{"id":1953,"date":"2020-12-29T20:46:47","date_gmt":"2020-12-30T01:46:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/?p=1953"},"modified":"2020-12-29T20:46:52","modified_gmt":"2020-12-30T01:46:52","slug":"an-act-of-empathy-a-dvorak-radio-documentary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/2020\/12\/an-act-of-empathy-a-dvorak-radio-documentary.html","title":{"rendered":"“An Act of Empathy” — a Dvorak Radio Documentary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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When PostClassical Ensemble<\/a><\/strong> produced an hour-long film<\/a><\/strong> about Dvorak and \u201cthe American experience of race\u201d last September, we hardly envisioned turning it into a 45-minute public radio special for the holidays. But that\u2019s what happened, thanks to an invitation from Rupert Allman, who produces the nationally distributed radio magazine \u201c1A.\u201d You can hear, it and read about it, here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jenn White, the 1A host, begins: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHip Hop, Jazz, Pop \u2013 whatever the genre, music has the power to move us \u2013 and teach us something else about our own history and our place in it. Over the decades one narrative has formed around an iconic piece of classical music \u2013 a symphony that\u2019s been described as introducing American music to itself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What follows is a sustained exploration of the \u201cracial\u201d content of Dvorak\u2019s New World<\/em> Symphony, with interpolated musical excerpts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I summarize:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf the New World<\/em> Symphony remains the most beloved symphony composed on American soil, I think that\u2019s because in the sadness and poignance of this work we recognize, however subliminally, an act of empathy \u2013- Dvorak\u2019s empathy for the African-American, born in slavery, and for the Native American, facing extinction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I add:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut there\u2019s an elephant in the room \u2013 \u2018cultural appropriation.\u2019 It\u2019s a term we hear a lot nowadays. And it\u2019s pertinent because Dvorak \u2013 a Czech by birth \u2013 is obviously borrowing from traditions not his own.\u201d That is: he draws inspiration from the sorrow songs of slaves, and \u2013 via Longfellow\u2019s The Song of Hiawatha<\/em> \u2013 from Native America. There follows a terrific commentary by the eminent African-American bass-baritone Kevin Deas, whom we hear singing \u201cGoin\u2019 Home,\u201d and also \u201cSteal Away\u201d in the imperishable arrangement by Dvorak\u2019s one-time New York assistant Harry Burleigh. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other music we audition is taken from the Hiawatha Melodrama <\/em>\u2013 the 35-minute composition for narrator and orchestra I created with the music historian Michael Beckerman \u2013 as recorded on PCE\u2019s singular Naxos CD \u201cDvorak and America.\u201d<\/strong> <\/a>Premiered by Angel Gil-Ordonez and PCE in 2013, our Melodrama has been widely performed by American orchestras \u2013 and was also named one of the best CDs of the year by Minnesota Public Radio. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to Angel, Kevin, and myself, the participants in our radio show (which I produced with Peter Bogdanoff, who so ingeniously adds visual content to our P<\/strong>CE films<\/strong>)<\/a> include Melissa Constantin, a Howard University biology major who delivers a memorable performance of Harry Burleigh\u2019s \u201cWade in the Water.\u201d The music historian Mark Clague talks about the urgency of a cultural and educational response to the murder of George Floyd. Finally \u2013 as in our film \u2013 JoAnn Falletta delivers the last word, embracing Dvorak as a \u201cgreat humanitarian,\u201d testifying to his \u201cauthenticity and honesty,\u201d his \u201ccapacity to grow in a foreign country\u201d \u2013 \u201can astonishing example to us today.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When PostClassical Ensemble produced an hour-long film about Dvorak and \u201cthe American experience of race\u201d last September, we hardly envisioned turning it into a 45-minute public radio special for the holidays. But that\u2019s what happened, thanks to an invitation from Rupert Allman, who produces the nationally distributed radio magazine \u201c1A.\u201d You can hear, it and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1953","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2QLHN-vv","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1953"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1958,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1953\/revisions\/1958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}