What should the music of America sound like? At the end of the nineteenth century, no one was sure ? should we imitate Europe, or find our own voice? But what would that be? When the great Czech composer Antonin Dvorak came here, he found the answer in the ?sorrow songs? of his African-American student, Henry Burleigh, in the rhythms of the Indian drums, in the church tunes of Spillville, Iowa. Author, critic, and music-educator Joe Horowitz vividly captures the America Dvorak visited, and the brilliant New World Symphony he created. Through the story of one classical composition, Horowitz reveals the many ways in which all Americans have shaped our culture.
