Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

(Amadeus). "What a wonderful manuscript! The most impressive aspect is the artful way the volume flows effortlessly from one chapter - and one section - to the next. Of all the books on American music at the turn of the century, none brings together so many interesting and richly interrelated dimensions as Dvorak in America. Congratulations!" Dr. Robert Winter Chair, Department of Music, UCLA

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Dvorak's stay in America lasted only four years (1892-95), but he made a profound impression, especially in his position as director of the National Conservatory in New York. This is a set of 26 independent essays by scholars on topics such as his influence on American music and musicians, studies of his compositions, and his American legacy. Generally well written in a scholarly but not intimidating style, these essays give an excellent and many-faceted picture of Dvorak and of the tremendous influence his short stay had on American music. For academic music collections.-- Timothy J. McGee, Univ. of Toronto (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

CHOICE Review

When noted Bohemian composer Anton'in Dvor'ak came to New York (1893-95) to direct the National Conservatory of Music (now defunct), he set in motion a far-reaching series of events governing the character and direction of American music. Dvor'ak described as his mission "to discover what young Americans have in them and to help them express it. The new American school of music must strike its roots deeply in its own soil." This splendid collection of 26 articles by 21 specialists fully reveals that the master found America's "soil" best for cultivating diversity. His influence can be found to varying degrees in three successive waves of nationalism, all rooted in the belief that a vital art music must be sustained by folk music: the Indianist movement of the 1900s, the use of African American idioms from 1910s through the '30s, and finally, the latent discovery of our Anglo folk heritage in the 1930s and '40s. The first and largest part of the volume is devoted to articles lending context and significance to Dvor'ak's work in the US (nationalism, the National Conservatory, the cultural milieu of the '90s); the middle part contains descriptions of Dvor'ak's numerous "American" compositions, including the Symphony no. 9, "From the New World"; and the final part explores Dvor'ak's continuing influence in America today. Recommended for all libraries. W. K. Kearns; University of Colorado at Boulder