Download Dvorak, Nationalism, and Racism

Dvorak, Nationalism, and Racism
Lesson Plan for Middle or High School Level
Time Required: Depending upon group size, ages, and ability level of
students, two to three forty minute class periods.
Objectives:
Students will know and be able to articulate the concept of
nationalism.
Students will understand how Dvorak’s experience as a nationalist in
Bohemia led his to very natural look to folk roots as the source for a
uniquely American music.
Students will understand and be able to explain how Dvorak’s
elevation of indigenous folk culture to the level of high art was met
with racism.
Students will engage in the research process and write an informative
essay in which they link the nationalistic fervor or Dvorak and other
composers.
Materials:
Copies of article, “Dvorak, Nationalism, and Racism,” by Patricia J.
McIntyre, M Ed.
Copies of vocabulary worksheet for the article listed above.
Copies of assignment, “For Further Research.”
Access to online and print resources.
Day One:
Distribute the article to the students. This can be read as independent
silent reading, pair-share reading, or ask a whole class oral reading
with students taking turns.
Use the comprehension questions to create a worksheet. The students
may answer these in a pair-share format, in small groups, or as a large
class led by the teacher.
Distribute the vocabulary worksheet. Assign the writing of the
summary paragraph for homework.
Day Two:
Have students exchange their summary paragraphs and do peer
editing. Ask students to evaluate their partner’s writing by judging
how well the paragraph uses the vocabulary terms to explain the
manner in which Dvorak used indigenous and folk music in his
creation of a distinctly American music.
Discuss the reasons that Dvorak was criticized for elevating folk
music to a level of high art. What do the criticisms he attracted say
about the upper class, the formally educated, and their relationship
with Native Americans and African-Americans in the 1890’s?
Distribute the Topics for Further Research assignment. Allow students
to begin their research by going to the “listverse” site for a short
introduction to his/her chosen topic.
Students may be given two to three days to research their topic. A
rough draft of the assigned writing should be collected after five days,
with revision and editing done either through a peer or teacherdirected process. A final daft should be submitted at the teacher’s
discretion.
Dvorak, Nationalism, and Racism
Article
The Columbian Exposition put the Americas, especially the
United States, in the global spotlight as people all over the world
contemplated the significance of Columbus’ “discovery.”
Americans themselves felt a great deal of pride, and sought to find
ways to distinguish the United States from its European roots.
There was intense focus upon finding ways for the United States to
truly be worthy of the title, “The New World,” a nation free from
all of the negative traits that had inspired immigrants to leave the
“Old World,” to start new lives in America. When people
experience great pride in identifying themselves as members of
their country, and in setting apart the culture of that country as
unique, they are expressing nationalism. Americans in 1893 were
riding a wave of nationalism. Dvorak’s invitation to head the new
American Conservatory of Music was part of this nationalist trend.
In addition to teaching the very best American music students,
Dvorak was asked to help seek out and define a distinctly
American form of classical music, one that did more than simply
copy the traditions of European music.
How would Dvorak set about defining this new and distinct
American music? After all, conservatory educated musicians were
taught to play by European teachers, and they were taught to play
traditional European compositions? America’s population itself
was comprised of immigrants, and its culture was therefore a
mixture of other (mostly European) cultures. What then, was
uniquely “American,” about the music and the culture of this New
World?
For Dvorak, the answer to that question was found in the
musical and cultural contributions of the non-European
populations who lived in the United States. These people were not
of European descent, and had not immigrated to America. Who
were these people who would inspire Dvorak to write a symphony
that broke with some of the traditional European musical forms?
They were the Native Americans, who had been here long before
Columbus, and the Africans, who were, for the most part, brought
to the United States against their will. Dvorak found in Native
American and African music several common traits, traits that
were not shared by European music. By appropriating these
Native American and African musical features and combining
them with the music of the Old World, Dvorak is said to have
created a music for the New World.
His students at the National Conservatory learned from
Dvorak how to compose music that included both the older,
conventional orchestral features of traditional European classical
music, and the features of Native American and African music that
Dvorak had recently learned. One student in particular, Rubin
Goldmark, became a pivotal figure in the evolution of the New
World’s music. An avid pupil of Dvorak, he went on to teach both
Aaron Copeland and George Gershwin, two of the most influential
and prolific composers of American music. Composer Duke
Ellington was a student of, and the influence of Dvorak’s efforts to
combine Old World forms with the musical features of a world
very different from his own is heard in the compositions of
Ellington as well.
Dvorak’s recognition of the unique and complex features of
Native American and African music was not appreciated by some
music critics in his time. After the debut of the New World
Symphony, a Boston music critic insulted the great composer,
calling him a “negrophile,” (literally, negro lover ) and criticized
Dvorak for having said that a great American music could grow
from such “primitive roots,” as those found in Native American
and African cultures. This response is an example of racism. Many
white Europeans in 1893 considered people of color to be
culturally inferior. For Dvorak, looking to the people and the
cultures discovered through Columbus’ expedition as sources for
the music of the New World was only logical. Dvorak knew that
the Native Americans as the only indigenous culture in the United
States had the only real claim to having an American music.
Africans, similarly, were indigenous to a portion of the world from
which the formally educated composers of Europe had never
acknowledged musical sources. Neither Native American nor
African musicians were formally trained, and their music was not
written down. During musical performances, both Native
American and African musicians are not tied down to music that is
written upon a page. These musicians are free to improvise, or
spontaneously play music that fits with the group’s performance,
straight from their own minds. Native American and African music
was transmitted from one generation to the next through informal
education: that is, by younger musicians listening to and imitating
older musicians. Informally or self-taught musicians are generally
referred to as folk musicians, and the music they play is called
folk music.
Europe has its own folk music. It was popular with the lower
classes of society who could not read or write music, but who
nevertheless learned to play and compose complex and intricate
musical works. For centuries, there was a vast gap in the
understanding between formally trained musicians who read and
wrote their own compositions, and the folk musicians who played
and composed by ear. With the rise of nationalism in the 1800’s,
however, many countries looked to their own folk culture rather
than formal education as the roots of their national identity. As
European countries became free after years of rule by kings and
emperors, their people were less interested in identifying with the
culture that they had been forced to accept by the upper class.
Writers, artists, and musicians looked toward elevating folk tales
and myths, folk dances, and folk music to the level of high art as a
way of helping their people reclaim a unique cultural identity, a
national identity.
Dvorak was influenced by composers such as Wagner, and
Tchaikovsky, both of whom were famous for turning to folk music
and literature as sources of inspiration for their work. It is ironic
that in a year in which American nationalism was at a very high
level, and in a period in which famous and learned composers were
elevating folk music to a level of high art, Dvorak was insulted for
attempting to bring into the spotlight the musical contributions of
the indigenous people of the New World so conspicuously
celebrated at the Columbian Exposition.
End of Article
Name: ___________________________________________
Dvorak, Nationalism and Racism Article
Comprehension exercise.
Vocabulary: Below are vocabulary words that are important to
understanding the contribution that Dvorak and his students made
to the evolution of a distinctly American music, a music for The
New World. Use a dictionary to find the definitions of these words.
Then, in an eight to eleven sentence paragraph, write a summary of
the article that you have read about Dvorak, nationalism, and
racism.
nationalism
racism
folk music
improvise
indigenous
conservatory
emperor
appropriating
Nationalism
Racism
Indigenous
Conservatory
Folk Music
Improvise
Emperor
Appropriating (appropriation)
Topics for additional research: Dvorak, as the article states, was
not the only composer who was considered a nationalist. Many
composers before and after Dvorak’s time were intensely loyal to
the idea of composing music that celebrated the folk tales, dances,
and customs of their countries. This was often in response to the
threat to their nation’s culture posed by political unrest and war. At
other times, the desire to incorporate folk culture into high art was
a reaction to the elitist attitudes of the upper class who considered
popular music and culture to be insignificant, primitive, or vulgar.
Research one of the following composers and find out what
forces contributed to the artist’s nationalistic tendencies. What did
the composer do that was evidence of his nationalism? Did the
composer suffer any negative consequences for his efforts to
elevate his country’s folk heritage or indigenous culture to a level
of high art? In what ways did the composer’s nationalism impact
the development of music in his country?
Puccini
Sir Edgar Elgar
Shostakovich
Edvard Grieg
Claud Debussy
Bela Bartok
Krzysztof Penderecki
Mozart
Richard Wagner
Charles Ives
Aaron Copland
For more information about these nationalist composers, including
audio samples of their compositions, go to:
http://listverse.com/2010/04/19/top-10-composers-who-embody-nationalism/