Antonín Dvořák began work on his Ninth Symphony in December 1892, shortly after his arrival in America, and completed it in May 1893. He had come to the United States at the invitation of Jeanette Thurber, president of the National Conservatory of Music, who had asked Dvořák to head the National Conservatory of Music in New York City. Although Dvořák was initially reluctant to leave Vysoká, his country home, not to mention his friends and his country, the $15,000 salary Mrs. Thurber offered him was too tempting to pass up (Dvořák’s six children were all under 13 at the time; providing for his family was the main reason he accepted Thurber’s offer). For her part, Thurber hoped Dvořák’s international reputation would shine much-needed luster on her school.
During his three-year sojourn in New York, Dvořák spent his off hours exploring the city, watching trains and large ships arrive and depart, feeding pigeons in Central Park and meeting all kinds of people. He also accompanied Mrs. Thurber around town, taking in, among other outings, a performance of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. She was keenly interested in creating a uniquely “American” musical sound and style, and hoped that Dvořák would oblige her. She suggested that Dvořák “write a symphony embodying his experiences and feelings in America.” Late in 1892, Dvořák wrote to a friend back home, “The Americans expect great things of me. I am to show them the way into the Promised Land, the realm of a new, independent art, in short, a national style of music! … This will certainly be a great and lofty task, and I hope that with God’s help I shall succeed in it. I have plenty of encouragement to do so.”
Dvořák’s response to Thurber’s request was no mere parlor piece or small chamber work, but a symphony as expansive and energetic as America itself. From the moment of its premiere, the New World Symphony became – and remains today – Dvořák’s most popular work and one of the most performed symphonies by any composer.
Although Dvořák was exposed to a great deal of American folk music, including Native American melodies and Negro spirituals, he did not quote any of them verbatim while writing the Ninth Symphony. Dvořák explained, “The influence of America can be readily felt by anyone with ‘a nose.’” That is, hints of the uniquely American flavor of this music are discernable throughout. Dvořák makes use of the syncopated rhythms, repeated patterns and particular scales common to much of America’s indigenous music. However, the Ninth Symphony is not a patchwork of previously existing materials, and Dvořák used no direct quotes in any part of the work, including the famous Largo, which was later given the title Goin’ Home, with accompanying text, by one of Dvořák’s composition students in New York. All the significant melodies in the Ninth Symphony are Dvořák’s own. “I have simply written original themes embodying the peculiarities of Indian music, and using these themes as subjects, have developed them with all the resources of modern rhythms, harmony, counterpoint and orchestral color,” Dvořák explained. As for the title, “From the New World,” Dvořák intended it as an aural picture postcard to be mailed back to friends and family in Europe and meant simply “Impressions and Greetings from the New World.”
At the premiere, the audience applauded every movement with great enthusiasm, especially the Largo, which they cheered without pause until Dvořák rose from his seat and took a bow. A critic writing for the New York Evening Post spoke for most when he wrote, “Anyone who heard it could not deny that it is the greatest symphonic work ever composed in this country … A masterwork has been added to the symphonic literature.”
© Elizabeth Schwartz.