Dvorak in the Heartland

Recently while traveling in Iowa I stopped in the town of Spillville, a historic Czech settlement located in the northeastern portion of the state. Visiting there on a Sunday afternoon brought a beautiful fall weekend to a close, part of which I had spent visiting a Zen monastery near the Mississippi--but more about that later.

Spillville is quiet and ethereally serene, creating a worthy conclusion to a Zen experience! The town is remarkable as a monument to the Czech immigrant experience in America, and for those citizens, permanent and temporary, who brought greatness to the town. The Bily brothers ("white" in Czech), who never traveled more than thirty-five miles from the town, who never married, and whose father never permitted them to practice their wood carving skills except during the winter when there were no farm duties, created exceptional hand carved wooden clocks that testify to all the powers of human ingenuity. Henry Ford once offered the men $1,000,000.00 for a single clock--and they refused. The clocks tell a history of the world, and form a tribute to the philosophies and belief systems that have shaped us--all this from two simple men who never ventured far from their home area. To pay homage to these two is worth a trip in itself.

For me as a musician, the significance of the town lies in the fact that the great Czech composer Antonin Dvorak spent the summer of 1893 in the town as a means of vacationing from his teaching and administrative duties in New York, and to reconnect with the spirit of his country. We know that Dvorak--along with his wife and six children--loved the town and its tranquillity. He loved listening to the local birds, and it is even said that their songs sometimes were incarnated within his melodies.

The region has designated a stretch of road as the "Dvorak Highway", and it is a solemn spiritual pilgrimage to explore it. I almost trembled as I entered the St. Wenceslas Catholic Church where the Dvoraks attended services, and where the very organ he sometimes played for the town still exists and is still used for regular services and special concerts. America is still too young to have produced many classical composers, but Dvorak is one to whose life we made at least a contribution--and who gave so much back to us and to the world.

If you don't know the music of Dvorak, you owe it to yourself to become acquainted. His music is warm and healing, and majestic. His humanity sweats forth from the music, evidenced by his admiration for American folk music and his insistence that no one be denied admission based on race or creed to the National Conservatory in New York which he directed. My personal favorite is the Cello Concerto, but the Symphony "From the New World" (you'll hear melodies inspired by the pioneers, Native Americans, Black spirituals, and even a bit of Three Blind Mice!), is probably the best known of his works. Other people are drawn to his chamber music, the Slavonic Dances, the Gypsy Songs, or other works. It's worth getting to kn ow all of them.

Thanks for reading.
Gary