
Antonin Dvorak was a Czech composer who lived for a few years in the United States, where he served as director of the National Conservatory in new york city from 1892 to 1895.
in the summer of 1893, he took a trip to visit a community of Czech immigrants in Spillville, Iowa. It was during this “vacation” that he wrote his String Quartet #12 in only 16 days. The quartet was later given the moniker “American” because it was the 2nd piece that Dvorak had written in America, the first being the infamous Symphony # 9 (From the New World).
Not content with encouraging a reproduction of the European Classical style of music with his students, Dvorak was very interested in promoting the creation of a unique “American” style of composition. His 2 “American” pieces are, among other things, attempts at demonstrating what an American style might sound like. Ultimately, Dvorak was ahead of his time, and it wasn’t until composers like Charles Ives and Aaron Copland took the initiative in the early 20th century that a truly American sound in Classical music was developed.
Before Ives and Copland, our country's unique musical strengths were found in the folk music of African Americans, Native Americans, and the many immigrants that lived here. It was this music that Dvorak was drawn to and felt was important to acknowledge in any true American sound.
While there are no direct quotes from any of this folk music in the American Quartet, there are quotes of another kind. Dvorak had many interests outside music, one was a fascination for railroads, which were booming in America while he was here, and you can hear this reflected in the 4th movement of the quartet. Another was a great love of the outdoors, and nature.
There was a stream that ran through Spillville, which Dvorak spent a lot of time walking along during his visit. It was On one of these walks that he encountered a bird which he spent about an hour observing and following. He included a musical interpretation of the bird's song in the 3rd movement of the quartet, and also wrote about the encounter in his journal. Dvorak identified his bird (whom he referred to as “annoying”) as a Scarlet Tanager. In recent years, there has been a movement among musically-minded birders (as well as bird-enthused musicians), that Dvorak misidentified his little friend.
Birder, author and journal editor Ted Floyd originally proposed the misidentification after deciding that the passage in the 1st violin was “an absolutely terrible transcription” of a scarlet tanager, and that the passage was much more reminiscent of the song of a red-eyed vireo. He wrote up and published his analysis. it was considered further in a paper published by Mark McKone and David Beccue titled “The Iowa Bird that Inspired Antonin Dvorak's American String Quartet in 1893: Controversy over the Species’ Identity and Why It Matters” (link here for those who are interested).
For those who would like to try the identification themselves, I have a video with all applicable sound clips embedded here. But before you watch it, I do have a final thought. Although Dvorak gave no indication that there were any other bird songs included in the 3rd movement of the quartet, I would argue that there are at least 2 more. both are most easily recognized in the first violin. I have included them at the end of the video as an extra challenge to all those with super sharp birding ears. perhaps it is more from the red-eyed vireo? another bird altogether? a creation of dvorak's imagination?
Let the discussion begin! i await your emails.
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