Symphony No. 9 (Dvorák)
Encyclopedia
The Symphony No. 9 in E Minor "From the New World", Op. 95, B.
178 , 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 in the modern repertoire. In older literature and recordings this symphony is often indicated as Symphony No. 5.
:
and African-American spiritual
s he heard in America. Upon his arrival in America, he stated:
The symphony was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic
, and premiered on December 16, 1893, at Carnegie Hall
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:
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
" (Dvořák 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
". Most historians agree that Dvořák is referring to the pentatonic scale
, which is typical of each of these musical traditions.
In a 2008 article in The Chronicle of Higher Education
, prominent musicologist
Joseph Horowitz
asserts that African-american spirituals were a major influence on the ninth symphony, quoting Dvořák from an 1893 interview in the New York Herald as saying, "In the negro melodies of America I discover all that is needed for a great and noble school of music."
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.
The anthem of the Bureau of International Expositions
was extracted from the starting part of the fourth movement of the symphony.
he stated how there was "no getting out of it, and I had to show myself willy-nilly".
, whom Dvořák met during his American sojourn, and lyricist William Arms Fisher
, but the song was actually written by Fisher and based on Dvořák's Largo theme. Richard Taruskin
, however, states that it is unknown whether or not there already existed a spiritual that was used by Dvořák. What is known for sure, however, is that it has been popularised as a result.
, who performed it for the first time on 17 May 2005 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra
at the Royal Albert Hall
, London.
Jarmil Burghauser
Jarmil Michael Burghauser was a Czech composer, conductor, and musicologist....
178 , popularly known as the New World Symphony, was composed by Antonín Dvořák
Antonín Dvorák
Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
in 1893 during his visit to the United States from 1892 to 1895. It is by far his most popular symphony
Symphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...
, and one of the most popular in the modern repertoire. In older literature and recordings this symphony is often indicated as Symphony No. 5.
Instrumentation
This symphony is scored for an orchestra of the following:- 2 fluteFluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
s (one doubling piccoloPiccoloThe piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written...
), - 2 oboeOboeThe oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
s (one doubling on English horn), - 2 clarinetClarinetThe clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
s in A and B (B in movement 3), - 2 bassoonBassoonThe bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...
s, - 4 hornHorn (instrument)The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
s in E, C and F, - 2 trumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
s in E, C and E, - 2 tenor tromboneTromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
s, - bass trombone,
- tubaTubaThe tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...
(second movement only), - timpaniTimpaniTimpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...
, - triangleTriangle (instrument)The triangle is an idiophone type of musical instrument in the percussion family. It is a bar of metal, usually steel but sometimes other metals like beryllium copper, bent into a triangle shape. The instrument is usually held by a loop of some form of thread or wire at the top curve...
(third movement only), - cymbalCymbalCymbals are a common percussion instrument. Cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys; see cymbal making for a discussion of their manufacture. The greater majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sound a...
s (fourth movement only), and - stringString sectionThe string section is the largest body of the standard orchestra and consists of bowed string instruments of the violin family.It normally comprises five sections: the first violins, the second violins, the violas, the cellos, and the double basses...
s.
Movements
The piece has four movementsMovement (music)
A movement is a self-contained part of a musical composition or musical form. While individual or selected movements from a composition are sometimes performed separately, a performance of the complete work requires all the movements to be performed in succession...
:
- Adagio, 4/8Time signatureThe time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
– Allegro molto, 2/4, E minorE minorE minor is a minor scale based on the note E. The E natural minor scale consists of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. The E harmonic minor scale contains the natural 7, D, rather than the flatted 7, D – to align with the major dominant chord, B7 .Its key signature has one sharp, F .Its... - Largo, common time, D-flat major, then later C-sharp minor
- ScherzoScherzoA scherzo is a piece of music, often a movement from a larger piece such as a symphony or a sonata. The scherzo's precise definition has varied over the years, but it often refers to a movement which replaces the minuet as the third movement in a four-movement work, such as a symphony, sonata, or...
: Molto vivace – Poco sostenuto, 3/4, E minor - Allegro con fuoco, common time, E minor, ends in E majorE majorE major is a major scale based on E, with the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has four sharps .Its relative minor is C-sharp minor, and its parallel minor is E minor....
Influences
Dvořák was interested in the Native American musicNative American music
American Indian music is the music that is used, created or performed by Native North Americans, specifically traditional tribal music. In addition to the traditional music of the Native American groups, there now exist pan-tribal and inter-tribal genres as well as distinct Indian subgenres of...
and African-American spiritual
Spiritual (music)
Spirituals are religious songs which were created by enslaved African people in America.-Terminology and origin:...
s 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."
The symphony was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
, and premiered on December 16, 1893, at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
conducted by Anton Seidl
Anton Seidl
Anton Seidl was a Hungarian conductor.-Biography:He was born at Pest, Hungary. He began the study of music at a very early age, and when only seven years old could pick out at the piano melodies which he had heard at the theatre...
. A day earlier, in an article published in the New York Herald
New York Herald
The New York Herald was a large distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between May 6, 1835, and 1924.-History:The first issue of the paper was published by James Gordon Bennett, Sr., on May 6, 1835. By 1845 it was the most popular and profitable daily newspaper in the UnitedStates...
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, counterpointCounterpointIn music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...
, and orchestral colour."
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
Cantata
A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....
or opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
... which will be based upon Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...
's [The Song of] Hiawatha
The Song of Hiawatha
The Song of Hiawatha is an 1855 epic poem, in trochaic tetrameter, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, featuring an Indian hero and loosely based on legends and ethnography of the Ojibwe and other Native American peoples contained in Algic Researches and additional writings of Henry Rowe Schoolcraft...
" (Dvořák never actually wrote such a piece). He also wrote that the third movement scherzo
Scherzo
A scherzo is a piece of music, often a movement from a larger piece such as a symphony or a sonata. The scherzo's precise definition has varied over the years, but it often refers to a movement which replaces the minuet as the third movement in a four-movement work, such as a symphony, sonata, or...
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
Music of Scotland
Scotland is internationally known for its traditional music, which has remained vibrant throughout the 20th century, when many traditional forms worldwide lost popularity to pop music...
". Most historians agree that Dvořák is referring to the pentatonic scale
Pentatonic scale
A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five notes per octave in contrast to a heptatonic scale such as the major scale and minor scale...
, which is typical of each of these musical traditions.
In a 2008 article in The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is a newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty, staff members and administrators....
, prominent musicologist
Musicology
Musicology is the scholarly study of music. The word is used in narrow, broad and intermediate senses. In the narrow sense, musicology is confined to the music history of Western culture...
Joseph Horowitz
Joseph Horowitz
Joseph Horowitz is an American cultural historian whose seven books mainly deal with the institutional history of classical music in the United States. As a producer of concerts, he has played a pioneering role in promoting thematic programming and new concert formats...
asserts that African-american spirituals were a major influence on the ninth symphony, quoting Dvořák from an 1893 interview in the New York Herald as saying, "In the negro melodies of America I discover all that is needed for a great and noble school of music."
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
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
than with that of the United States. Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
averred that the work was truly multinational in its foundations.
The anthem of the Bureau of International Expositions
Bureau of International Expositions
The International Exhibitions Bureau is an intergovernmental organization created to supervise international exhibitions falling under the jurisdiction of the Convention Relating to International Exhibitions....
was extracted from the starting part of the fourth movement of the symphony.
Popular reception and premiere
At the ninth symphony's premiere at Carnegie Hall (December 16, 1893,) the reception was one of perpetual cheering. The end of every movement was met with thunderous clapping and Dvořák felt obliged to stand up and bow. In a letter to his publisher SimrockFritz Simrock
Friedrich August Simrock, better known as Fritz Simrock was a German music publisher who inherited a publishing firm from his grandfather Nicolaus Simrock...
he stated how there was "no getting out of it, and I had to show myself willy-nilly".
The song "Goin' Home"
It has been claimed that the theme from the Largo was adapted into a spiritual-like song "Goin' Home", by composer Harry BurleighHarry Burleigh
Henry "Harry" Thacker Burleigh , a baritone, was an African American classical composer, arranger, and professional singer...
, whom Dvořák met during his American sojourn, and lyricist William Arms Fisher
William Arms Fisher
William Arms Fisher was an American composer, music historian and writer.-Personal life:Fisher was born in San Francisco, California on April 27, 1861...
, but the song was actually written by Fisher and based on Dvořák's Largo theme. Richard Taruskin
Richard Taruskin
Richard Taruskin is an American-Russian musicologist, music historian, and critic who has written about the theory of performance, Russian music, fifteenth-century music, twentieth-century music, nationalism, the theory of modernism, and analysis. As a choral conductor he directed the Columbia...
, however, states that it is unknown whether or not there already existed a spiritual that was used by Dvořák. What is known for sure, however, is that it has been popularised as a result.
Original manuscript score
The score as published has some differences from Dvořák's manuscript. The published score is the version almost always heard today. However, the original version as written by Dvořák has been championed by conductor Denis VaughanDenis Vaughan
Denis Vaughan is an orchestral conductor most famous for his role as the driving force behind the creation of the United Kingdom's National Lottery. He is a campaigner for wider access to arts and culture for young people, and promotes the health benefits of music, the arts and sport...
, who performed it for the first time on 17 May 2005 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra
London Philharmonic Orchestra
The London Philharmonic Orchestra , based in London, is one of the major orchestras of the United Kingdom, and is based in the Royal Festival Hall. In addition, the LPO is the main resident orchestra of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera...
at the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
, London.
External links
- Score from Indiana University
- Score from Mutopia Project
- Free recording by the Columbia University Orchestra
- True Story of "Goin' Home"
- Lyrics and Discussion on "Going Home"