麻豆社

Donald Macleod explores the shy and home-loving Antonin Dvorak and his arrival in eclectic and chaotic New York, where he went to take up his new position as director of the National Conservatory. During his time there he became fascinated with African-American and Native American music.

Dvorak's last few months in America were marred by the deaths of his father and his great friend, the conductor Hans von Bulow. The discussion concludes with an exploration of the composer's Biblical Songs - written in the immediate aftermath of his bereavements - as well as the composition that was to prove his final farewell to his adopted home: the virtuosic Cello Concerto in B minor.