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Revision as of 12:55, 23 November 2002 by Heron (talk | contribs) (Gunter -> Günter)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904) was a Czechoslovakian composer of classical music. He spent most of his life in his home city of Prague, but it was during his visit to the United States that he wrote his most popular work, his ninth symphony From the New World. In this work he described landscapes that he had seen while visiting the USA.
It is a common legend that Dvorak used elements from American music like Spirituals and Native American music in that symphony. However, this is not the case, as Dvorak never claimed to have done so, and there is no similarity between the symphony and such elements.
Also while in the USA he heard a performance of a cello concerto by the composer Victor Herbert. He was so excited by the possibilities of the cello and orchestra combination displayed in this concerto that he wrote a cello concerto of his own, the Cello Concerto in B minor (1895). Since then the concerto he wrote has grown in popularity and today it is frequently performed. He also left an unfinished work, the Cello Concerto in A major (1865), which was completed and orchestrated by the German composer Günter Raphael between 1925 and 1929.