Weekend self-care open thread: Antonín Dvořák and Black American music

I have a soft spot for this great composer of the European tradition. Because he said this when he spent years in the United States conducting the National Conservatory of New York:

“I am now satisfied,” Dvořák quoted to journalist James Creelman, “That the future music in this country must be founded upon what are called negro melodies. This must be the real foundation of any serious and original school of composition to be developed in the United States.”

What seems to us as a truism in our modern day, when Black American music is the foundation of all popular music, was a revelation—and not a welcome one—when Mr. Dvořák plied his trade in New York City. Black music is American music. Black history is American history. And even the storied heights of European concert music had much to learn from the people it enslaved.

So, for this weekend's self care, we shall delight in the compositions this seer saw as what was quintessentially American.

What Dvořák saw was that this country is not one of blood and soil. It is an idea. Out of many, one. And it is based on those who, to quote our MOMU, were "the less dead". On those who survived the indescribable, and gave this country their all, even though this country was never meant for them. And now? They provide the world with its art and culture.

As always, dear friends, be ever kind, gentle, and joyful to yourselves and others.