Antonín Dvořák’s Symphonie 9 Aus der Neuen Welt

Like a text, a musical work also has many interpretations and applications. I run a series of articles on the same, supplemented by radio broadcasts whenever possible. The work chosen for this week is the Symphony Nr 9 in E Minor by the Czech composer Antonín Dvořák, which is titled Aus der Neuen Welt (or, From the New World).

Since Dvořák composed this music while he was the director of the National Conservatory of New York (1892-1895), the ‘New World’ in the title obviously referred to ‘America’. It also led to many misunderstandings. Despite avowed objections by the composer that it was Czech music, it was considered to be taken literally from Native Indian music.  Dvořák maintained his work was an expression of love for his Czech homeland, written while he was in a foreign country (hence, ‘From‘ the New World).

Despite these being squarely dismissed, nothing prevented the work from being appropriated by anti-apartheid protesters imprisoned in South Africa, some Singaporeans in concentration camps when Japanese attacked during The Second World War and by the Civil Rights Movement in USA. Paul Robeson, a musician and an active Civil Rights Movement protester, even added some fiery lyrics to the melody. The surprising thing is that many of them did not even knew the origins of the melodies they were using or even the name of the original composer!

In the short broadcast (download above plug-in or listen online), you will get to listen to the accounts of:

• Albie Sachs, a prisoner and an anti-Aparthied campaigner who whistled the melodies in solitary confinement;
• Margaret Caldicott, whose mother used to sing this melody when things got too hard in a WW2 concentration camp;
• A young viola player who was on the verge of committing suicide just after the Great Depression and refrained from taking that drastic step when he heard this Symphony and,
• Civil Rights Protesters who made it an anthem and much more.

All in all, it makes one think of music‘s place in its historical context and how a piece as natural as this can cross boundaries.

Hope you enjoy!

PS The recording used for writing this email/article was by Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Herbert von Karajan (Deutsche Grammophon, 1961).