Four Centuries of Great Music December 5, 2021 Dvorak in America

Today on Four Centuries of Great Music the theme is Antonin Dvorak in America.  We are playing music that was written in American during Dvorak’s visits to the United States and inspired by his time in America. 

We are opening with Dvorak’s String Quartet in F Major Op. 96, "American" which was although probably has no American themes, Dvorak stated that he would not have written it if he had not been in America. 

Dvorak’s String Quintet in E-flat major op. 97 (with two violas) is the third work Dvorák composed during his stay in America.  It is said that the Quintet reflects the influence of American life and American music upon the composer.   The use of particular melodic and rhythmic elements in his American compositions, as typically found in Afro-American gospels and the pentatonic scales of Native American music that surrounded him during his summer in Iowa.  Whether Dvorák was the founder of an American national style of music or not, he certainly encouraged American composers to reflect in their music on what Dvorak considered American folk music.        

We are opening the second half of today’s show entitled Dvorak in American featuring music written by Dvorak during his stays in the United States and inspired by his time in America with Dvorak’s American Suite

Dvorak’s American Suite was written in early1894 as a five-movement piano piece, which the composer arranged for orchestra a year later. After the hectic life associated with the premiere of the New World Symphony, he turned his attention to an intimate work of restraint and humility. Although the thematic material maintains a certain “American” tone, there are no specific native American or African American themes. 

Today’s Four Centuries of Great Music is entitled Dvorak in American and features music written by Dvorak during his stays in the United States and inspired by his time in America.

Antonin Dvorak’s  Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, Op. 95 "From the New World” is probably his most famous and most played symphonic work.  The spiritual “Going Home” which is the main theme of the second movement, was undoubtedly introduced to him by Henry Thacker “Harry” Burleigh, and African-American who was his student of Dvorak at the National Conservatory.