Sonneck Society for American Music
Bulletin, Volume XXIII, no. 1 (Spring 1997)
Dvorák's House Razed : A Statue Will Soon Honor His Memory
by Steven Richman
In 1992 I wrote "The Dvorák Debacle" about the shameful destruction of the New York City residence
of one of the world's most revered musicians, Antonin Dvorák. The great Czech composer was brought to
the United States by arts patroness Jeannette Thurber to help establish an American School of composition
and direct the National Conservatory of Music of America, which was located on the site where
Washington Irving High School now stands. Dvorák lived and worked from 1892-95 in a row house
at 327 East 17th Stree, between 1st and 2nd Avenues. After years of efforts the facade of the building
was landmarked (on cultural grounds) in February 1991. An historic plaque had been place on it in
1941by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, marking the composer's 100th birthday. Among those attending
the ceremony were violinist Fritz Kreisler; conductor Bruno Walter; soprano Jarmila Novatna;
Czechoslovak Foreign Minister-in-Exile Jan Masaryk; Dvorák's secretary J.J. Kovarik; and Dvorák's
assitant, the baritone Hary T> Burleigh. Burleigh, who became a respected soloist, composer,
and educator (and coached such major artists as Caruso, John McCormack, and Marion Anderson),
helped familiarize Dvorák with the spirituals which the Czech composer compared favorably with
Beethoven, and so admired.
Dvorák had a significant influence on American music, supporting the cause of African-American and
Native American music; he encouraged the admission of black and female students to the National
Conservatory as well, radical concepts for their time. While living in the 17th Street house, he
composed masterpieces including the Symphony no. 9 ("From the New World"), which was premiered in Carnegie
Hall by the New York Philharmonic under Anton Seidl, as well as the Cello Concerto, the Sonatina for
Violin and Piano, and the Biblical Songs. Many of the works composed in the United States
incorporated the spirit of our indigenous music. Among Dvor&#k's students were the future teachers of
Ellington, Copland, and Gershwin. Although a clear and direct line cannot be drawn between Dvorák
and American composers, his influence certainly was passed down through the musical generations. In
fact, Gershwin's first musical memory was hearing Dvorák's Humoresque.
According to the new City Charter, the New York City Council had the power to overturn the landmarking
designation of Dvorák's house, and did so in June 1991 under pressure from Beth Israel Hospital,
which had bought the property. The hospital had first promised to save the site and turn it into a
nurse's residence. But later, Beth Israel delared its intention to destroy the building and convert it
into an AIDS hospice, refusing to consider other possible locations, thus revealingits expansionist agenda.
Efforts to save the building, or at least its facade, by musicians including Yo-Yo Ma, Rudolf Firkusny,
Rafael Kubelik, Mercer Ellington, Josef Suk, and John Slasel (then President of Musicians' Local 802), as
well as film director Milos Forman, Joseph Papp, critic Harold Schonberg, patroness Alice Tully, and Vaclav
Havel, President of Czechoslovakia, were to no avail. And two editorials in the New York Times against
saving the house from demolition weren't much help either. The Dvorák House was precipitously razed in
August 1991 only weeks after the City Council action. A newly-elected City Council later named the street
Dvorák Place, but it was a small and bitter victory.
This sad chapter in American cultural history was partially ameliorated by the discovery of a statue of the
composer, which had been given to the New York Philharmonic by the Chzechoslovak National Council of America,
and unveiled in 1963. The work, by Yugoslav-American sculptor Ivan Mestrovic (1883-1962) was relegated to the
roof of Avery Fisher Hall for thirty-two years, because it was not modern enough for Lincoln Center's decor!
The sculpture has never been seen by the public. The Philharmonic recently donated the statue to the Dvorák
American Heritage Association, an organization which grew out of the efforts to save the Dvorák House.
Over the past four years DAHA (in conjunction with the Stuyvesant Park Neighborhood Association) has
raised more than $70,000 towards moving, cleaning, insuring, and providing a pedestal, and endowing a
maintenance fund for the statue, which will become a gift to the City of New York. There is, at present,
approximately a $10,000 deficit for the maintenance fund. The Dvorák Statue Fund has been supported
by Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger, City Councilman Antonio Pagan, the New York State Council on
the Arts, and countless modest donations.
I myself organized and conducted an all-Dvorák Benefit Concert in February 1994 at New York City's Madison
Avenue Presbyterian Church to raise funds, as welll. Over one hundred musicians, including the Guarneri String
Quartet, bass-baritone William Warfield, pianist Seymour Lipkin (substituting for an ailing Rudolf Firkusny),
Harmonie Ensemble/New York, the Convent Avenue Baptist Church Choir, and members of the New York Philharmonic,
Metropolitan Opera, and Julliard orchestras contributed their services for the gala occasion, which was followed
by a reception at the residence of the Czech Ambassador to the United Nations, Karel Kovanda,. Marketa Dvorák,
the composer's great-great granddaughter, attended the event as special honored guest.
Another benefit concert, with Arnold Steinhardt (first violinist of the Guarneri String Quartet),
Harmonie Ensemble/New York, and the dynamic young Czech soprano Eva Urbanova, took place April
14, 1996, at the same location. Both concerts were broadcast on National Public Radio
throughout the United States.
Culminating these efforts, the Dvorák Statue was installed in Stuyvesant
Square Park, across the street from the former site of the Dvorák House, in September 1997.
New York's Mayor Giuliani, Borough President Ruth Messinger, Czech President Havel and representatives
of the Czech and Slovak governments, Czech musicians, members of the Dvorák family, conservationists,
artists, neighborhood residents, and many others attended the historic ceremony. An orchestral
concert, which I conducted following the dedication, took place at St. George's Church on
Stuyvesant Square Park, featuring works composed by Dvorák in New York, including the "New World"
Symphony, Cello Concerto, and Cantata, "The American Flag." Dvorák's great-grandson, the reknowned
violinist Josef Suk, performed. The event was covered by National Public Radio, Czech Radio and Television,
and the BBC.
I thought it appropriate to provide this update, since there are many musicians and music lovers who enjoy
and admire the works of Dvorák. I personally feel that we should do all we can to support the beleaguered
cause of music, especially in these difficult times for the arts. This is an important opportunity to express
our feelings in a symbolic way, by placing the Dvorák Statue in the best possible location, near his
historic New York home.
Those wishing to support the Statue Fund of the Dvorák American Heritage Association are encouraged to
contact DAHA at P.O. Box 332, Cooper Station, New York, NY 10276, or by telephone at
(212) 475-2850. All tax-deductable contributions should be made payable to Stuyvesant Park
Neighborhood Association (SPNA is acceptable). Check must specify: Dvorák Statue Fund.
Updated 4/20/98