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Biography

Antonin Dvorak was one of Czech Republic’s known composers. Dvorak was born a small village near Prague called Nelahozeves in 1841. Dvorak was of humble beginnings. His father was a butcher and Dvorak grew up in an inn (Sadie, 1986). Even though the family lacked the finances to put Dvorak to school, he was admitted to a local organ school in Prague and studied music at the age of 16 (Hickok, 1989; Machlis & Forney, 1995). Although it is unclear how Dvorak went to school in Prague, some biographers’ state that he was able to stay with an uncle who had no children and could shoulder his educational finances (Robertson, 1964).

Dvorak was a composer of the late Romantic period (Stefan, 1971). In his early career, his influences came from Bedrich Smetana, who was also a fellow Bohemian, and Richard Wagner, the famous German composer (Sadie, 1986). He was able to study the piano, organ, viola and violin (Robertson, 1964). He was an accomplished viola player and played for Smetana’s Bohemian Provisional Theater Orchestra (Wikipedia, 2008). To help with his finances, Dvorak also served as a professor of Composition at Prague Conservatory. He was also able to tour Europe conducting his own work (Hickock, 1989).

Sometime in his career, Dvorak’s 3rd symphony won an Austrian award and he was noticed by another composer Brahms. Dvorak and Brahms became friends and their friendship helped Dvorak’s career (Sadie, 1986). Brahms was able to have his own publisher publish some of Dvorak’s work. Brahms also helped proof-read some of Dvorak’s work when he did not know how to at this time. Rivalry was not seen in their friendship but they influenced each other in their works (Stefan, 1971).

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While Dvorak established national status in his homeland, he was also gaining international status. He was invited by National Conservatory of Music in New York to be their

Artistic director. He served from 1892 to 1895 and earned $15,000 a year (Hickok, 1989; Robertson, 1964). This gave Dvorak a chance to hear different kinds of music.

Symphony No.9

At this time, American composers were educated in Europe or had European influences in their works. Dvorak saw this as an opportunity to encourage American composers to develop their own unique style using native music to draw away from European influences (Bonds, 2006). Dvorak was interested in Native and African American music and was inspired to write his last symphony, No. 9 in E minor, opus 95: From the New World in 1893. (Wikipedia, 2008; Hickok, 1989). To understand the music that was ignored in African and Native American cultures, he had Harry T. Burleigh, a student at the National Conservatory of Music in New York where he was teaching, sing him some spirituals. He attended a Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show and looked at some records of Native American music to familiarize himself with the style. He said that both styles seem to be the same. In addition, he said that there was an odd scale where the fourth and seventh (leading tone) seem to be missing. The melodies for New World are heavily influenced by spiritual melodies than Native American (Clapham, 1966). It was also noted that Dvorak had encountered Native American music during his trip to Spillville, Iowa that would lead to other compositions like String Quintet in E Flat (Robertson, 1964; Stefan, 1971).

Most composers at this time thought that the use of Native American and African-American music in orchestra music was unfit to be heard in public or in concert halls. From then on, there would be a dispute on what constitutes as American music. After finishing Symphony

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no.9, Dvorak wrote to the New York Herald saying that America has her own unique, full and new sound not needing to send students to Europe for music education. Some composers use music from other lands to add to their music to pay respect to that country and add interest to their music. Dvorak added elements of what he perceived to be Native and African American music.

Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 was subtitled in November of 1893 to From the New World and known as the best American symphony from the second half of the 19th century and his most famous symphony (Bonds, 2006; Hickcok, 1989). In analyzing New World, Dvorak was very traditional in keeping with the four movement symphony (Sadie, 1986).

First Movement

The first movement is in sonata form with an extended slow introduction. It is based on three main themes: simple, tuneful, and has syncopated