 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2007-11-25 21:37
I've always pronounced Dvorak as 'Vor'-zhak' since I learnt this was the way to pronounce his name, though nowadays I'm hearing more and more people say 'D-vor'-zhak' and 'D-vor'-ak'.
So what is it? Well, I'm sticking with 'Vor'-zhak'.
And how do you say 'Dvorak'?
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2007-11-25 21:44
D'vor-shak. (or whatever the phonetic tralala). But with a "Dee".
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Ben
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2007-11-25 21:55
I'm with Ben, but preferring the "z", ?followed by ch[sh?] ak, much ?like? my comm. band f[r]iends seem to pronounce it. Will look it up in what books I have. Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2007-11-25 22:15
If you want to nail me down to a specific pronunciation - I'd pout my lipth to a "D'vore-jacques" but would ask for permission to call him "Tony".
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Ben
Post Edited (2007-11-25 22:16)
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2007-11-25 22:24
Many Slavic languages have what are to American (& Brit?) English speakers unusual combinations of consonants.
The D + the V both should be pronounced. This creates a small vowel-like sound in between which ends up kind of like "Duh." Of course it's really really short and the transition to the V should be as quick as lingually possible! Ends up like: Duh-Vohr-Zhak. If I had a "Schwa" key on my computer it'd help...
There is a town (in Croatia I believe but maybe it's Serbia) which is spelled "Krk." Yes. No vowel. The R can sub for a vowel-like sound...
Katrina
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2007-11-25 22:31
Katrina wrote:
> There is a town (in Croatia I believe but maybe it's Serbia)
> which is spelled "Krk." Yes. No vowel. The R can sub for a
> vowel-like sound...
I thought that was an island? (Brac, Rab, Krk etc). Well, mebbe one of the books from my youth ("Red Zora") tricked me...
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Ben
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Author: srattle
Date: 2007-11-25 23:50
My stepmom is Czech and says of course the d and v are both pronounced, but there would be a consonant that is really hard for english people to say, which is rj together. I have tried a lot and apparently can't get close.
I would probably stick with Duhvorzhak type pronunciation.
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Author: William
Date: 2007-11-26 00:33
My University of Wisconsin band director, Professor Ray Dvorak always pronounced his name, D(uh)V(or)R(ack). But pronounced the composer as, D(uh)V(or)Z(hak). He was always very particular about the distinction between names.
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Author: John25
Date: 2007-11-26 14:07
William, it's obvious that your professor's ancestors would have been Czech. Having emigrated to the US they lost their hacek (the little 'v' over the 'r') because we don't use accents in English. Iy's interesting that they changed the pronunciation.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2007-11-26 14:35
Everyone I know in connection with music education, band and orchestral circles says 'Vor'-zhak'.
Are there any definitive records from his time spent in the US and the UK as to how his name was pronounced?
Maybe as the 'Dv' was said in such a way, it sounded to our ears like a hard 'V' (almost an 'F', but not quite).
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2007-11-26 21:14
I thought I had submitted an explanation but I guess I didn't. Ray Dvorak's spelling and pronunciation are the American versions. The Czech spelling has a "hacek" over the r indicating it is pronounced "rrzvh" a sound that is akin to the Scottish rolled R but is next to impossible even for many of today's Czechs to pronounce properly. A close American pronounciation would be "Dvorrzzshock".
When Dvorak was in America his name was pronounced the same as it was in Europe ....when it was done properly.
Bob Draznik
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2007-11-27 06:19
Bob,
the "hacek" is also known here as the caron diacritic. I once had a customer (with a name along the lines of Jiří Hašek) who needed a special Latin II font for his printer (those were DOS times, the screens were dark and such tasks difficult) and he said he always suffered a bit from not being able to write his name correctly. (he left the premises as a happy man.)
--
Ben
Post Edited (2007-11-27 06:58)
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Author: John25
Date: 2007-11-27 13:01
Dvorak is a reasobly common name in the Czech Republic. Everyone there (and everyone I know in the UK also) pronounces the "D".
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Author: skygardener
Date: 2007-11-27 14:01
ChrisP- It looks to me to be an American pronunciation with the D. Any other Brits have go at it?
trivia- the Japanese is 'do.bvo.ru.zaa.ku'. The 'bv+vowel' is a recient addition to the sound system (in the last 100 yeas-don't know exactly) to try to create the 'v' sound that does not exsist in Japanese. It is generally the hardest sound for Western language speakers to produce.
Post Edited (2007-11-27 14:26)
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