1893Reputable sourceWell documented
Musical Nationalism: Dvořák's New World Symphony
On the timeline · around 1893 · The Recording Age
What happened
As Romantic composers increasingly drew on the folk music of their own peoples, the Czech composer Antonín Dvořák carried the movement across the Atlantic. Directing a conservatory in New York, he wrote his Symphony No. 9, 'From the New World' (1893), inspired by his encounter with the United States and by African American and Native American musical idioms.
Why it matters
Musical nationalism gave voice to peoples and places outside the old Austro-German mainstream, and Dvořák's New World Symphony — one of the most popular symphonies ever written — urged American composers to build an art music on their own country's folk traditions.
Sources
- World History Encyclopedia. Antonín Dvořák · Reputable source