Dvořák and the New World Symphony: the Czech heart of an American hit

Antonín Dvořák was a butcher's son who became one of the most performed composers in the world, and he spent a strange, productive stretch of his life in New York. In 1893 he finished a symphony there that carries its address in the title: From the New World. The slow movement alone has turned up in films, adverts and school assemblies. Its heart, though, is stubbornly Czech.

This piece traces how the symphony came about, where the Czech fingerprints are, and how to follow Dvořák round Prague.

From Nelahozeves to New York

Dvořák was born in 1841 in Nelahozeves, a village on the Vltava north of Prague. He trained in the capital, played viola in an orchestra and worked as an organist. Brahms noticed his talent, and the Slavonic Dances made his name abroad.

In 1892 he went to New York to direct the National Conservatory of Music of America, a school that hoped to help American composers find their own voice. He stayed until 1895. By most accounts he was homesick: he missed the countryside, his pigeons and, famously, trains. Dvořák liked to note locomotive numbers at the station.

A summer in Iowa

In the summer of 1893 Dvořák went to Spillville, Iowa, a small town with a large Czech immigrant community. Surrounded by people who spoke Czech and kept Czech customs, he found the rhythm of home on the far side of the Atlantic. He wrote chamber music there, including the string quartet nicknamed the American.

The symphony was already complete, and it was played that winter. The two works sit side by side in his catalogue, one written in a metropolis and one in a farming village, both full of the same longing.

What the symphony is

Officially it is Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95. The New York Philharmonic gave the first performance at Carnegie Hall on 16 December 1893, conducted by Anton Seidl, and the audience loved it.

The title raised a question: is it American music? Dvořák believed American composers could draw on African American spirituals and Native American melodies, and he took those sources seriously. He did not quote existing tunes, though. He wrote original themes that carry the feel of what he heard, shaped by his own habits. Musicians still argue about how much comes from America and how much from home.

The Czech fingerprints

Listen first for the rhythms and scales. Many of the melodies are built on five-note (pentatonic) patterns, which turn up in Bohemian and Moravian folk tunes as well as in the music he heard in America, so the two traditions blend naturally. The dance-like scherzo has a lilt that Czech ears hear as home, and the habit of writing a song-like tune that arrives early and stays in your head is pure Dvořák.

The famous slow movement opens with a solo cor anglais, a deep, woody cousin of the oboe, and a melody that sounds like a song you already know. It sounds like homesickness, whether for a Bohemian village or an American prairie, and it sounds the same to the listener either way.

Dvořák in Prague

The Dvořák Museum is in Villa Amerika, a Baroque villa in the New Town. Despite the name, the building has nothing to do with the symphony; it was named long before. The museum is part of the National Museum's Czech Museum of Music, so check the National Museum site for opening times.

The Rudolfinum, on the river, has a concert hall named after him (see the Rudolfinum guide). The Czech Philharmonic is based here, and Dvořák himself conducted its first concert in 1896. Hearing the orchestra play his music in that hall is the closest you can get to the source. Look for the New World Symphony, the Cello Concerto or the Slavonic Dances in the Philharmonic's calendar, and read how to find a classical concert first.

His grave is in the Vyšehrad cemetery, where Smetana also lies. It is a quiet visit and pairs well with a walk round the ramparts (see Vyšehrad: history, views and how to visit). For the Smetana side of the story, read Smetana's Má vlast.

If you want more

After the symphony, try the Cello Concerto, the Slavonic Dances and the opera Rusalka, which contains the "Song to the Moon". Prague's opera houses stage Czech repertoire regularly (see the State Opera guide and the Estates Theatre). Folk rhythms run through the whole catalogue, and the folk and brass band guide shows where they came from.

Quick answers

Frequently asked questions

Is the New World Symphony American or Czech?

Both. Dvořák wrote it in New York, inspired by what he heard there, but its rhythms and habits are Czech. He did not quote existing American tunes.

Where was it first played?

At Carnegie Hall in New York on 16 December 1893, by the New York Philharmonic under Anton Seidl.

Where is Dvořák buried?

In the Vyšehrad cemetery in Prague, not far from Smetana.

Can I visit a Dvořák museum in Prague?

Yes. The Dvořák Museum is in Villa Amerika, part of the National Museum's Czech Museum of Music. Check opening times online.

If you only have one evening, hear the symphony in the Rudolfinum and then walk out along the river. The cor anglais tune tends to follow you home.