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Research Guide for the 2008 WCFSO Youth Concerts

Antonín Dvořák [1841-1904] was a pioneering figure in the history of European music. His compositions reflected a unique blend of two distinct elements – art music [what we now generally call ‘classical’ music] and Czech folk song. Understanding the work of Dvořák means moving beyond pure musical study to incorporate concepts such as nationality and homeland.

Dvořák was also unique among European composers of his generation because of his connection with America, a place that was worlds apart from his own homeland. The composer directed the National Conservatory in New York from 1892-1895 and also spent several months in Spillville, Iowa during the summer of 1893.

Dvořák’s experience in America – and how it affected his music and his feelings about his own homeland – is at the core of this year’s youth concerts. Students will be encouraged to explore the contrast between folk and art music, the concept of national identity, and even the sounds of specific cultures and places. In addition to hearing Dvořák, students will encounter the types of music the Czech composer hoped his students at the National Conservatory would eventually be able to write with ease – American music by American composers speaking a uniquely American language.

Suggestions for teaching topics are included alongside the concert repertoire. In addition to basic musical concepts, other broad topics that can be brought into classroom preparation include geography, nationality, identity and immigration. Tracks on the teaching CD are indicated alongside work titles.

Antonín Dvořák [1841-1904] – Slavonic Dance Op. 46, no 1 in C major: mp3

Antonín Dvořák [1841-1904] – Slavonic Dance Op. 46, no 8 in g minor: Presto: mp3

Our concert will open with the characteristic Bohemian sounds of Dvořák’s evocative Slavonic Dances. The composer felt these works were among his most representative Czech pieces and he performed several of them for ‘Czech Day’ at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. The set from which these two dances are taken draws on a wide variety of Czech musical styles, including the furiant, dumka, polka, sousedská, skočna, odzemek, kolo, starodávný, špacirka and mazurka. Melodic and rhythmic patterns from these pieces can be emphasized in classroom work, as can the basic geographical and historical background of Bohemia in the 19th century.

Antonín Dvořák [1841-1904] – Symphony no 8 in G major, Op. 88,  First movement: Allegro con brio: mp3

The Eighth Symphony is another piece that travelled to Chicago with Dvořák in 1893, and with our performances of it in April 2008 it will have had a presence in the American midwest for almost 115 years. Stylistically, the piece demonstrates the wide range of influences Dvořák drew upon from the rural and wooded world of Bohemia, including folk music, natural sounds, fanfares, a funeral march and a chorale. Students should be encouraged to listen for the variety of musical content in the first movement and to think about the kind of place Dvořák came from and carried within him.

Antonín Dvořák [1841-1904] – Serenade for Strings in E major, Op. 22, Fifth movement: Allegro vivace: mp3

Antonín Dvořák [1841-1904] – Serenade for Winds in d minor, Op. 44, First movement: Moderato, quasi marcia: mp3

Dvořák’s Serenades, like Mozart’s, are lighter and less formal than many of his symphonic works or concertos. Instead, they demonstrate not only the unique characteristics of particular instrument groups but also the way in which the folk or ceremonial music often found its way directly into Dvořák’s musical language with startlingly contrasting results. The last movement from the Serenade for Strings incorporates the chaotic, turbulent double-time dance music of the Bohemian peasantry, while the first movement from the Serenade for Winds transforms a menacing march into a lilting folk song. Classroom learning opportunities with these two works can also focus on the instruments of the orchestra and their particular characteristics.

Antonín Dvořák [1841-1904] – Symphony no 9 in e minor, Op. 95 Second movement: Largo: mp3

The most important piece Dvořák composed in America was his Ninth Symphony. He claimed that the piece was in part an attempt to capture the spirit of black and Native American culture in music. To accomplish that goal Dvořák experimented with musical elements such as the pentatonic scale, plagal cadences, drones, and rhythmic ostinato and syncopation. Students will hear some of these elements in the famous slow movement from the ‘New World’ Symphony. A potential classroom activity would encourage students to search for more abstract ways in which this music sounds specifically American – for example, the ‘expanse’ of the brass chorale compared with the physical expanse of the American midwest.

George Gershwin [1898-1937] – An American in Paris: excerpt [WCFSO live recording]

George Gershwin is connected with Dvořák on a number of levels. In the case of American in Paris Gershwin strove to define his own sense of being an American against the backdrop of European culture, almost the opposite of the process experienced by his Czech predecessor during his time in America. The role of jazz as a native musical language should be discussed with students, particularly the way in which Gershwin succeeded in combining the freedom and exuberance of jazz with the structured forms of orchestral music.

John Philip Sousa [1854-1932] – Stars and Stripes Forever: March

John Philip Sousa’s famous march is perhaps the most instantly recognizable piece of American historical music, particularly of the patriotic variety. Classroom exercises might focus on the development of the American national identity during the 19th and early 20th centuries and the way in which music [and other art forms] were used to promote patriotism in this country.

Aaron Copland [1900-1990] – Rodeo: Hoe-Down

Aaron Copland was probably the most iconic American musical voice of the 20th century. Many of his works led the way in defining a popular ‘American’ sound, something Copland admitted to striving toward in such ballets as Billy the Kid and Rodeo. Most students will recognize Hoe-Down; teachers can challenge students to define which elements of the music are definitive of an American sound and where Copland might have found his inspiration for that sound.