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An imaginative, absorbing film - Rob Cowan, The Independent
An extraordinary documentary
- Michael Steinberg, San Francisco Orchestra
A rarity! Sumptuous cinematography. Music history that rises above the usual bromides of television documentaries - The Washington Post
On September 26, 1892, when Antonin Dvorak arrived in New York to direct the National Conservatory of Music of America, he was given the daunting task of creating a school of music for a young nation boundlessly confident in its resources, but still looking to Europe for a sense of identity. When Dvorak pronounced that America already had a source for national music - 'based on Negro melodies' - he not only sparked controversy but invigorated an already burgeoning community of African-American musicians.
Through a colorful and provocative mix of film, poignant first-person accounts, priceless archival material and a treasure trove of music, DVORAK AND AMERICA takes us on a surprising journey from Harry T. Burleigh's renderings of plantation songs and the creation of The New World Symphony to the twentieth century and the birth of the Broadway musical with Will Marion Cook's 'In Dahomey'.
Producers Lucille Carra and Brian Cotnoir combine classical and popular music, Dvorak's original music scores for The New World Symphony and the American Quartet, unpublished personal letters, oral histories, rare wax cylinder recordings, and sumptuously photographed locations in Prague, New York, and the American prairies, to reveal the musical links between cultures.
Produced by Brian Cotnoir and Lucille Carra
Directed and Written by Lucille Carra
Co-Producer and Chief Musical Consultant: Maurice Peress
Producer for Czech Television: Radim Smetana
Edited by Brian Cotnoir
Cinematography by Hiro Narita, Allen Moore, Antonin Chundela
In Dahomey Overture and Swing Along by Will Marion Cook
American Plantation Dances by Maurice Arnold
Conducted and Orchestrated by Maurice Peress
with the Prague Radio Orchestra
Featuring Gerald Early, Jean Snyder, Reid Badger, Josef Svorecky, Josephine Herrald Love, Marketa Hallova,
Mrs. Vera Janova (Granddaughter of Antonin Dvorak)
A Co-Production of Travelfilm Company, Czech Television and AVRO.
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