Dvořák to America

In order to attain the composition and performance of genuine "American" music, Antonín Dvořák believed such a style must be founded on African American and Native American melodies. Being inspired by these sounds of America, Antonín Dvořák wrote his most famous Symphony No. 9 in E Minor “From the New World.”The symphony’s second and third movements evidence Antonín Dvořák’s fascination with Native Americans. Dvořák, however, also spent time with Native Americans and studied their music first hand, while visiting the BilyCloks House in Spillville, Iowa, for the summer of 1893. The same year, on December 16, the Philharmonic Society of New York played the world premiere of the New World Symphony at Carnegie Hall.

Enjoy a special concert of the New World Symphony performed by the Catholic University Orchestra conducted by conductor Murry Sidlin at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC, at 7 p.m. on September 17, 2011.