Why Did Dvořák Write the New World Symphony? A Czech Butcher's Son in 1890s America

Antonín Dvořák wrote his Symphony No. 9, "From the New World", in 1893 while he was director of the National Conservatory of Music of America in New York, and the New York Philharmonic commissioned it. Fascinated by African-American spirituals and Native American music, he wanted to show what an American symphony might sound like, writing original themes in their spirit rather than quoting existing melodies. The man who did this was a Czech villager whose father ran an inn, and whose own path to fame was anything but direct.

A village boy near the railway

Dvořák was born on 8 September 1841 in Nelahozeves, a village near Prague that was then part of the Austrian Empire. His father, František, worked as an innkeeper, a butcher and a professional zither player; he was not very successful in the first two jobs, but earned a living as a musician.

Something else arrived in Nelahozeves during Dvořák's childhood: a railway station. The young boy developed a passion for trains that lasted his whole life. It is a charming detail for a composer whose music so often seems to travel between worlds.

Learning German, learning music

At 13 he was sent to live with his uncle in the town of Zlonice, mainly to learn German, the language of administration and advancement in the Austrian Empire. His German teacher there, Antonín Liehmann, was also the church organist, and he taught the boy organ, piano, violin and music theory.

So a language lesson became a music lesson. In September 1857 Dvořák entered the Prague Organ School, and he graduated in 1859, second in his class.

Years in the viola section

For the next decade Dvořák earned his living as an orchestral player. From 1862 he played viola in the orchestra of Prague's Provisional Theatre, and he stayed until 1871, when he left to concentrate on composing. Sitting in the middle of the orchestra night after night, he learned from the inside how operas and orchestral works are built.

The prize, Brahms and the Slavonic Dances

His breakthrough came through a state scholarship. Dvořák won the Austrian State Prize for composition for 1874, and again in 1876 and 1877. The jury in 1874 included the critic Eduard Hanslick and Johannes Brahms.

Brahms did more than vote. After the 1877 prize he recommended Dvořák to his own publisher, Simrock, who commissioned the Slavonic Dances, Op. 46, submitted in 1878. A second set, Op. 72, followed in 1886.

Conquering England

Britain became one of Dvořák's most loyal audiences. A performance of his Stabat Mater at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 10 March 1883 led to many more performances in the country. He visited Britain at least eight times, conducting his own music.

The New York years

In 1892 Jeannette Thurber, president of the National Conservatory of Music of America, invited him to New York with an offer of $15,000 a year. He directed the conservatory from 1892 to 1895, though in 1894 his salary was cut to $8,000 and paid irregularly.

Between January and May 1893 he wrote the "New World" Symphony. Anton Seidl conducted the New York Philharmonic in its premiere at Carnegie Hall on 16 December 1893, to enthusiastic applause. Dvořák said that a dance scene in Longfellow's poem The Song of Hiawatha inspired the scherzo, and historians link the symphony's American flavour largely to its use of the pentatonic scale.

Summer in Spillville and a song from the Largo

That summer Dvořák travelled to Spillville, a small town in Iowa, for the summer. There he wrote the String Quartet in F major, Op. 96, known as the "American", and a string quintet.

The symphony's slow movement, a Largo with a famous English horn solo, took on a life of its own. Its theme was later adapted by William Arms Fisher into the song "Goin' Home". In 1969 Neil Armstrong took a recording of the symphony with him on Apollo 11, so this "New World" music travelled all the way to the Moon.

Home to Prague: the Cello Concerto and Rusalka

Dvořák finished his Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104, in February 1895, and conducted its premiere in London in 1896. Back in Bohemia, he turned to opera. Rusalka premiered in 1901 and became his most successful opera, and its aria "Song to the Moon" is among his best-known pieces.

He died in Prague on 1 May 1904, aged 62, after about five weeks of illness that followed an attack of influenza. He is buried in Vyšehrad Cemetery in Prague. The village boy who learned German to get ahead ended up giving the world one of its best-loved musical pictures of America.

Learn with Dvořák: English phrases about travel and home

Phrase	Meaning	Example
to feel homesick	to miss your home while away	Far from Prague, anyone might feel homesick.
a big break	an important chance that leads to success	The state prize was his big break.
to put in a good word for someone	to recommend someone	Brahms put in a good word for him with Simrock.
to take something in your stride	to deal with a change calmly	She took the move to a new city in her stride.
there's no place like home	home is the best place	After three years abroad, he felt there was no place like home.

Try this: Imagine you have just moved to a new country. Write four English sentences to a friend, using "homesick" and "a big break".