Romantic Image of Native America in Dvorak's New World Symphony

He was a representation of nationalist composition

• He was not American but asked to write American Nationalism

• He believed that a distinct American sound would come from the people

  • Native American

  • African Americans

• Dvorak’s 9th

  • Was originally going to be an opera of Hiawatha

• He knew of Native music in three ways

  • Hiawatha - Given a copy by Jaenet Ferber who brought him to America

    • Largo was a “study of a spirit”

    • Scherzo is the Wedding feast

  • He went to a wild west show

  • Theodore Baker’s Dissertation with three Native Melodies

In the opening of the Largo, what aspects might be attached to the “American Indian Spirit?”

• Imitating the vocal style in repeated notes

• It is pensive until it has a lightbulb moment and then the color changes

• English horn is representative of bag pipes which signifies the pasture/shepherds

Ending of the Largo

• Three blessings

  • Bluebird and robin

    • Trills and ornamentation

    • Two ideas represent both birds

  • The sun gives a blessing to Hiawatha

    • The orchestration is grandiose

    • The texture change is immediate

    • The dynamic ff

    • Themes from the first movement

    • The rising/opening motive - imitation of a fanfare - theme of the hero

  • The moon give a blessing to Minnehaha

    • The strings represent the feminine nature of Minnehaha

    • The strings are descending and they break down to a single line - whispering moon