Page:Antonín Dvořák by J. E. Vojan (1941).pdf/14

 gree at Cambridge University, June 16, 1891, where Dvořák instead of a dissertation conducted the London Symphony and the Stabat Mater, finally he went to Birmingham where he conducted his new work, “Requiem” for four solo voices, mixed chorus and orchestra on October 9, 1891.

In the spring of 1891 Mrs. Jeanette Thurber began her attempts to lure Dvořák to the United States. She offered him the position of the musical director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York with a three year contract and a salary of $15,000.00 per year. After long negotiations Dvořák accepted. He bid his homeland farewell in a series of concerts in leading towns of Bohemia and Moravia where he played with two friends his beautiful trio “Dumky” consisting of six movements of alternating melancholic and joyous moods, Dvořák played piano, prof. Ferd. Lachner violin and prof. Hanuš Wihan violoncello. Before this farewell tour he finished the composition of three great overtures for symphonic orchestra. He named them “Nature”, “Life” and “Love”, but later changed these titles as follows: “In Nature”, “Carneval” and “Othello”. The “Carneval” overture is very popular in this country and is often performed by American symphonic orchestras. He worked also during the last six weeks before departure for America on his cantata “The American Flag.” Mrs. Thurber sent him the poem of Joseph Rodman Drake written in 1815 and asked Dvořák to write a cantata for the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America. Dvořák finished this composition in New York, but Mrs. Thurber did not use it, and only when Schirmer published it in 1895, “The American Flag” was performed at the concert of the New York Musical Society under the baton of Frank G. Dossert, May 4, 1895.

Dvořák with his wife and two of his six children left Bremen on Saturday, September 17, 1892. The steamer “Saale” reached her New York pier on Tuesday, September 27, 3 P.M.

Upon his arrival in New York Dvořák was enthusiastically welcomed. Newspapers and magazines printed long interviews and articles in which Dvořák was looked upon as the man who would help create a national