Symphony No. 9 (Dvořák)

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"New World Symphony" redirects here; for the Miami-based orchestra, see New World Symphony Orchestra.

The Symphony No. 9, in E Minor "From the New World" (Op. 95), popularly known as the New World Symphony, was composed by Antonín Dvořák in 1893 during his visit to the United States from 1892 to 1895. It is by far his most popular symphony, and one of the most popular symphonies in the modern repertory.

Contents

[edit] Instrumentation

This symphony is scored for an orchestra of the following:

2 flutes (one doubling piccolo)[1], 2 oboes (one doubling on cor anglais), 2 clarinets in A, 2 bassoons, 4 horns in E and C, 2 trumpets in E, C and E flat, 2 tenor trombones, bass trombone, tuba (second movement only)[2], timpani, triangle(third movement only), cymbals(fourth movement only), and strings.

[edit] Movements

The piece has four movements:

[edit] Influences

Dvořák was interested in the native American music and African-American spirituals he heard in America. Upon his arrival in America, he stated:

"I am convinced that the future music of this country must be founded on what are called Negro melodies. These can be the foundation of a serious and original school of composition, to be developed in the United States. These beautiful and varied themes are the product of the soil. They are the folk songs of America and your composers must turn to them." [3]

The symphony was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, and premiered on December 16, 1893 at Carnegie Hall (which was the home of the Philharmonic until 1962), conducted by Anton Seidl. A day earlier, in an article published in the New York Herald on December 15, 1893, Dvořák further explained how Native American music had been an influence on this symphony:

"I have not actually used any of the [Native American] melodies. I have simply written original themes embodying the peculiarities of the Indian music, and, using these themes as subjects, have developed them with all the resources of modern rhythms, counterpoint, and orchestral color."

In the same article, Dvořák stated that he regarded the symphony's second movement as a "sketch or study for a later work, either a cantata or opera ... which will be based upon Longfellow's [The Song of] Hiawatha" (he never actually wrote such a piece). He also wrote that the third movement scherzo was "suggested by the scene at the feast in Hiawatha where the Indians dance".

Curiously enough, passages which modern ears perceive as the musical idiom of African-American spirituals may have been intended by Dvořák to evoke a Native American atmosphere. In 1893, a newspaper interview quoted Dvořák as saying "I found that the music of the negroes and of the Indians was practically identical", and that "the music of the two races bore a remarkable similarity to the music of Scotland".[4][5] Most historians agree that Dvořák is referring to the pentatonic scale, which is typical of each of these musical traditions.[6]

In a 2008 article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, prominent musicologist Joseph Horowitz asserts that African-american spirituals were a major influence on the 9th symphony, quoting Dvořák from an 1893 interview in the New York Herald as saying, "In the negro melodies of America I discover all that is needed for a great and noble school of music."[7]

Despite all this, it is generally considered that, like other Dvořák pieces, the work has more in common with folk music of his native Bohemia than with that of the United States. Leonard Bernstein averred that the work was truly multinational in its foundations.[8] Nonetheless, many have proclaimed that the spirit of this symphony is quintessentially American, and the multiculturalism of the work has been cited as supporting this, in harmony with the nature of America as a melting pot.[citation needed]

[edit] Critical reception

At the Ninth Symphony's premiere at Carnegie Hall the reception was one of perpetual cheering. The end of every movement was met with thunderous clapping and Dvořák felt obliged to stand up and bow. In a letter to his publisher Simrock he stated how there was "no getting out of it, and I had to show myself willy-nilly".[citation needed]

[edit] Influence on other composers

The theme from the largo was adapted into a spiritual-like song "Goin’ Home," by black composer Harry Burleigh, whom Dvořák met during his American sojourn, and lyricist William Arms Fisher. [9]

The fourth movement of the symphony was adapted into a song called "The Wizard's Last Rhymes" by the symphonic metal band Rhapsody, on their album Rain of a Thousand Flames. This portion was also used by Blind Guardian in "By The Gates of Moria" on their first album Battalions of Fear.

[edit] Media


[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ The scoring of piccolo in this symphony is extremely unusual; although the English horn is brought in for the famous solo in the second movement, the piccolo plays only a short phrase in the first, and nothing else.
  2. ^ Tuba is only scored in the second movement. According to the full score book published by Dover, pharses "Trombone basso e Tuba" is indicated in the measures in second movement; The bass trombone is used in all four movements.
  3. ^ Classical Classics - Dvorak's "New World" Symphony, Classical Notes, Peter Gutmann
  4. ^ Kerkering, John D.; Albert Gelpi, Ross Posnock (2003). The Poetics of National and Racial Identity in Nineteenth-Century American Literature. Cambridge University Press, 133. ISBN 0521831148. 
  5. ^ Beckerman, Michael Brim (2003). New Worlds of Dvorak: Searching in America for the Composer's Inner Life. W. W. Norton & Company, 237. ISBN 0393047067. 
  6. ^ Clapham, John (1958). The Musical Quarterly, The Evolution of Dvorak's Symphony "From the New World". Oxford University Press, 167-183. 
  7. ^ Joseph Horowitz, "New World Symphony and Discord: In the Gilded Age, a Czech visionary saw America's musical future in 'negro melodies', Chronicle of Higher Education, January 11, 2008, The Chronicle Review, page B18. Accessible from Chronicle of Higher Education web site.
  8. ^ Leonard Bernstein - the 1953 American Decca recordings. DGG 477 0002. Comments on the 2nd compact disc.
  9. ^ Smith, Jane Stuart; Betty Carlson (1995). The Gift of Music: Great Composers and Their Influence. Crossway Books. ISBN 089107869X. , p. 157: "The largo of the second movement has a hauntingly beautiful melody played by the English horn. There is a sense of longing about it, and a spiritual has been adapted from it, 'Going Home.'"

[edit] Further reading

  • Beckerman, Michael (1993). Dvořák and His World. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691000972. 
  • Schönzeler, Hans-Hubert (1984). Dvořák. Marion Boyars. ISBN 0714525758. 
  • Tibbetts, John C. (2003). Dvořák in America 1892-1895. Amadeus Press. ISBN 093134056X. 

[edit] External links


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Symphonies by Antonín Dvořák