Sounds like I was wrong then. I'd always been told otherwise,
particularly regarding that tune, but apparently I was wrong. Good to
know so I won't go around repeating such unfounded legend anymore.
-Arle
On Apr 5, 2007, at 11:28 PM, John Roberts wrote:
Well, Arle, though Dvorak here was certainly influenced by American
Folksong, particularly black spirituals, I am not sure you are
correct in
citing "Going Home" as a well known folk song. I would love to be
proven
wrong, however.
Wikipedia, for example, states: The theme from the largo was
adapted into a
spiritual-like song "Going Home," by black composer Harry Burleigh and
lyricist William Arms Fisher.
I believe Burleigh was a student of Dvorak - and probably helped
him in his
study of spirituals. But is there any real evidence that the tune, as
written out by Dvorak, was around in that form before he included
it in his
symphony?
JR
