New Worlds of Dvořák: Searching in America for the Composer's Inner Life by Michael

Beckerman
Review by: Paul Christiansen
Notes, Second Series, Vol. 60, No. 1 (Sep., 2003), pp. 167-169
Published by: Music Library Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4487084 .
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Book Reviews 167

Daverio singles out two types of temporality becomes an asset by suggesting the richness
that may initially seem to have little to do and complexity of the topic of temporality
with each other, in discussions that center and music.
on the Piano Trio in E-flat Major, D. 929, Daverio's book is filled with original and
and the Impromptus, D. 935, respectively. suggestive insights that will undoubtedly
While the first chapter focuses on the stimulate continuing inquiry into the ques-
"heavenly length" extolled by Schumann in tions that they raise. Musicologists will wel-
his famous review ("Die 7. Symphonie von come it as an important contribution to
Franz Schubert," Neue Zeitschriftfiir Musik nineteenth-century studies.
12, no. 21 [1840]: 82), the second explores [John Daverio died 16 March 2003, after
images of "musing on the past" in this review had gone into production. Ed.]
Schubert's music (p. 10). One treats time MARGARET NOTLEY
within a composition, while the other ap-
Universityof North Texas
pears to treat time outside music.
When Daverio notes the wealth of ideas
that, "already on their first appearance,
are imbued with the quality of a reminis- New Worlds of Dvohik: Searching in
cence" (p. 54), he has in mind a variety of America for the Composer's Inner
possible instantiations in Schubert's music. Life. By Michael Beckerman. New
In chapter 1, he writes about a digression York: W. W. Norton, 2003. [xxiii, 272
of heavenly length in the Andante of the
p. 0-7546-0352-0. $29.95.] Illustrations,
E-flat Piano Trio, but also about the "faintly index, compact disc.
modal character" of the opening melody. bibliography,
This allows the melody to become a "music The underlying theme of Michael
emblem for distance in time-and hence Beckerman's book New Worlds of Dvofiak:
a perfect vehicle for recall" in the finale Searching in Americafor the Composer'sInner
(p. 28). An interpretation of another such Life is the power of the extramusical to in-
musical idea in the second chapter takes as form our perception of an artist's work.
its point of departure Schumann's belief Beckerman examines in detail the years
that D. 935 contained the fragmentary that Dvofiik spent in America in an effort
remains of a sonata. Because the sort of to arrive at some notion of the composer's
fragment that Schumann heard in the private thoughts and feelings, arguing that
Impromptus "points to an absent whole this will enhance our appreciation or un-
that necessarily precedes it in time," it can derstanding of his music. Beckerman's
serve, according to Daverio, as "a metaphor tone is that of a thoughtful critic who is
for memory" (p. 53). imaginative and insightful, yet at the same
Although Daverio does not directly ad- time skeptical. Some readers will be disap-
dress the potential incommensurability be- pointed that questions asked are not always
tween the types of time discussed in the questions answered, but the heuristic value
opening chapters, he does so obliquely at of the book is considerable and it is
several points. Toward the end of the sec- provocative writing that will engage the
ond chapter, he raises the possibility that reader from the beginning. Beckerman has
Schubert's F-minor Impromptu "not only no qualms about raising questions with
enacts a musical representation of memory which he himself is still grappling.
but also actually embodies memoriesof the The book introduces us to various key
various musical genres." He then connects figures who had an influence on Dvofrik
the two categories of musical time, one as- during his soujourns in the New World:
sociated with Schubert's "epic breadth" and Jeannette Thurber, philanthropist, who
the other with his "tendency toward lyric lured the composer to America to teach at
inwardness," by presenting each as an asser- the music conservatory she founded and
tion of freedom. With the first type, Schu- who hoped that Dvofik would point the
bert achieves freedom "from the strict way toward a new "American" composi-
forms by exploring the outer reaches of in- tional style; Henry Burleigh, African
finity"; with the other, he shows his "disre- American conservatory student and com-
gard for tried-and-true paradigms" (p. 58). poser who sang spirituals to Dvoriik; James
That the various instances of the two types Creelman, intrepid "yellow journalist" who
do not create an airtight system ultimately did much to call attention to the composer

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168
during his stay; New York newspaper critics
James Huneker, who introduced Dvo•ik to
African American and Native American
music, and Henry Krehbiel, who knew the
composer most intimately and wrote analyt-
ical critiques of the "New World" Sym-
phony for the New YorkDaily Tribune.
Beckerman deals with the question of
why an anxiety-ridden, travel-fearing Dvofiik
would leave his home and family to make a
journey to a land about which he knew very
little. Besides the obvious attractions of
money, fame, and admiration on a par with
Haydn's triumphant reception in London,
Dvofik also welcomed the opportunity to
escape from some of the pressures that he
felt at home and to travel to America and
compose works in an "American" idiom, in-
cluding an opera or cantata based on
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "The
Song of Hiawatha." The reasons that the
"Hiawatha" project (with which Dvofik was
constantly occupied) was never ultimately
realized is the subject of chapter 5. The au-
thor paints a complex picture of Dvofik
as a sort of tone magician, manipulating
listeners with carefully calibrated musical
gestures that are calculated to achieve max-
imum effect. Beckerman also discusses
Dvof~ik's shrewd self-marketing and the
deft control that he exerted on critics and
audiences in the reception of his works.
These views challenge some traditional
scholarship that presents the composer as
something of a gifted primitive who wrote
beautiful music that he somehow chan-
neled from a higher source, or as a naif
who was innocent of journalistic spin and
self-promotion.
The numerous audio selections are key
to understanding the points that Becker-
man makes; he could have included scores
instead of a compact disc, but with the lat-
ter choice he is able to reach out to a
broader audience. (The music examples in
score are displayed at www.wwnorton.com/
trade/Beckerman, accessed 21 May 2003.)
The compact disc tracks include piano
snippets played by the author and other
recordings of Dvorfik's works, as well as se-
lected portions of pieces by figures as di-
verse as Beethoven, Chopin, Smetana, and
Stephen Foster. There are also two fanciful
realizations of sketches; one (track 45) by
Czech musicologist Jarmil Burghauser, the
other (track 26), without attribution, pre-
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NOTES, September 2003
sumably by the author. The most fascinat-
ing of all the examples are the African
American melodies and the symphony
themes they may have inspired (tracks
28-36). Here is some of Beckerman's most
daring work.
Some of the comparisons are quite effec-
tive and show Beckerman's keen sensibility
for the relation between textual inspiration
and musical realization in the best interpre-
tive critical tradition advocated by Joseph
Kerman in his book Contemplating Music:
Challenges to Musicology (Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, 1985). One of
these examples is the melodrama accompa-
nying the "New World" scherzo (p. 42,
track 8); others are from the final move-
ment (p. 61, track 22; p. 63, track 25).
Some examples are less convincing (p. 49,
track 14). Yet Beckerman does maintain
a skeptical distance, and criticizes some
studies (for example, James Hepokoski,
"Culture Clash," Musical Times 134 [1993]:
685-88; and Robert Winter, Antonin
Dvoidk: SymphonyNo. 9, From the New World,
CD-ROM [Irvington, NY: Voyager, 1994])
that have tried to show programmatic con-
nections between "Hiawatha" and all of the
"New World" movements, even the outer
ones (p. 52). It is particularly felicitous that
the book includes Dvofik's "Hiawatha"
sketches and African American melodies
so that the reader can follow the author's
arguments. Beckerman's assertion that
Mildred Hill was the author of the article
"Negro Music" for the December 1892 jour-
nal issue of Music (pp. 119-22) is convinc-
ingly argued, although it does not seem
likely that the surname of the pseudonym
of the author, Johann Tonsor, was meant to
be an acronym. The name Johann Tonsor
appears in various genealogies at least since
the Renaissance.
Just as Beckerman exhorts us to seek in-
tent and meaning in Dvorik's works and
actions, it is fitting to consider the author's
own predispositions as well. Beckerman
aims to deconstruct ideas of nationalism
and Czechness in order to bring Dvofiik
and other composers into the European
mainstream so as to present a more bal-
anced and circumspect view of the com-
poser's oeuvre and place in music history.
(For more on Czech traits in music, see
Michael Beckerman, "In Search of Czech-
ness in Music," 19th Century Music 10
Book Reviews
[1986]: 61-73.) This is to show that Dvofi k,
Josef Suk, Leog Jandiek, and others were
not mere provincial muzikanti whose worth
is linked to an imagined notion of national-
ity. Beckerman's point of view is under-
standable, given the reception history and
revisionist historiography of many Austrian
and German critics and musicologists who
were surprisingly successful at convincing
the world that-as one German-born musi-
cologist I know has been heard to say-
"German is music."
Most Slavic composers have at least par-
tially embraced their role as nationalist
composers, representatives of their geo-
graphical, ethnic, and linguistic groups.
Music publisher Fritz Simrock was always
asking Dvofik for more "Slavonic" compo-
sitions; Jan~iek's first international success
(Jeiiufa) was for an opera strongly associ-
ated with pastoral Czech village life; and
Smetana is inevitably associated with his
nationalist Md vlast (My Homeland). Yet
each of these composers was certainly as
cosmopolitan as his Austrian and German
counterparts. It would seem odd to say
"German composer Johannes Brahms" or
"Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg,"
although we often feel the need to attach
the modifier "Czech" to Dvorik, Jandfek,
and Smetana.
Whether Dvof~ik is best understood only
through a Czech filter or not, many Czech
people identify strongly with the man and
his music. Dvodik embodies for them an
untouchable ideal of artistry, and they hold
affection for him as a sort of Czech "Papa
Haydn." What Czech does not swell with
pride when he hears one of the themes
from the "New World" symphony? Given all
of this, it is not surprising that when an
American scholar gives a paper at a Czech
musicological conference that challenges
deeply held beliefs of a nation toward its
hero, his ideas will be met with some con-
sternation, opposition, even sharp criti-
cism. This was the case when Beckerman
delivered a paper entitled "Dvofik and
Anxiety" in the Czech Republic in 1997.
The paper appears, in revised form, as
chapter 13 of the present work. Entitled
"The Master Is Not Well," it is one of the
most illuminating in the book. In it,
Beckerman examines the extant documen-
tary evidence about Dvorik and concludes
that the composer likely suffered from ago-
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169
raphobia and acute anxiety. He acknowl-
edges that
There are those, particularly in the
Czech Republic, who object to this kind
of inquiry, who view a discussion of
DvoAik and anxiety as intrusive, disre-
spectful, willfully iconoclastic, or simply
beside the point. But it is none of these.
If Dvoridk really was a man of the people,
someone who could sit down with farm-
ers more easily than with princes, and if
he was truly someone who could express
things to all of us, it was not only because
he was Czech, or Catholic, or unpreten-
tious, or the product of a small-town up-
bringing, it was also because of his fears,
which alone gave him something in com-
mon with all of us in a way both simple
and profound. (pp. 190-91)
Sometimes it is necessary to probe un-
comfortable areas to arrive at deeper
truths. What we know about composers'
lives is important and colors the way in
which we hear their music.
PAUI,CHRISTIANSEN
Palack5 University
Tchaikovsky's Complete Songs: A
Companion with Texts and Trans-
lations. By Richard Sylvester. (Russian
Music Studies.) Bloomington: Indiana
University Press, 2002. [xvi, 349 p.
ISBN 0-253-34041-1. $59.95.] Discog-
raphy, bibliography, indexes, compact
disc.
When one considers Tchaikovsky, the im-
mediate association is with ballet and sym-
phonic music; in truth, the composer wrote
103 songs with lyrics by both well-known
and unfamiliar poets. Author Richard
Sylvester has collected these songs, trans-
lated the lyrics from the original Russian,
transliterated the Cyrillic characters into
letters of the Latin alphabet, and provided
fascinating historical background for each.
A compact disc containing twenty-two songs
performed by notable singers is an added
bonus. The result is an unexpected, long-
overdue, and welcome labor of love, im-
bued with intelligent scholarship.