World” Symphony was not only Dvorák’s way of pointing toward
a truly American musical idiom but also a reflection of his own
feelings about the country. “I should never have written the
Symphony as I have,” he said, “if I hadn’t seen America.”
What To Listen For
The “New World” Symphony is unified by the use of a motto
theme that occurs in all four movements. This bold, striding
phrase, with its arching contour, is played by the horns as the
main theme of the sonata-form opening movement, having been
foreshadowed (also by the horns) in the slow introduction. Two
other themes are used in the first movement: a sad, dance-like
melody for flute and oboe that exhibits folk characteristics, and
a brighter tune, with a striking resemblance to Swing Low, Sweet
Chariot, for the solo flute.
Many years before coming to America, Dvorák had
encountered Longfellow’s epic poem The Song of Hiawatha,
which he read in a Czech translation. The great tale remained
in his mind, and he considered making an opera of it during his
time in New York. That project came to nothing, but Hiawatha did
have an influence on the “New World” Symphony: the second
movement was inspired by the forest funeral of Minnehaha; the
third, by the dance of the Indians at the feast. That the music of
these movements has more in common with the old plantation
songs than with the chants of native Americans is due to Dvorák’s
mistaken belief that African-American and Indian music were
virtually identical.
a haunting English horn melody (later fitted with words by
William Arms Fisher to become the folksong-spiritual Goin’
Home) heard in the first and last sections. The recurring motto
here is pronounced by the trombones just before the return of
the main theme in the closing section. The third movement is a
tempestuous scherzo with two gentle, intervening trios providing
contrast. The motto theme, played by the horns, dominates the
coda.
The finale employs a sturdy motive introduced by the horns
and trumpets after a few introductory measures in the strings.
In the Symphony’s closing pages, the motto theme, Goin’ Home
and the scherzo melody are all gathered up and combined
with the principal subject of the finale to produce a marvelous
synthesis of the entire work — a look back across the sweeping
vista of Dvorák’s musical tribute to America.