From the New World

On December 16, 1893, the Philharmonic Society of New York gave the world premiere performance of Czech composer Antonin Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 in E Minor "From the New World" at Carnegie Hall. In his review of the performance the following day, New York Times music critic W.J. Henderson called the piece better known today as the New World Symphony, "A vigorous and beautiful work" that "must take the place among the finest works in this form produced since the death of Beethoven." But in a review that ran close to 2,000 words, Henderson devoted perhaps 90 percent of his attention not to praising the artistic merit and craftsmanship of the New World Symphony, but rather to defending the controversial and ultimately political choices made by its composer. At a time when composers and critics in the United States were straining to identify and foster a uniquely American sound, the Czech immigrant Dvorak's work suggested that the basis for such a sound was to be found not in the European tradition, but in the music of African Americans.