DVOŘÁK 9

At the premiere in Carnegie Hall, the end of every movement was met with thunderous clapping and Dvořák felt obliged to stand up and bow. This was one of the greatest public triumphs of Dvořák's career. When the symphony was published, several European orchestras soon performed it. Clapham says the symphony became "one of the most popular of all time" and at a time when the composer's main works were being welcomed in no more than ten countries, this symphony reached the rest of the musical world and has become a "universal favorite". There is without any kind of doubt this work broke any kind of barrier human beeings expected -  so it is,  that astronaut Neil Armstrong took a tape recording of the New World Symphony along during the Apollo 11 mission, the first Moon landing, in 1969. The transformation of Dvorak's music is a fitting legacy for his symphony about the New World, a work with a message that transcends any one culture and any possible race.