On Saturday, Oct. 20, at 8 p.m. in Bailey Hall, the Cornell Symphony Orchestra, led by John Hsu, presents a concert of works by Rossini, Hindemith and Dvorák.
Dvorák's Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, op. 95, is best known as the Symphony "From the New World." When Dvorák arrived in New York in 1892 to begin his position as director of the new National Conservatory of Music, he assimilated his new environment with enthusiasm. Traveling throughout the United States, he was moved by Native American music and African-American spirituals. When he completed this "Fifth" Symphony (later renumbered as his Ninth), Dvorák admitted to being influenced by this indigenous American folk music. Nevertheless, he was Czech through and through, and a great deal of argument followed the first performance of the "New World" Symphony (in Carnegie Hall on Dec. 16, 1893) as to whether it quoted actual African-American and Indian motives or whether it was as Bohemian as anything else Dvorák wrote.
A good summation was written in the booklet that accompanied Leopold Stokowski's first "New World" recording of 1925: "It is much more to the point to appreciate and enjoy a composition that is musically rich, highly original, completely sincere and which, if it is not America's tribute to Music, is surely Music's most beautiful tribute to America."
On the Cornell music faculty since 1955, Hsu, the Old Dominion Foundation Professor of Humanities and Music, has taught cello and courses in music theory, music history and performance, and he has conducted the Cornell Collegium Musicum, Cornell Chamber Orchestra, the Cornell Symphony Orchestra and Sage Chapel Choir.
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