Another one Burleigh introduced Dvorak to was 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.' 'Burleigh claimed that Dvorak was actually quoting 'Swing Low' in the opening movement of the 'New World Symphony,'' says Horowitz.ĭvorak recognized a rich tradition sitting under his nose, one that most American composers seemed blind to. 'He's probably thinking at least two things: 'I want to help this young black man,' and 'This young black man is going to help me.' 'īurleigh, from Erie, Pa., was a self-taught baritone, who sang spirituals to Dvorak, like 'Go Down Moses,' which the composer said had a melody to rival Beethoven.

How likely is that?' says Joe Horowitz, author of the book Classical Music in America, noting that this was, after all, America in the 1890s. 'Dvorak chose a black person to be his assistant. The music he found here included African-American spirituals, introduced to him by a young black man named Harry Burleigh, who had applied to be a student at Dvorak's National Conservatory. 'Dvorak was surprised, in a way, to find that the roots of American music were not European, they were African-American.' 'It was radical, and I think that he got harshly criticized and really rejected,' says JoAnn Falletta, music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic, who has conducted the 'New World' Symphony many times. 'This must be the real foundation of any serious and original school of composition to be developed in the United States.' Essentially, this was Dvorak telling white Americans that the future of their music resided in the people they had subjugated and killed. 'The future of this country must be founded upon what are called the Negro melodies,' he declared. Dvorak heard something different, in an unexpected place, as he told the New York Herald just before he debuted his 'New World' symphony. American Anthem On 'Fanfare For The Common Man,' An Anthem For The American CenturyĪt the time, American concert music sounded a lot like Brahms and Beethoven.

New world symphony going home