View source for Symphony No. 9 (Dvořák)

{{Short description|1893 symphony by Antonín Dvořák}}
{{redirect2|New World Symphony|From the New World|the Miami-based orchestra|New World Symphony (orchestra)|the former New York orchestra|Symphony of the New World|other uses|From the New World (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2018}}
{{Infobox musical composition
| name                = Symphony No. 9<br />''New World Symphony''
| composer            = [[Antonín Dvořák]]
| image               = The title page of the autograph score of Dvořák's ninth symphony.jpg
| image_upright       = 1.3
| caption             = Title page of the autograph score of Dvořák's ninth symphony
| key                 = [[E minor]]
| catalogue           = [[Jarmil Burghauser|B]]. 178
| opus                = 95
| composed            = {{start date|1893}}
| dedication          = 
| published           = 
| movements           = 4
| duration            = 
| premiere_date       = 16 December 1893
| premiere_location   = [[Carnegie Hall]], New York City
| premiere_conductor  = [[Anton Seidl]]
| premiere_performers = [[New York Philharmonic]]
| first_recording     =
}}

The '''Symphony No. 9''' in [[E minor]], "From the New World", [[Opus number|Op.]] 95, [[Jarmil Burghauser|B.]]&nbsp;178 ({{langx|cs|{{noitalics|Symfonie č. 9 e moll}} "Z nového světa"|links=no}}), also known as the '''''New World Symphony''''', was composed by [[Antonín Dvořák]] in 1893 while he was the director of the [[National Conservatory of Music of America]] from 1892 to 1895. It premiered in New York City on 16 December 1893.<ref name=dvorak.cz /> It is one of the most popular of all symphonies.<ref name="Clapham" /> In older literature and recordings, this symphony was – as for its first publication – numbered as Symphony No. 5. 
The symphony was completed in the building that now houses the [[Bily Clocks Museum]] in [[Spillville, Iowa]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pohlen |first=Jerome |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BgUcucp3NvUC&q=%22bily+clock+museum%22&pg=PA100 |title=Oddball Iowa: A Guide to Some Really Strange Places |date=1 April 2005 |publisher=Chicago Review Press |isbn=9781569764688 |page=100}}</ref>

Astronaut [[Neil Armstrong]] took a tape recording including the ''New World Symphony'' along during the [[Apollo 11]] mission, the first Moon landing, in 1969.<ref name="Apollo11">{{Cite book |last=Wagener |first=Leon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DqN0OqpXKCwC&q=Dvo%C5%99%C3%A1k+9+apollo+11&pg=PA176 |title=One Giant Leap: Neil Armstrong's Stellar American Journey |publisher=Tom Doherty Associates |year=2005 |isbn=9781466828568 |page=176}}</ref> 

== Instrumentation ==
[[File:Dv CA extrait.jpg|500px|alt=|thumb|Opening [[Cor anglais|English horn]] theme from the second movement of the work]]
This symphony is scored for the following orchestra:
* 2 [[Western concert flute|flutes]] (one doubling [[piccolo]]){{efn|The scoring of piccolo in this symphony is unusual; although the English horn is brought in for the solo in the second movement, the piccolo plays only a short phrase in the first, and nothing else.}}
* 2 [[oboe]]s (one doubling [[Cor anglais|English horn]])
* 2 [[soprano clarinet|clarinets]] in B{{Music|b}} & A
* 2 [[bassoon]]s
* 4 [[French horn|horns]] in E, C and F
* 2 [[trumpet]]s in E
* 3 [[trombone]]s: [[Alto trombone|alto]], [[Tenor trombone|tenor]], [[Bass trombone|bass]]
* [[Tuba]] (second movement only){{efn|Tuba is only scored in the second movement. According to the full score book published by Dover, ''Trombone basso e Tuba'' is indicated in some measures in the second movement; the bass trombone is used with the two other trombones in movements 1, 2 and 4.}}
* [[Timpani]]
* [[Triangle (musical instrument)|Triangle]] (third movement only)
* [[Cymbal]]s (fourth movement only)
* [[String section|Strings]]

== Form ==
{{Listen|type=music|filename=Antonin Dvorak - symphony no. 9 in e minor 'from the new world', op. 95 - i. adagio - allegro molto.ogg|title=I. Adagio – Allegro molto
|filename2=Antonin Dvorak - symphony no. 9 in e minor 'from the new world', op. 95 - ii. largo.ogg|title2=II. Largo
|filename3=Antonin Dvorak - symphony no. 9 in e minor 'from the new world', op. 95 - iii. molto vivace.ogg|title3=III. Scherzo: Molto vivace
|filename4=Antonin Dvorak - symphony no. 9 in e minor 'from the new world', op. 95 - iv. allegro con fuoco.ogg|title4=IV. Allegro con fuoco}}
A typical performance usually lasts around 40 minutes. The work is in four [[Movement (music)|movements]]:
{{ordered list|list_style_type=upper-roman
|[[Tempo#Italian tempo markings|Adagio]], {{music|time|4|8}} – ''[[Tempo#Italian tempo markings|Allegro]] molto'', {{music|time|2|4}}, [[E minor]], 452 measures 
|[[Tempo#Italian tempo markings|Largo]], {{music|commontime}}, [[D-flat major|D{{music|b}} major]] → [[C-sharp minor|C{{music|#}} minor]] → D{{music|b}} major, 127 measures 
|[[Scherzo]]: [[Molto]] [[Tempo#Italian tempo markings|vivace]] – Poco sostenuto, {{music|time|3|4}}, E minor, Trio in [[C major]], 300 measures 
|[[Finale (music)|Finale]]: [[Tempo#Italian tempo markings|Allegro]] con fuoco, {{music|commontime}}, E minor, 348 measures 
}}

=== I. Adagio – Allegro molto ===
[[File:Orchesterwerke Romantik Themen.pdf|450px|page=228]]

The movement is written in [[sonata form]] and begins with an introductory melody in Adagio. This melodic outline also appears in the third movement of Dvořák's [[String Quintet No. 3 (Dvořák)|String Quintet No. 3 in E{{music|flat}} major]] and his [[Humoresques (Dvořák)|Humoresque No. 1]]. The exposition is based on three thematic subjects. The first in E minor is notable for its announcing and responsive phrases. The second is in G minor and undergoes a transformation such that it resembles a Czech polka. The exposition's closing theme in G major is known for being similar to the African-American spiritual "[[Swing Low, Sweet Chariot]]". The development primarily focuses on the main and closing themes, and the recapitulation consists of a repetition of the main theme as well as a transposition of the second and closing themes up a semitone. The movement is concluded with a [[Coda (music)|coda]], with the main theme stated by the brass above an orchestral tutti.<ref name=dvorak.cz />

=== II. Largo ===
[[File:Orchesterwerke Romantik Themen.pdf|450px|page=229]]

The second movement, written in ternary form, is introduced by a harmonic progression of chords in the wind instruments. Beckerman interprets these chords as a musical rendition of the narrative formula "Once upon a time".<ref name=dvorak.cz>{{Cite web |title=Symphony No. 9 "From the New World" |url=http://www.antonin-dvorak.cz/en/symphony9 |access-date=October 1, 2020 |website=Antonín Dvořák}}</ref> Then a solo cor anglais (English horn) plays the famous main theme in [[D-flat major]] accompanied by muted strings. Dvořák was said to have changed the theme from clarinet to cor anglais as it reminded him of the voice of [[Harry Burleigh]]. The movement's middle section contains a passage in C{{music|sharp}} minor evoking a nostalgic and desolate mood which eventually leads into a funeral march above [[pizzicato]] steps in the basses. It is followed by a quasi-scherzo that incorporates this movement's theme as well as the first movement's main and closing themes. The Largo is concluded with the soft return of the main theme and introductory chords.

=== III. Molto vivace ===
[[File:Orchesterwerke Romantik Themen.pdf|450px|page=230]]

The movement is a scherzo written in ternary form, with influences from [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow|Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's]] ''[[The Song of Hiawatha]]''. The stirring rhythm of the first part is interrupted by a trio middle section. The first part is then repeated, followed by an echo in the coda of the first movement's main theme.<ref name=dvorak.cz />

=== IV. Allegro con fuoco ===
[[File:Orchesterwerke Romantik Themen.pdf|450px|page=231]]

The final movement is also written in sonata form. After a brief introduction, the horns and trumpets declare the movement's main theme against sharp chords played by the rest of the orchestra. The second theme is then presented by the clarinet above tremolos in the strings. The development not only works with these two themes but also recalls the main themes of the first and second movements and a fragment of the Scherzo. Following the recapitulation which begins in the unexpected key of G minor but later corrects itself back to the original key, the movement reaches its climax in the coda, in which materials from the first three movements are reviewed for a final time while the Picardy third is expanded after the orchestra triumphantly plays a "modally altered" plagal cadence.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |last1=Cross |first1=Milton |last2=Ewen |first2=David |author1-link=Milton Cross |title=Antonín Dvořák |encyclopedia=Milton Cross' Encyclopedia of the Great Composers and Their Music |volume=1 |page=239 |year=1962 |publisher=Doubleday and Company, Inc. |location=Garden City, New York |lccn=62008097}}</ref> The main theme, especially its occurrence in bar 321, bears a close resemblance to the opening theme of the ''Hans Heiling Overture'' by [[Heinrich Marschner]].

== Influences ==
Dvořák was interested in [[Native American music]] and the African-American [[spiritual (music)|spirituals]] he heard in North America. While director of the National Conservatory he encountered an African-American student, [[Harry T. Burleigh]], who sang traditional spirituals to him. Burleigh, later a composer himself, said that Dvořák had absorbed their "spirit" before writing his own melodies.<ref>Jean E. Snyder, "A great and noble school of music: Dvořák, Harry T. Burleigh, and the African American Spiritual", in Tibbets, John C., editor, ''Dvorak in America: 1892–1895'', Amadeus Press, Portland, Oregon, 1993, p. 131.</ref> Dvořák stated:

{{blockquote|I am convinced that the future music of this country must be founded on what are called [[African-American music|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.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gutmann |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Gutmann (journalist) |title=Dvorak's "''New World''" Symphony |url=http://www.classicalnotes.net/columns/newworld.html |access-date=2012-09-09 |website=Classical Classics |publisher=Classical Notes}}</ref>}}<!--end of quotation-->

The symphony was commissioned by the [[New York Philharmonic]], and premiered on 16 December 1893, at [[Carnegie Hall]] conducted by [[Anton Seidl]]. A day earlier, in an article published in the ''[[New York Herald]]'' on 15 December 1893, Dvořák further explained how Native American music influenced his symphony:

{{blockquote|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, [[counterpoint]], and orchestral colour.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Neas |first=Patrick |date=March 4, 2017 |title=The Classical Beat: ... Dvorak at Helzberg Hall |work=[[Kansas City Star]] |url=https://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/music-news-reviews/classical-music-dance/article135859568.html |access-date=2018-11-15}}</ref>}}<!--end of quotation-->

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 [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow|Longfellow]]'s ''[[The Song of Hiawatha|Hiawatha]]''"<ref name="hiawatha">{{Cite web |last=Beckerman |first=Michael |title=About the Hiawatha Melodrama |url=http://josephhorowitz.com/up_files/File/hiawatha%20melodrama%20note.pdf |access-date=26 September 2012 |publisher=josephhorowitz.com}}</ref> (Dvořák never actually wrote such a piece).<ref name="hiawatha" /> He also wrote that the third movement [[scherzo]] was "suggested by the scene at the feast in ''Hiawatha'' where the Indians dance".<ref name="hiawatha" />

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]]".<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kerkering |first1=John D. |url=https://archive.org/details/poeticsofnationa0000kerk |title=The Poetics of National and Racial Identity in Nineteenth-Century American Literature |last2=Gelpi |first2=Albert |last3=Posnock |first3=Ross |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=2003 |isbn=0-521-83114-8 |author-link2=Albert Gelpi |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Beckerman |first=Michael Brim |title=New Worlds of Dvorak: Searching in America for the Composer's Inner Life |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |year=2003 |isbn=0-393-04706-7}}</ref> Most historians agree that Dvořák is referring to the [[pentatonic scale]], which is typical of each of these musical traditions.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Clapham |first=John |year=1958 |title=The Evolution of Dvorak's Symphony "From the New World" |journal=[[The Musical Quarterly]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |issue=2 |pages=167–183 |doi=10.1093/mq/XLIV.2.167}}</ref>

In a 2008 article in ''[[The Chronicle of Higher Education]]'', prominent [[Musicology|musicologist]] [[Joseph Horowitz]] states that [[African-American]] spirituals were a major influence on Dvořák's music written in North America, quoting him 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."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Horowitz |first=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Horowitz |date=11 January 2008 |title=New World Symphony and Discord |url=http://chronicle.com/article/New-World-SymphonyDiscord/17761/ |journal=[[The Chronicle of Higher Education]]}}{{subscription required |date=September 2012}}</ref> Dvořák did, it seems, borrow rhythms from the music of his native Bohemia, as notably in his [[Slavonic Dances]], and the pentatonic scale in some of his music written in North America from African-American and/or Native American sources. Statements that he borrowed melodies are often made but seldom supported by specifics. One verified example is the song of the Scarlet Tanager in the Quartet. [[Michael Steinberg (music critic)|Michael Steinberg]] writes<ref>[[Michael Steinberg (music critic)|Michael Steinberg]], ''The Symphony: A Listener's Guide'', Oxford University Press, 1995, p. 152</ref> that a flute solo theme in the first movement of the symphony resembles the [[Spiritual (music)|spiritual]] "[[Swing Low, Sweet Chariot]]".<ref>"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" was written by [[Wallis Willis]], a Native American of the Choctaw Nation and former slave and popularized by the African-American [[Fisk Jubilee Singers]]</ref> [[Leonard Bernstein]] averred that the symphony was truly multinational in its foundations.<ref>[[Leonard Bernstein]]: 1953 American Decca recordings. DGG 477 0002. Comments on the 2nd compact disc.</ref>

Dvořák was influenced not only by music he had heard but also by what he had seen in America. He wrote that he would not have composed his American pieces as he had if he had not seen America.<ref>Letter to Emil Kozanek, 15 September 1893, translated in ''Letters of Composers'', edited by Gertrude Norman and Miriam Lubell Shrifte (1946, Alfred A. Knopf, New York).</ref> 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.<ref>Sullivan, Jack (1999), ''New World Symphonies: How American Culture Changed European Music'', Yale University Press, p. ix</ref> 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.{{efn|For example, the Chicago Symphony, 19 June 2009.}}

Dvořák was also influenced by the style and techniques used by earlier classical composers including [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]] and [[Franz Schubert|Schubert]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Antonín Dvorák (1841–1904) |url=http://spotlightonmusic.macmillanmh.com/n/teachers/articles/composers-and-lyricists/anton-in-dvor-ak |access-date=8 December 2014}}</ref> The falling fourths and timpani strokes in the ''New World Symphony''{{'}}s Scherzo movement evoke the Scherzo of Beethoven's [[Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)|Choral Symphony]] (Symphony No. 9). The use of quotations of prior movements in the symphony's final movement is reminiscent of Beethoven quoting prior movements in the opening Presto of the Choral Symphony's final movement.<ref name=dvorak.cz />

== Reception ==

At the premiere in Carnegie Hall, the end of every movement was met with thunderous clapping and Dvořák felt obliged to stand up and bow.<ref name="Clapham">Clapham, John, ''Dvořák'', Norton, New York, 1979, pp. 132–133.</ref> This was one of the greatest public triumphs of Dvořák's career. When the symphony was published, several European orchestras soon performed it. [[Alexander Mackenzie (composer)|Alexander Mackenzie]] conducted the [[Royal Philharmonic Society|London Philharmonic Society]] in the first London performance on 21 June 1894.<ref name="Clapham" /> Clapham says the symphony became "one of the most popular of all time" and at a time when the composer's main works were being welcomed in no more than ten countries, this symphony reached the rest of the musical world and has become a "universal favorite".<ref name="Clapham" /> As of 1978, it had been performed more often "than any other symphony at the Royal Festival Hall, London" and is in "tremendous demand in Japan".<ref name="Clapham" />

In the UK, the largo became familiar to the general public after its use in a [[Boy on the Bike|1973 television advert]] directed by [[Ridley Scott]] for the [[Hovis]] bakery.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/hovis-boy-on-the-bike-tv-advert-dvorak/|title=Hovis 'Boy on the Bike' advert returns to TV with new music – here's a first look|date=3 June 2019|last=Rizzi|first=Sofia|website=Classic FM}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Holman |first1=Gavin |date=2019 |title=Film, Television and Video productions featuring brass bands |journal=North American British Music Studies Association |publisher=Humanities Commons |doi=10.17613/ttn4-1y86}}</ref> 

== "Goin' Home" ==
{{Listen|type=music|filename="Goin' Home", performed by the United States Air Force Band.oga|title="Goin' Home"|description=Performed by the United States Air Force Band}}
The theme from the Largo was adapted into the spiritual-like song "Goin' Home" (often mistakenly considered a folk song or traditional spiritual) by Dvořák's pupil [[William Arms Fisher]], who wrote the lyrics in 1922.<ref>Otakar Šourek, ''Antonín Dvořák: his life and works'', Philosophical library, 1954, p. 59; Glenn Watkins, ''Proof through the night: music and the Great War'', Volume 1, University of California Press, 2003, p. 273.</ref><ref name="Keller">{{Cite web |last=Keller |first=James M. |date=c. 2013 |title=Program Notes: Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Opus 95, ''From the New World'' |url=http://www.sfsymphony.org/Watch-Listen-Learn/Read-Program-Notes/Program-Notes/DVORAK-Symphony-No-9-in-E-minor,-Opus-95,-From-the.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130418084244/http://www.sfsymphony.org/Watch-Listen-Learn/Read-Program-Notes/Program-Notes/DVORAK-Symphony-No-9-in-E-minor,-Opus-95,-From-the.aspx |archive-date=18 April 2013 |access-date=13 May 2013 |publisher=San Francisco Symphony}}</ref><ref>Franya J. Berkman, ''Monument Eternal: The Music of Alice Coltrane'', Wesleyan University Press, 2010, p. 88.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Jane Stuart |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kZPyvhV_caAC&pg=RA1-PA157 |title=The Gift of Music: Great Composers and Their Influence |last2=Carlson |first2=Betty |publisher=Crossway Books |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-89107-869-2 |page=157 |quote=The largo of the second movement has a hauntingly beautiful melody played by the English horn. There is a sense of longing about it, and a spiritual has been adapted from it, 'Going Home' |access-date=9 September 2012}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Classical music}}
* [[Piano Concerto No. 1 (Tchaikovsky)]]
* [[Symphony No. 8 (Schubert)]]

== Footnotes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{Cite book |title=Dvořák and his World |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1993 |isbn=0-691-03386-2 |editor-last=Beckerman |editor-first=Michael |location=Princeton, New Jersey |pages=134–436 |chapter=The Master's Little Joke |ref=none |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-udEAcFiGWoC&pg=PA134-156}}
* {{Cite book |last=Brown |first=A. Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vRI_PGC_IBEC&pg=PA411 |title=The symphonic repertoire |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=2003 |isbn=0-253-33488-8 |volume=4 |location=Bloomington |pages=410–436 |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=Philip Henry Goepp |author-link=:ca:Philip Henry Goepp |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dOMvAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA195 |title=Symphonies and their meaning: Third series: Modern symphonies |publisher=J. B. Lippincott Company |year=1913 |location=Philadelphia |pages=195–207 |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=Kurt Honolka |author-link=Kurt Honolka |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kAVSQlZr-i4C |title=Dvořák |publisher=Haus Publishing |year=2004 |isbn=1-904341-52-7 |location=London |ref=none}}

== External links ==
* {{IMSLP2|work=Symphony No.9, Op.95 (Dvořák, Antonín)|cname=Symphony No. 9}}
* [http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/variations/scores/adr4498/large/index.html Score] from Indiana University
* [http://www.mutopiaproject.org/cgibin/piece-info.cgi?id=1793 Score] from Mutopia Project
* {{YouTube|id=zyF1cLA2Izw|title=A visual analysis of the first movement}}
* [http://www.americanmusicpreservation.com/GoinHome.htm True Story of "Goin' Home" – From Bohemia to Boston]
* [http://traffic.libsyn.com/gardnermuseum/dvorak_goin_home_NYFOS.mp3 Performance of "Goin' Home"] by the [[New York Festival of Song]] from the [[Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum]] in [[MP3]] format
* {{Cite web |title=''New World Symphony'' : Complete listing of the recordings |url=http://musicabohemica.blogspot.fr/2014/01/new-world-symphony-recordings.html |publisher=MusicaBohemica |language=fr}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20161129082935/http://archives.nyphil.org/index.php/search?search-type=singleFilter&search-text=nws&doctype=part Original manuscript parts] at the [[New York Philharmonic#Archives|New York Philharmonic Archives]]

{{Antonín Dvořák}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Symphony No. 9 (Dvorak)}}
[[Category:1893 compositions]]
[[Category:Apollo 11]]
[[Category:Compositions in E minor]]
[[Category:Music commissioned by the New York Philharmonic]]
[[Category:Symphonies by Antonín Dvořák|Symphony 009]]