Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9: an introduction by Susanne Stähr (7 min.)

Following its premiere in New York, Antonín Dvořák’s Ninth Symphony “From the New World” quickly developed into one of the most popular pieces of the symphonic repertoire – also in the “Old World”. The work was performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker under the direction of Gustavo Dudamel in June 2017. In this introduction, the music journalist Susanne Stähr traces the biography of Dvořák, who came from a family of butchers in Bohemia. She describes his rise to international fame, his three-year-long stay in Manhattan made possible by a patron, and the interweaving of Bohemian and North American idioms in his last symphony.