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April Austin
The classical music world is wrestling with how to build awareness of Black American contributions and foster greater diversity. For one scholar, that involves deeply exploring the legacy of a composer who was not even American.
Douglas Shadle of Vanderbilt University has written the book 鈥淎nton铆n Dvo艡谩k鈥檚 鈥楴ew World鈥� Symphony,鈥� which looks at a staple of the orchestral repertoire. Dvo艡谩k, a European composer, arrived in the United States from Prague in 1892 to teach. When he heard African American work songs and spirituals such as 鈥淪wing Low, Sweet Chariot,鈥� he worked melodic ideas from them into his 1893 鈥淣ew World鈥� Symphony.聽
Critics praised the symphony, but they ignored the composer鈥檚聽own statements about gaining inspiration from Black musical sources. Some Black musicians applauded Dvo艡谩k, but others saw his attempts as 鈥渁 flattening out of the African American experience,鈥� as Professor Shadle describes it in an interview. Dvo艡谩k聽had captured the sounds, but not the spirit, of the music.聽
The composer also perpetuated the stereotyping of Black American classical music 鈥� that it could only include spirituals and traditional songs. This erased the history of 18th- and 19th-century Black composers who had trained in the European style. It also negated orchestras that were formed by Black musicians before the Civil War in cities like New Orleans.聽
Today, many audiences expect music by Black American composers to sound like spirituals and gospel tunes, or ragtime and jazz. And, of course, there are fine composers working in those genres.聽But to change limited expectations will take commitment on the part of orchestras. 鈥淒iversity is not just checking off a box,鈥� says Professor Shadle, 鈥渂ut thinking about it within and across [the categories of Black music] to round out the picture.鈥�
