Symphonic Monuments – Dvořák

The Symphonic Monuments series is dedicated to works we all know – but don’t always truly hear. This time, the spotlight is on Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 in E minor, From the New World.


Before arriving in America, Antonín Dvořák was already one of Central Europe’s most respected composers. Born in the village of Nelahozeves near Prague, the son of a butcher and amateur musician, he worked for years as a violist and teacher. He gained fame not through avant-garde experiments but through a distinctive national idiom and exceptional melodic talent.

In 1892, at 51, Dvořák was invited to New York to lead the National Conservatory of Music. His role was to teach and help shape a uniquely American musical style, just as he had done for Czech music. He spent three years there, working and listening. He was fascinated by spirituals, Native American traditions, and the multilingual mosaic of the New World. But in his letters, a tone of longing often emerged: From the New World, I look more toward the old one. That duality-fascination and distance-runs through the entire Ninth Symphony.

The symphony’s most famous section, the Largo second movement, was long known as an instrumental piece. Only in 1922 did Dvořák’s student, American composer William Arms Fisher, write lyrics for it, turning it into the song Goin’ Home. Though many believe it to be a traditional spiritual, the melody was entirely Dvořák’s invention – not a quote, but a stylization that captures the spirit of African American music in a new form. And that’s no accident: this symphony is not about America, but about someone in America searching for their own identity.

The structure is classical: four movements-dramatic opening, iconic Adagio, dance-like Scherzo, and a monumental Finale. But its meaning lies deeper: between the phrases, between the worlds. Before the concert, in keeping with the series’ tradition, conductor Przemysław Neumann will speak about the symphony’s form and background, and then lead the performance.

Some symphonies feel familiar from the very first note. Yet only after years do we begin to hear how much they truly say. These are the Symphonic Monuments.

Allegro con fuoco from Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Gustavo Dudamel: