding, the king has to go off to battle with his army. An old magician finds Dornička’s mutilated body in the forest, and he sends his grandson to the castle three times in order to get back from the stepmother Dornička’s hands, feet, and eyes in return for individual parts of a golden spinning wheel. The boy sets off for the castle and is successful on each occasion – the stepmother and false Dornička cannot resist the bright luster of gold. The old man in the woods then joins the limbs to Dornička’s body and puts back her eyes and, with the help of a magic potion, he brings the girl back to life. The king returns from battle and his wife immediately shows off her beautiful golden spinning wheel. The king asks her to spin a golden thread. But, as soon as it starts to turn, the spinning wheel murmurs a song that describes how the king was deceived. He immediately drives the stepmother and her daughter from the castle. As they are fleeing, they are set upon in the forest by a pack of wolves which tear them to pieces. The king sets out for the woods in search of Dornička. When he finds her, he takes her back to his castle and weds his bride.²

1. “The Golden Spinning Wheel (Zlatý kolovrat), Op. 109, B197,” Antonín Dvořák, accessed October 21, 2024, https://www.antonin-dvorak.cz/en/work/the-golden-spinning-wheel/.
2. Ibid.