Dvořák's "New World"

In June 1891, Antonín Dvořák was invited to direct the newly-formed National Conservatory in New York City.  Leaving four of their six children behind in Bohemia, Dvořák and his wife made their new home on East 17^th Street in cacophonous Manhattan, just a few blocks from the new school.  Through his diverse student body and the advent of the polyrhythmic ragtime, Dvořák first encountered African American and Native American music.  He was particularly taken with those cultures’ spirituals. He borrowed musical elements from diverse popular sources for many of his compositions, including his Symphony No. 9, From the New World. 

Nielsen's Symphony No. 5

Drawing on themes of contrast and opposition and likely influenced by the aftermath of World War I, Nielsen’s Symphony No. 5 uses a nontraditional two movement structure. The first movement is a battle between the orchestra and a renegade snare drummer, silenced by the full forces of the orchestra in the final bars. Movement two takes dramatic and unexpected turns before resolving in triumphant affirmation.

Mahler's Symphony No. 9

During a period of both personal tragedy and momentous achievement, the Ninth Symphony is the last score Mahler completed. Some part of him would have wanted it so. With Beethoven’s Ninth and Bruckner’s unfinished Ninth in mind, he entertained a deep-rooted superstition about symphonies and the number nine. But for all the annihilating poignancy [with] which this symphony ends, Mahler cannot have meant it as a farewell. Within days of completing it, he plunged into composing a Tenth, which he never finished before his death in 1911.

Strauss' Oboe Concerto

The technical prowess required and the sublime melody of Strauss’ Oboe Concerto causes a stir among oboists. During occupation of his village in World War II, an elderly and impoverished Strauss met an American soldier and oboist, who suggested he write it. His answer was an emphatic “NO,” but he did complete a last bundle of masterpieces, of which the Oboe Concerto is one.

Berlioz's Te Deum

Napoléon III’s Exposition Universelle of 1855 in Paris saw the premiere of this daring, grandiose work, for the opening of the Church of Saint-Eustache. The new organ, a wonder of engineering at the time, was a fitting pillar of what Berlioz described as a “colossal” and “Babylonian” performance with nearly one thousand singers and instrumentalists.

Mozart’s Divertimento in D major

Mozart’s Divertimento in D major, written when he was 16, is one of the most popular of his works in this style. The finale uses counterpoint in a way that surprised his audiences and presaged the innovative delights of his later work. The Serenade No. 6, written four years later, was likely composed for dancing at parties during the annual Carnival celebrations in Salzburg.

Grieg's "Peer Gynt"

Scandinavian classic, Peer Gynt, written by Henrik Ibsen, may be one of the world’s first great modern psycho dramas as it moves seamlessly across time and space and between fantasy and reality. Edvard Grieg’s incidental music for Peer Gynt captures its many moods and has become some of the most popular classical music of all time.