A rediscovered Dvořák score, completed by artificial intelligence, premieres in Prague

An unfinished
two-page musical sketch by Dvořák was discovered a century after it
was written in the archives of the Czech Music Museum, during
research on the composer’s later career. It was completed by AIVA,
witch stands for Artificial Intelligence Virtual Artist. AIVA read
through all of Dvořák’s compositions and built mathematical
models to predict how the composer worked.

Dvořák’s sketch
became a three-movement piece using his motifs and compositional
style. The first movement completed the sketch into roughly
five-minute piece. The next two movements continued in Dvořák’s
style.

“At the very
beginning of this project there was the word ‘experiment’ — a
desire to finds out what the possibilities of artificial intelligence
regarding creative use are, and how far it can go. Apart from that,
we wanted ot create a work that would captivate the audience as well.
There was a unique debate with technology experts and musicians
during the project that was very extensive and actually revealed more
and more questions. We came to the conclusion that AVIA’s work
awakens emotions that can fully come to life in the hands of a great
musician,” Richard Stieblitz and Filip Humpl, creative directors at
Wunderman Thompson and project authors, said in a statement.

Conductor Villaume said the project raised interesting questions. “What does composing music actually mean for humans? What is artistic experience? And how important is performance for bringing a work to life? The resulting music in impressive and completely legitimate, and even makes one think of the essence and nature of God and mankind,” he said.

AIVA is listed as co-author of the new works, and is the only virtual artist that has been allowed to assert author’s rights through the musical rights protection association SACEM. AIVA can also create new music for film soundtracks or other purposes in the style of Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, and other great composers from the past, as it has processed 30,000 compositions. It can also work in other musical styles.

A trip to the United
States on 1892–95 acquainted him with American spirituals, which he
also blended into his music. His later years were devoted to
composing and teaching.