Part One Several years later, towards the end of the 19th Century, New
York truly became rooted as an international centre of culture.
The Metropolitan Opera House opened its doors in 1882,
shortly followed by Carnegie Hall in 1891. As if
acknowledgment of the city’s newfound international status
was needed, the May 5th opening of Carnegie Hall was
attended by some of the most important names in music,
including Russian composer Tchaikovsky. As well as these two
new landmark music venues, the New York Philharmonic and
New York Symphony Orchestras were also formed around this
time, furthering the city’s standing as a burgeoning centre
for European Classical. All that was missing was the
performance of more American music.
When the Bohemian composer Antonín Dvořák came to New
York in 1892 to head the National Conservatory, he became
fascinated by the folk music of Native and African Americans.
After an African American student, Harry Burleigh, introduced
him to the songs of minstrel shows and spirituals, Dvořák felt
compelled to write an article in an 1895 issue of Harper’s
magazine, encouraging Americans to apply these folk
elements of their own country to their music, something that
he himself had always done with the folk music of his native
Bohemia. Dvořák’s words did not fall on deaf ears as over the
next 40 years New York City would be exposed to an abundance
of new home-grown music. This new wave of creativity was
gathering momentum throughout the city. Not only did American
composers, such as George Bristow, William Fry, Charles Griffes
and Leo Ornstein, begin to have their works performed in the
great concert halls, but altogether new styles were also beginning
to emerge from the depths of city.
The influence of blues music from the African-American
communities of the Deep South United States made its way
up to New York. The sound that resulted, named New York
Blues, was a blues style with a more ‘urban’ feel to it than the
traditionally rural tones of the Deep South. Ragtime, another
sty