th
the high leaps of dashing spray,--ever recurring like unceasing battle
with a towering clash at the height of the tempest. At last all meet in
overpowering united torrent, suddenly to hush before the stream, at the
broadest, rushes majestically along in hymnal song of exalted harmonies
and triumphant melody, with joyous after-strains.

As the pilgrim to his Mecca, so the waters are wafted into the climactic
motive of the Hradschin, the chant of the holy citadel. The rest is a
long jubilation

[Music: _Motiv Vyserad_
(Full orchestra, with rapid figures in the strings)]

on quicker beats of the chant, amid the plash of waters and the shaking
of martial brass. Strangely, as the other sounds die away, the melody of
the stream emerges clear and strong, then vanishes in the distance
before the jubilant Amen.

In the general view we must feel a wonderful contrast here with the
sophomoric state of the contemporary art in other lands where the
folk-song has lost its savor,--where the natural soil is exhausted and
elegant castles are built in the air of empty fantasy, or on the sands
of a vain national pride.

_DVORAK. SYMPHONY, "FROM THE NEW WORLD."_[A]

[Footnote A: Anton Dvorak, 1841-1904.]

It is a much-discussed question how far Dvorak's American symphony is
based on characteristic folk-song. Here are included other questions: to
what extent the themes are based on an African type, and whether negro
music is fairly American folk-song. Many, perhaps most people, will
answer with a general negative. But it seems to be true that many of us
do not really know the true negro song,--have quite a wrong idea of it.

To be sure, all argument aside, it is a mistake to think that folk-song
gets its virtue purely from a distinctive national quality,--because it
is Hungarian, Scandinavian, or Slavonic. If all the national modes and
rhythms of the world were merged in one republic, there would still be a
folk-song of the true type and value. There is a subtle charm and
strength in the spontaneous simplicity, all aside from racial color. It
is here that, like Antaeus, the musician touches Mother Earth and renews
his strength. So, when Dvorak suddenly shifts in the midst of his New
World fantasy into a touch of Bohemian song, there is no real loss. It
is all relevant in the broad sense of folk feeling, that does not look
too closely at geographical bounds. It is here that music, of all arts,
leads to a true state of equal sym