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Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 "From the New World," analysis by Gerard Schwarz (part 2)

Watch the full performance here. Created by All Star Orchestra.

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  • starky ultimate style avatar for user Alex Gomez
    I see a man that looks like Gerard conducting the music. is he the conductor for the all star band?
    (5 votes)
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  • winston baby style avatar for user Eric
    I watched the Beethoven series and it was interesting when they taught me about his childhood. In this series, all he does is talk about the music. I want to learn about the composer, too. Who agrees with me?
    (4 votes)
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    • aqualine ultimate style avatar for user harperist
      I'm afraid you are in the minority in the music world. I really enjoy learning about the composers, as well, not just their music. Many people though would rather just learn about the music. I particularly enjoyed learning about beethoven. Have you heard all the theories concerning his deafness? It's so much fun to learn about.
      (3 votes)
  • marcimus pink style avatar for user kuehlmckenzie
    I realize that Dvorak and Wagner were in different time periods but do you see any similarities in their works? They both have amazing pieces so I was just curious to see if any similarities were noticed.
    (2 votes)
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  • leafers ultimate style avatar for user Feathers.Of.Black
    Does anyone know of a link to full videos of this orchestra playing various symphonies? I like Schwarz's analysis quite a bit but I find the sound of this all star orchestra is also spectacular, so I wondered if there is any way to listen to them playing these symphonies from start to finish.
    (3 votes)
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    • old spice man green style avatar for user Josh (SpongeJr)
      I believe this partner has some content like that available at www.allstarorchestra.org. Have you checked that out yet?

      (You can also get there by clicking the "Masterpieces Old and New" link in the top-left corner to go "back", then "All-star Orchestra" again in the top-left corner to go back another level, then there should be a little "home" button on the KA All-star Orchestra page... that should take you to their homepage.
      (2 votes)
  • piceratops ultimate style avatar for user Rachel Poulsen
    Why do you think Dvorak would make the melody so mournful at rather than keeping it slightly minor but still somehow... hopeful rather than as he says, "funerial"? I do love how it pulls emotion and gives me goosebumps, but I was curious as to your thoughts on his choice.
    (2 votes)
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    • leaf green style avatar for user Michael Fiebig
      I've always thought of this symphony as the tale of an explorer. The first one is where they get the quest, and they leave, and everything is going great and it's all exciting, then the second movement is when things calm down, where they are on a ship or something, looking up at the stars and wondering what they'll discover. Then this part comes up, and it's kind of a longing for home and possible sense of regret. Then the upbeat triplet part comes up, and the excitement reappears when they remember the excitement in the first movement, they're discussing that again. It seems to console them into a deep sleep, slowly reached by the reduced orchestration and quartet parts near the end. The third movement, I haven't decided if it's where they reach the new shore or maybe dreaming about what they might expect. Either way, the fourth movement is them realizing this "new world is not as nice and romanticized as previously thought, which is the climax of the story. That's just my take on it though. I love this piece. I got the chance to play it with a youth orchestra about a month ago and it might be my favorite piece ever
      (3 votes)
  • blobby green style avatar for user orsal5944
    Is this movement polytonal?
    (2 votes)
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  • leafers seed style avatar for user Yuchen Li
    - I thought that the solo was French horn... was it English horn?
    (2 votes)
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  • ohnoes default style avatar for user Leonardo Jia
    why does dvorak like to write slow music
    (2 votes)
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  • marcimus pink style avatar for user REBEKAH C
    is a piano involved?
    (2 votes)
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  • duskpin sapling style avatar for user Marelle Monasterio De la Luna
    Is there any recording of the movement played as an andante and/or a larghetto?
    (2 votes)
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Video transcript

- Now we get to the second movement. What's interesting about the second movement, of all the many things interesting is that it's marked largo and very often it would be played as the Largo from the New World Symphony, because it's such a famous melody and everybody knows this melody. It began as an andante, an andante is a faster tempo and so he envisioned this as fast as he was writing it and then he thought, well, maybe that's not correct, maybe it should be a little slower, so he wrote larghetto. It was premiered by the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall in 1893 and Anton Seidl, a very great conductor did it quite slowly and so as a result Dvorak changed it yet again and made it a largo, so it started out as an andante, then a larghetto and a largo, interesting to see how a great artist, a great conductor like Seidl could influence a great composer like Dvorak. It begins with a very famous brass chorale, horns, trumpet, trombone and tuba, at the end of these few bars, it makes a decrescendo and the strings take over playing the exact same chord and then the most famous English horn solo of all time, it is one of the most beautiful solos, there are many people believe that it's influenced by Negro spirituals, one could make the argument that it's also influenced by Czech folk music, whatever the influence is, it is gorgeous. At the end of this statement of the beautiful melody of the English horn, that opening chorale is repeated, this time played by the woodwinds and the horns, again he uses that same imaginative, orchestrational idea. The woodwinds finish their chord, the brass come in playing the same chord fortissimo, then the decrescendo and the strings just remain singing that same exact chord very softly and then they play. The English horn comes back and plays it again, we have a couple of muted horns, that bring us to theme two, it's marked a little bit faster, of course we do that, played by the flute and the oboe. The second theme is then extended by a beautiful clarinet duet and the clarinets play their gorgeous duet, violins come in playing the same melody and we move to yet another melody, this one played by the violins and the clarinets is almost funereal, this is very heartfelt, gorgeous music played very poignantly and very softly primarily by the strings. Then this leads to yet another theme, as I keep repeating, Dvorak is just full of ideas and now we have the third theme, this one is completely different character, starts with the oboe, then the clarinet, then the flute, then the violins, then the cellos and the basses. So here you have this kind of light that enters his work and then what happens? The trombones come in in an ominous way playing the first theme from the first movement, the horn theme slower. The trumpets play a fanfare version of the English horn solo that we had just heard and the strings play the third theme from the first movement, it's hard to keep track of which number theme it is, but if you just listen to the trombones playing one theme, the trumpets playing another and the violins playing another and see how it all fits together in an absolutely brilliant way. This is a very short transition bringing us back to the beautiful English horn solo. The English horn solo then is extended by 10 solo string players, four violins, two violas, two cellos and two basses. What I'd like you to notice in this is the silences, he plays a little bit of this beautiful theme very softly and poignantly and then there's a stop and then he does it again and there's another stop and then he reduces it to just three players, solo violin, solo viola and a solo cello, then the full string section comes in and it brings us back to the chorale that opened the movement, it's darker sounding and I'll tell you exactly why, even though you wouldn't even notice, why does it sound darker, why does it sound more reserved, more introspective? It's because orchestrationally he eliminates the trumpets, so you hear the trumpets at the very beginning, here there are no trumpets, so that kind of more brighter sound is missing, ends very beautifully with very unusual three-part chord played by the double basses, it's hard to imagine if anyone before this time had ever written something where a trio of double basses or three voices of double basses would end a symphonic movement, quite remarkable.