Symphony 9 New World - Dvorak (1841-1904)

Adagio - Allegro molto: Largo: Scherzo - Molto vivace: Allegro con fuoco

Dvorák was born in a small Bohemian village on the river Vltava, forty-five miles north of Prague. How extraordinary, in view of later developments, that his schooling finished when he was eleven years old so that he could become an apprentice butcher! Talent will out and he spent his spare time learning the viola, organ, piano and composition. Eventually, Dvorák's father was persuaded to let him study music properly and, at the age of sixteen, he was enrolled at the Prague Organ School. The training there was strictly that of a church musician but Dvorák rushed off to orchestral concerts at every opportunity. After graduating in 1859 he was appointed principal viola in a theatre orchestra and supplemented his income giving lessons. Not enough time remained for composition and he left the orchestra in 1871 to pursue his first love: incidentally his other sort of first love spurned him in spite of a dedicated song-cycle, Cypress Trees. He soon recovered and married the young lady's sister with whom he had the most felicitous relationship throughout his life - a lucky escape perhaps!

In 1874 Dvorák made a determined effort to win a major award by entering some fifteen works for the Austrian National Prize. He won, receiving a very welcome bursary and the admiration of Brahms who was one of the adjudicators. This was indeed a timely push in the right direction. All credit to Dvorák's attractive personality that, in the world of composers where calumny is not unknown, he was befriended and helped not only by such an important fellow composer as Brahms but also, in later years, by Tchaikovsky. Brahms, who came bundled with rather a surly reputation, liked the young man's music so much that he even introduced him to his own publisher, a major step forward for Dvorák.

There is something immensely comforting about the music of Dvorák. However much we may enjoy the exhilaration and challenges of other composers, returning to that period of music when the classical form was being expanded by the romantic symphonists is an indulgence that can bring great pleasure. This could be no more evident than in Dvorák’s last and ninth symphony "From the New World". In the latter stages of his life, Dvorák was enticed to America where he spent several years as Director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York. Being a staunch advocate of nationalism and the musical identity of his Bohemian homeland, it is no surprise that he tried to promote the same consciousness of musical values among his students, campaigning for an American music based on American roots. How much the ninth symphony reflects American roots is not clear and Dvorák did not help matters by declaring in an interview in the New York Herald a few days before he finished the symphony, "I am now satisfied that the future music of this country must be founded upon what are called the negro melodies. This must be the real foundation of any serious and original school of composition to be developed in the United States." In another article, published several months later, on the day of the première of his new symphony, he described its second and third movements as having been inspired by "the local color of Indian character." With some justification, it was widely assumed that he had done in the symphony exactly what he counselled in his teaching; used American Indian and Negro songs and rhythms as the source of his musical materials. Dvorák denied this saying that the subtitle of the symphony referred to himself, as if writing from the New World back to his public in Europe. Musicologists were quick to point out that there was nothing in the harmonies and rhythms of the ninth symphony that had not been displayed in earlier, pre-American works.

Interesting as all this conjecture may be, we are indebted to Dvorák for his musical legacy. The four beautifully crafted movements of this wonderful symphony are dear to us, expressing both deep emotion and an immense joy.

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