In September 1892, Antonin Dvorak arrived in New York to take up the post of Director of the National Conservatory of Music. One of his first jobs was to judge the prizes for a composition competition: the patron of the conservatory had put up over $4,000 in prize money for six classes of composition. Dvorak found much talent, "mostly in the German school, but here and there another spirit, other thoughts, other colouring - in short, Indian music".

Quite what made him think he was hearing the influence of native Indian music is doubtful. He certainly had very little chance to hear any real Indian or Negro music before he began sketching a new symphony in January 1893. Work on it occupied him for about five months, and he completed the work on 24th May.

The title page is interesting: written in both Czech and English it says "From the New World, Symphony (E minor), No.8, Opus 95". The '8' was later crossed out and '7' substituted, only to be crossed out in turn. Dvorak seems to have been oddly unsure as to how many symphonies he had written! The confusion was made worse when Dvorak's first four symphonies were lost, and for most of the early 20th century the New World Symphony was known as number 5.

The first performance was given at a concert of the New York Philharmonic Society in the Carnegie Hall on 16th December 1893. Dvorak wrote to his publisher "The success was enormous; the newspapers say no composer has ever before had such a triumph. I was in a box; the hall was filled with the best New York public and the people applauded so much that I had to thank them from the box like a king."

Though it has no overt Indian or Negro tunes in it, most of the tunes are clearly influenced by folk music generally, being short, simple and memorable. The exception is the famous tune in the Largo, which is long, but still simple and memorable. Dvorak said that the second and third movements were influenced by Henry Longfellow's epic poem "The Song of Hiawatha". This long and now largely forgotten poem presents a highly romanticised view of native American Indian life, a million miles removed from the brutal reality of their oppression at the time.

After a slow introduction the first movement has three main tunes: the bold opening horn call, the folksy tune heard later on flutes and clarinets, and a happy melody on the solo flute The whole opening section is repeated before a development of all three themes in increasing complexity and excitement leads to a reprise of the opening theme and a triumphant coda.

The slow movement, after a solemn procession of chords lowers the key from E to D-flat, introduces the famous tune on cor anglais. (If only Dvorak had received royalties every time this tune has been used in an advertisement ..!) A long central section includes references to two of the themes from the first movement, and the movement ends with a peaceful memory of the cor anglais theme and the opening chord sequence.

The scherzo is a vigorous dance, whose tunes sound very Czech (not American) in origin - especially the village wind band sound of the trio section. This movement too is haunted by the ghost of the first movement, a reference made explicit in the coda.

The finale sweeps along with great energy, built on the bold theme proclaimed by horns and trombones. A calm second theme on solo clarinet offers contrast, and then Dvorak includes references to several themes from earlier movements as he builds the symphony to its powerful and triumphant conclusion.