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"In the Negro melodies of America I discover all that is needed for a great and noble school of music. 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."

Key Points

  • The Bohemian composer Antonín Dvorˇák found inspiration in nationalist themes and traditional music from his homeland and from the United States, where he lived for several years.
  • While in the United States, Dvorˇák studied the traditional music of African Americans and incorporated elements of spirituals into his music (CP 12).
  • The New World Symphony, Dvorˇák's most popular work today, is Classical in its structure but Romantic in its orchestral and harmonic color.
  • The New World Symphony is loosely programmatic, inspired by Longfellow's poem The Song of Hiawatha and by the composer's impressions of the New World.

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