Bohemian Composer Antonin Dvorak
The Czech Composer's Life in Spillville, Iowa Inspired 'Humoresque'
A brief look at Antonin Dvorak's first summer in America, when he vacationed at the Czech colony in Spillville, Iowa.
Always homesick for the companionship of his fellow countrymen, Dvorak travelled to the Czech colony at Spillville, Iowa, to spend the summer after his first year as Director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York City. The village was founded in 1849, and attracted many Czechs longing for a taste of their homeland in America. Here Dvorak could walk at leisure, compose at leisure and play the church organ for pleasure.
The congregation of St. Wenceslaus Church first met in 1859 and on St. Wenceslaus Day, May 28, 1860, the first service was held. During his sojourn here Dvorak played the pipe organ, installed in 1876, for daily mass.
Spillville Inspiration
In Spillville, Dvorak composed one of his quartets, made some revisions on his Symphony "From the New World," and received the inspiration for the famous "Humoresque." The "American" string quartet was composed at Spillville and its first performance was given there by Dvorak, John J.Kovarik, and Joseph and John Kovarik, Jr. The "New World" Symphony had been composed earlier in New York City, where the first performance took place in the following winter.
Dvorak travelled to Chicago on August 12 to attend Czech Day at the World Exhibition, where he conducted an evening of his own compositions, including "Three Slavonic Dances," Op.72; an overture, "My Home," and the Eighth Symphony. In September Dvorak left Spillville to meet with Eduart Rosewater, a wealthy Czech newspaper owner in Omaha, Nebraska., who hosted a banquet in his honor with three hundred guests. At a later evening in St. Paul, Minnesota, he was guest of honor at another banquet, this time attended by three thousand guests.
Writing of Spillville, Dvorak said, "Spillville is a purely Czech settlement, founded by a certain Bavarian, Spielman, who christened the place Spillville. He died four years ago, and in the morning when I go to the church, my way takes me past his grave and strange thoughts always fill my mind at the sight of it as of the the graves of many other Czech countrymen who sleep their last sleep here. These people came to this place about forty years ago, mostly from the neighbourhood of Pisek, Tabor and Budejovice. All the poorest of the poor, and after great hardship and struggle they are very well off here."
Dvorak Memorial
A memorial was erected some years ago in Spillville's Riveside Park, and the home in which Dvorak and his family lived is still standing and is marked with a plaque. Memorial concerts are given from time to time and have attracted the very finest performers from every corner of the world. Antonin Dvorak's spirit lives on in the little Czech village of Spillville, Iowa.
For further reading about Czech musicians see Pianist Rudolf Firkusny and Antonin Dvorak in America.
Sources
Dvorak, by Neil Butterworth,Omnibus Press, New York, 1980.
Pamphlet distributed by the village of Spillville.
