Inspiration and Influence in Dvorak s 9th Symphony

Music Impression

I would say that the standout for me this year was hearing Dvorak’s “The New World” Symphony, also known as his Symphony No. 9 in E Minor. I can honestly say that there is not one moment in this symphony where I was bored: the entire thing is interesting, exciting, moving, and dramatic. I could close my eyes and picture myself in a sweeping epic of beauty and nature. This symphony literally sounds the way you would expect a “new world” to sound—pristine, pure, grand, inviting, dangerous, yet sublime and inviting. For this piece, the presentation is a YouTube video performance of the Gimnazija Kranj Symphony Orchestra under the baton of maestro Nejc Be?an in 2018 (Zevnikov, 2020).

First of all, let me give some background on this piece. Dvorak’s New World Symphony is indeed a work that is elegant, moving, and masterful, and one that has stood the test of time. The New World Symphony was composed in 1892 and was inspired by Dvorak’s visit to America. The symphony is in four parts, and each part echoes with the kind of “wide open spaces” that Dvorak saw with his own eyes (Sullivan, 1999, p. ix). He was commissioned to write it by the New York Philharmonic. The musical influences, according to Dvorak came from his impressions of Native American music (Neas, 2017).

The video on YouTube shows a typical symphony orchestra with a conductor and a large crowd is in the audience in a hall. There is nothing out of the ordinary about it or particularly special about this performance, but I feel that just about any performance of this piece is going to be great. So what makes it so special for me?

Hearing Dvorak\'s New World for the first time this year was special for me because I was finally able to appreciate all of the different parts that make up the symphony. I had heard bits and pieces of it before, but never the entire piece. Hearing it all together was like finally putting together a puzzle. I could hear the different instruments playing their own part, but also how they came together to create something beautiful. It was also special because it made me think about my own heritage. Dvorak was inspired by African-American and Native American music, and hearing his symphony made me feel connected to those cultures. But really I didn’t hear much of those influences. I heard a kind of folksy theme throughout it, which is what really made me feel like this was a symphony about America. Overall, hearing Dvorak\'s New World for the first time this year was a very special experience for me.

What attracted me personally was the music. The performance was good, but I don’t have a favorite performance for this piece, as I assume they would all be great. It is the music that attracts me. The woodwinds open it with a kind of wistful sound that makes me feel like I am looking backward in time, or across a wide prairie as the sun is setting and I am standing in the doorway of an old cottage. There are clouds in the sky and in the west the sun is falling away over the horizon. There is a cool breeze in the air, and the wind is rustling the tall grass. That is what I see in my mind as I hear those opening woodwinds.

Then there is that deep, thunderous roar from the strings and the timpani and all of a sudden all the calm of those opening notes is disturbed by what seems like in my mind to be a big cloud about to unleash a great storm over the pastoral scene. The brass horns and woodwinds seem to be announcing the coming of some great message, heralding something important—and then they fall silent as the cellos take over. The flutes chime in, and the strings come back like a wave rolling up the shore. The flutes take things up a level, and anticipation builds with the violins again taking over. Finally, the French horn announces the theme, and the music is off and running. It is magnificent and glorious, and perfect.

All the parts of the symphony then begin working together at once, the strings, woodwinds, brass, and timpani—everyone is getting in on it, and it is great to hear that kind of harmony, supporting the magnificent melody—and everything at a nice, quick, rhythmic pace, too. I can hear it and feel it. This is much different, for me, from say something like Stravinsky’s music, which sounds jarring and without significance. I wouldn’t want to listen to that, but with Dvorak’s New World I feel like I could listen to it all day and find something new and wonderful about it.

At this point I just want to sit and listen and be swept away by the music. It’s like being caught up in a whirlwind of sound and lifted up to the sky and seeing all of pastoral America below. And for brief touches the music brings you back down to earth again so that you can run in the tall prairie grass, and feel the cool summer evening air on your cheek, and touch the land and run with the dogs, and so on. And then you come upon a brook, and you can sit and taste the water, and listen to it as the runs over the rocks and down into a stream, and further down yet you know there is a river and you will probably be on it before long because that is just the type of thing that this music has in store for you.

If I had to compare this music to something, I would probably compare it to something by Copland (because there is that same inspiration in African American sounds) or to something by Tchaikovsky (because there is also that same inspiration from Slavic sounds). Dvorak was inspired by both I think—the former because that’s what he heard in America, and the latter because he was from that part of Europe where the Slavic influence is strong.

It’s like these two musical currents and meeting and mixing for the first time, that Slavid-European current and the African American spiritual current—they have crossed the Atlantic and an enormous, jubilant, yet often reflective and thoughtful piece of sound is emerging from this mating of currents. It is exciting to think about.