The great Czech composers Janáček and Dvořák are products of the Romantic musical tradition, but they represent its later flowering towards a proud nationalism. This trend, exemplified compellingly in this program, shows itself in the incorporation of folk elements into the complex, expressively nuanced, symphonic language inherited from Brahms and Wagner.

The best known and most popular work of the program, Dvořák’s New World Symphony, makes use of the American spiritual genre in the creation of the beautiful and memorable melodies of this grand musical edifice. Dvořák himself is quoted as saying: “In the Negro melodies of America, I discover all that is needed for a great and noble school of music..”