Dvorak Symphony 9 "From The New World"

Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra, Derek Gleeson, Conductor





Symphony No. 9 (Dvořák)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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.

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, cymbals, and strings.

Movements
 
The piece has four movements:

I. Adagio — Allegro molto
II. Largo
III. Scherzo: Molto Vivace — Poco sostenuto
IV. Allegro con fuoco

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's premiere was on December 16, 1893 by the New York Philharmonic 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.[citation needed]

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.[6] 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]

Influence on other composers
 
The theme from the largo was adapted into a spiritual-like song "Goin’ Home," by black composer Harry Burleigh, whom Dvorak met during his American sojourn, and lyricist William Arms Fisher.[7]

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, it indicates "Trombone basso e Tuba" in the second movement. The bass trombone is used in all four movements.
3 http://www.classicalnotes.net/columns/newworld.html
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 Leonard Bernstein - the 1953 American Decca recordings. DGG 477 0002. Comments on the 2nd compact disc.
7 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.'"

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._9_(Dvo%C5%99%C3%A1k)