Composer of the Month: Antonin Dvorak

For the month of November, our first and second graders will be taking a look at the composer Antonin Dvorak. Dvorak was born in the Czech Republic in 1841 and died in 1904. During his life, he was able to make the trip across the Atlantic and visit The United States of America during it's early years as a country! While in America, he discovered African-American and Native American music. This became mixed with his longing for his home country. Together, these sounds meshed into a fresh, inviting sound that has lasted through the ages. The piece he wrote based off of these sounds was called a symphony, or a large musical composition made up of four parts or movements, and was nicknamed "The New World Symphony," after the country he wrote it in. While in class, the students this month will listen to each movement of the piece and do a small activity based on each movement.