A reverse example might be Antonin Dvorák, the Bohemian-born composer who came to America in 1892 as director of the Music Conservatory of New York. He was a devout traveler, and happily accumulated melodies from wherever his travels took him. His most famous work is the Symphony No. 9 in e minor, Op. 95 From the New World. Originally, the title lost its first word, becoming known as "The New World", indicating that it was his tribute to the New World. Rather, it is that of a composer from the Old World writing of the New World, but in the style of the Old. It may have been inspired by America, and used melodies he heard here, but it was definitely written by a Bohemian.
Can you identify which French-born composer has a mountain in Utah named for him? On August 5, 1978, the town of Parowan, Utah, so pleased with the symphonic work Des Canyons aux Étoiles, written after a 1973 stay in the area, named a local mountain Mt. Messaien. Obviously, the answer is Olivier Messaien, who used a different sort of "folk" for his usual inspiration - birds. The winged variety, of all shapes and sizes and national origins, find their songs replicated in many of his works. Les Oiseaux, for example.
Even Gustav Mahler used folk music. His first symphony, features an Austrian ländler in the second movement, performed in a vulgar manner - on purpose!. By the time Mahler borrowed it, however, the ländler had undergone a severe reformation, becoming the lovely, lilting waltz.
Ralph Vaughan Williams was an Englishman, through and through, and his music reflects this. Just three years after receiving his doctorate from Cambridge University in 1901, he first became acquainted with folk songs of the Tudor era (1485-1602), which prompted him to join the Folk Song Society, dedicated to the study of and research in such music. Two years later came the first of his three Norfolk Rhapsodies.
There have been two nationalistic groups of composers - The Mighty Five - Russians Balakirev, Cui, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky and Borodin; and the French Les Sixe: Tailleferre, Auric, Honegger, Poulenc, Milhaud and Durey. We may explore this aspect of nationalistic music in a future column.
