Prophecy

Dvořák, Brahms and Paths in American Choral Music

At the end of the 19th century, Czech composer Antonin Dvořák spent an extended period of time in the United States. He observed the diverse musical landscape around him and made a prediction: that composers in the United States should draw on indigenous musical traditions, especially those of Native Americans and African Americans, much as European composers were drawing more and more on their native folk traditions. In this way, Dvořák argued, The United States could produce a classical music tradition that was truly its own. [Read our blog, A New World Friendship, the fascinating story of the meeting between Dvořák and Harry Burleigh, one of the featured composers in the program.]

This concert explores the complex history of how that prophecy came to be heeded by some and shunned by others, and how the long shadows of slavery and racism played such pivotal roles in the landscape of classical music in the United States, up to the present day. Works by Dvorak and his mentor Brahms form the backdrop, followed by music from Black and white composers, the works of whom can all be better understood through the lens of Dvořák’s prophecy and what it said about musical culture and society in the United States. Composers include Amy Beach, Aaron Copland, Nathaniel Dett, Charles Ives, Rosephayne Powell, Zanaida Robles, George Walker, among others.

[This program is inspired by the recently-released book, Dvořák’s Prophecy, by Joseph Horowitz.]

​- Michael Barrett
 
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