Happy July Fourth
July 4, 2023
I HOPE this recording of the ever-popular second movement of Antonin Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, also known as the New World Symphony, fills you with affection for your country today.
The symphony was composed in 1893 while Dvořák was the director of the National Conservatory of Music of America and was first performed in New York City.
The Czech composer “wrote that he would not have composed his American pieces as he had if he had not seen America. It has been said that Dvořák was inspired by the ‘wide open spaces’ of America, such as prairies he may have seen on his trip to Iowa in the summer of 1893. Notices about several performances of the symphony include the phrase ‘wide open spaces’ about what inspired the symphony and/or about the feelings it conveys to listeners.” (Source)
The piece evokes so much that is beautiful about America — things best said in sound.
