The Music Plays On — Dvořák’s Compositions in America
In an idyllic midwestern summer over two decades ago, a girlfriend and I spent our days playing house in a little town not too far from Spillville, Iowa, where the world-famous Antonín Dvořák and his family had spent their summer almost exactly 100 years prior, in 1893. In the mornings I’d go for a long bike ride before the heat, humidity, and languor of the afternoon would squelch any plans grander than a nap, and Spillville, being just about nineteen miles away, was a good long ride.
Visiting Spillville today isn’t much different than it would’ve been at the end of the 19th century and, in fact, the population has shrunk since then. It remains a predominantly Czech community and until it closed about ten years ago, the only restaurant in town was the Old World Inn, which served Czech style food, with Pilsner Urquell on tap. St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church is the oldest Czech Catholic church in the United States and the organ that’s in the choir loft is the same organ Dvorak would play every morning for matins service. Most of the grave markers are those incredibly ornate wrought iron ones you’d normally only see in central Europe.
