Diary of a Mad Composer.

The great Czech composer spent three years in New York, directing the National Conservatory of Music of America at 17th Street and Irving Place. One of the great melodists in music history, Dvorák created original lines that he felt had an American sound, and pointed out the source of his idea of what a new American music would sound like: "In the Negro melodies of America I discover all that is needed for a great and noble school of music." If you believe in America, that despite all the failures and things that are incomplete there is still a promise here that exists nowhere else, then you play music that is relevant to America, you give listeners this country's culture instead of keeping it tucked away in music libraries. [Extracted from the article]

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