Dvorak's Symphony "From the New World"
19th century Czech composer Antonin Dvorak wrote his 9th symphony while in America, thus "From the New World" in the title.
Dvorak was inspired by the folk music of common people in his home country and of those he encountered in America, especially African American spirituals and other ethnic genres. Dvorak himself credited an inspiration for the symphony in the African American and Native American melodies he heard while traveling in America, where he composed it. He told a journalist that those melodies reminded him of Scottish traditional music, which is also based on the pentatonic scale.
It is possible that the entire symphony was inspired by the poem, “The Song of Hiawatha” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, as a friend of his, Jeanette Thurber, had given him a copy of the poem and suggested he write an opera about it. Dvorak later said that the Scherzo: Molto Vivace was inspired by the poem. Dvorak composed it while working as the director of a music conservatory in New York, thus its title, "Z nového světa,“ Czech for “From the New World” (it is technically his 9th Symphony). It was debuted at Carnegie Hall in New York City to enormous acclaim.
The symphony is known for its spirit of hope, longing, and exploration. While influenced by ethnic American music, another inspiration from the “New World” was the “wide open spaces” he saw while traveling across America. But most of all, Dvorak missed his home country, Bohemia, which is now part of Czech Republic. Bohemia was long part of the Holy Roman Empire (Prague was once its capital) but the people longed for equal recognition with, or even independence from, Austria and Hungary. Inspired by American self-governance, the spirit of independence was strong across central Europe, especially among those under Austro-Hungarian rule. (There were various independence movements that were crushed by European powers in 1848.) In honor of his home county and people Dvorak also wove traditional Slavonic melodies into the symphony.
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