Before reading this essay, it is highly recommended to listen to Dvorak's 9th symphony .
From the New World
A short (auto)biography about me and Antonin Dvorak
Dear diary, it is two thirty in the morning, and I can’t sleep. I am laying on a gray pull-out sofa and my pillow is again anywhere but behind my head. My thoughts are spinning around the day that is about to start and the new chapter of my life that is about to be written. To my left lie the stuffed suitcases, the clothes for tomorrow and my packed backpack with headphones for the journey. To my right is a giant window front. My host family's house sits directly next to the Shrewsbury River in Sea Bright, New Jersey, they have a dock, many fishing appliances and even a boat. In the ten days that I’ve spent here so far, the white plastic chair on the dock with the perfect view of the river and the opposite shore immediately became my favorite spot. When I need to call my parents or to just be by myself, I go out on the dock and sit there, sometimes listening to music, sometimes reading a little bit. Even though this is a perfect spot all day round, the atmosphere when the sun is about to set, and the sky performs a magical light show with any color you can possibly think of is out of this world. The fact that I can’t share those moments with my family makes me sad, but I console myself knowing that the same sun will soon shine through the windows of my old home in Germany. Now turning my head and looking through the windows of my new home, I can only see the numb light of the moon and harbor lights that illuminate the dock. I am way too nervous to fall asleep anytime soon, so I stand up, grab my headphones and walk out to the white plastic chair. While my thoughts still circle around this New World that I will be living in for almost a year, I put on my headphones and the quiet night becomes completely soundless. I press play, close my eyes and immediately start calming down as the soothing notes of Dvorak’s 9th symphony start playing in my ears.
Antonin Dvorak was a composer, born 1841 in the region that is now the Czech Republic. In the 1980s, he gained international popularity and Jeannette Thurber, founder of the “National Conservatory of Music of America”, offered Dvorak a large amount of money, to move to New York and to teach at her institution. So, in 1982, Dvorak left his home country and crossed the ocean to the New World. His first job was to compose a symphony with a “distinctively American sound”. Only three months later, Dvorak finished a masterpiece that today is known as his 9th symphony, or also “The New World Symphony”. In the four movements, Dvorak expresses his feelings about living in a strange country, he illustrates his experiences with homesickness and describes the beauty of American culture and nature. But why do I decide to listen to this piece of classical music in the middle of the night, only a couple of hours before we drive to the boarding school that I will be spending my new life at?
Because it is an exact mirror of my year in the US.
Adagio
At the beginning of the first movement, the strings play a very dense and mysterious melody, symbolizing the uncertainty and risks of leaving one's home. Those first few chords will always remind me of the feeling that I had when I left my house on August 15. Suddenly, a horn interrupts the descending scale by playing a ship horn-like fanfare, announcing Dvorak’s arrival in the United States of America. Slowly, the fog clears, and, on the horizon, the port becomes visible. When the woodwinds start playing these high harmonies, I think of the moment when my airplane broke through the clouds and I could spot Boston’s airport, looking like a tiny model in a miniature world. Out of nowhere, the strings play an aggressive tune, which is then continued by the timpani and concluded by the brass. I like to think of this part as Dvorak’s (and my) first impressions after arriving in the New World: Everything is new, hectic, chaotic and simply overwhelming. Nothing is familiar, everything had changed: From a loved home to an unfamiliar one, from good friends to no friends at all and from a daily routine to a completely new life. Looking from this perspective, I share a lot of experiences with Dvorak, which is probably why I can relate to him in so many ways. At some point into the first movement, the violins exult into a gorgeous ascending figure, which can be seen as the first friendly interaction that Dvorak made after setting foot into this strange country. I for my part had this interaction on my connection flight from Boston to New York. Next to me sat a man, he introduced himself as Todd from Boston and Todd from Boston and I started chatting. During the forty-minute-long flight, we talked about anything ranging from cultural differences, over politics to climate change. Todd from Boston was my ascending violin figure, welcoming and full of joy. The Adagio ends with seven separate, loud exclamation points, indicating that there is more to come and symbolizing that excitement about the future.
Largo
Largo is Italian and translates to “heavy” or “deep”. Starting with a beautiful brass choral, Dvorak now invites us to a slow, hopeful and bittersweet second movement. Regarding the delicate and nostalgic melody played by the English horn, it is not hard to understand that Dvorak expresses his homesickness with this beautiful solo. As soon as the initial enthusiasm and overstimulation wears off, the wish to be home with your family and friends becomes pressing; I learned this the hard way: Months before my departure, my sister created a little “memory book” for me. Everybody I was close with designed a page with a little text and many pictures - even our cats put in photos. Now every time I feel the urge to be home again, I open the second drawer in my desk, pull out the notebook and browse through my memories. In moments like this, I feel a little bit more connected to my home.
Theories say that the next part of the movement was inspired by one of Dvorak’s visits to “Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show”. With this very Native American sounding melody, Dvorak describes the beauty of America’s nature - it is easy to imagine a stray buffalo standing on cracky cliffs or covered wagons beside misty rivers. Over winter break, I spent some time at a friend’s house who lives near Charlotte, NC. One day, we drove up to the Blue Ridge mountains and went for a hike. I swear that I heard Dvorak’s enchanting music playing when we reached the top, marveling at the breathtaking view. The music slowly calms down, until we suddenly hear a flute playing joyful and happy tunes that are inspired by typical Czech folk dances. In this sequence, Dvorak looks back at the Czech customs and traditions that he misses so much, he wants to celebrate a Czech holiday again and to finally be reunited with his family. Since I arrived in the US, I missed my father’s birthday, the German National Holiday, the first snowfall, Christmas and even New Year’s Eve. On these days, I would normally facetime my family and we would share those special moments. Of course, I wish that I could physically be with them, but listening to the second movement shows me that Dvorak also managed to stay strong in moments when he felt alone, and he didn’t even have facetime!
Scherzo
The third movement starts with bright, bouncy rhythms and fancy tunes. But how did Dvorak come up with this melody that reminds a little bit of the beginning of Beethoven’s ninth symphony? Well, it is said that he took inspiration from a Native American poem called “The Song of Hiawatha”. The loud beginning represents the passage where the crazy magician called “Pau-Puk Kiwees” dances at Hiawatha’s wedding feast. This theme A is soon replaced by theme B, again a typical Czech folk dance. Even though Dvorak starts engaging with American culture and he even analyzes American poems, he just can’t stop thinking about his home. This is exactly how I felt in the first couple weeks of school: I started to settle in, I found some great friends and became a member in many societies and clubs, such as the orchestra or Model UN. But there would still be times when things could become overwhelming and simply too much. But in the almost five months that I have spent here already, I built a support system. If I feel sad, I know that I can always talk to my friends, teachers and dorm parent. As it is known for a Scherzo with an A-B-A structure, the nostalgic folk tunes soon are interrupted by the crazy theme A again, showing that the moments when Dvorak felt homesick only happened occasionally and didn’t last too long anymore. The third movement thus serves to represent the phase in which Dvorak (and I) slowly start to become a part of this New World.
Allegro con Fuoco
The fourth and last movement begins with a melody that sounds suspiciously like the “Jaws” theme. As the rhythm becomes faster, the strings are superseded by a browsing brass fanfare heralding the dawn of the New World. The Allegro con Fuoco is all about flashbacks: Themes from previous movements show up again, intermingle and create new melodies. Dvorak hereby expresses his excitement about the New World, but also makes clear that he has not forgotten about his homeland, the Old World. There is an interesting part where the woodwinds and strings play an uplifting and jovial melody that is again very reminiscent of Bohemian and Czech folk music, and seemingly out of nowhere, all five horns interrupt this happy tune by blasting excerpts from the first theme of this movement. This figure is repeated multiple times and gives you the feeling of being in between two worlds, not really knowing where you belong now. For me, it was hard finding a solution to this “identity crisis”, and I still don’t really feel like I have fully arrived in America. It is probably a good sign that I have not completely forgotten about my home, since it is the place that I will return to when my time in the US is over. On the other hand, I am starting to fear this moment of departure. In the past five months, I’ve found incredible friends, made so many new experiences and learned so much more about myself than I would have ever imagined. I am glad that I still have a whole semester left at my amazing school, but I am also terrified since I have only one short semester left at my amazing school. Towards the end of the symphony, the brass plays a variation of the choral that we know from the beginning of the second movement. In my opinion, this can symbolize two things. Dvorak maybe demonstrates his pressing wish to be home again, but I prefer the second interpretation:
Dvorak has finally found a second home in his New World.
Dear diary, as the final tones of this masterpiece slowly fade away, I stand up and walk back to the house. The lights of the harbor shine numbly through the fog, the water ripples against the pier and I think I hear a ship horn in the distance, announcing:
Your ship has arrived at the port, welcome to the United States of America!
Normally, the story ends here. But since this is my story, it won’t.
After that long and sleepless night, we packed the car and drove to the boarding school that was going to be my new home. During the following 300 days or so, time flew by so incredibly fast, without any chance to hold on to the moment for just a little bit longer. In the blink of an eye, it was June 11th and my plane back to Germany was boarding in twenty minutes. Back in my old room, in my old home and with my old friends, everything felt familiar, yet different. It felt as if I had taken a short nap and while I was sleeping, life had taken a big leap forward.
However, for my birthday, my parents gave me a ticket to see Dvorak’s 9th symphony in concert and today was the day! Sitting in the theatre and listening to the mesmerizing music, I couldn’t stop thinking about the things I had lost when leaving the States almost half a year ago – and then I remembered, that, here in Germany, I also have friends as uplifting as the ascending violin figures, I have moments as sweet as the English horn solo, I have experiences as adventurous as the beginning of the third movement and I have a family as amazing and beautiful as the entire symphony.
Without the Old World, the New World would lose all meaning, and without the New World, the Old World would lose all hope.
I live in both worlds now, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.
Having always longed to explore the world, Vincent von der Forst has been particularly interested in the American culture. This is why, last year, he took a chance a managed to win a scholarship for an exchange year in the States, specifically Delaware. Now that he's back in Munich, Germany, 12th grade (which is equal to senior year in high school) is keeping him busy. With free time, Vincent likes meeting up with friends, rowing, reading, playing the violin and much more.
Photo provided by author.
