Dvorak and the Teaching of American History

Abstract

Classical music might at first seem an unlikely vehicle for teaching American history in middle and high schools. For one thing, America's musical high culture has long been predominantly Eurocentric: Mozart and Beethoven have mattered more than Charles Ives or Aaron Copland. For another, classical music is increasingly marginal in the culture at large. Less and less do we hear it on the radio, or read about it in newspapers and magazines. A century ago—before the advent of popular music as we know it today—things were different. Classical music was not segregated from the American experience. And American composers were engaged in an earnest and excited search for an “American” style and subject matter. With continued waves of immigrants arriving, the young country was still feeling its way. At the center of this search were the perennial questions: “What is America?” and “Who is an American?” A single musician—a...