Let's start with the ending: there's a whole unwritten legend around Antonín Dvořák's New World Symphony, which was already complicated by the successive changes in numbering, as it was the Fourth and the Fifth before becoming the Ninth (quirks of classical works catalogs). This aura or myth says that the composer, born in Bohemia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and today's Czech territory, was inspired by American music, particularly by taking indigenous motifs, to write it. However, the composer himself didn't think the same! Yes, it's true that Dvořák resided and worked in the United States during the time he wrote this great work, and furthermore, the work was premiered there, by a local orchestra. It's also true that he was inspired by readings and perhaps by the American landscape: those monumental natural settings seem to be seen in the symphony's four movements (particularly in the last two, perhaps the most grandiose and popular at the same time). But it's no less true that the melodic motifs could perfectly be Bohemian, like those of his previous symphonies (including the Eighth, precisely, perhaps the most Bohemian of all for its rhythmic elements) and that the three-year stay in the New World was not entirely pleasant for the composer. On the contrary, the separation from his homeland became unbearable for him and, in fact, he had no choice but to return and leave the American experience behind. Is it possible that something from his surroundings leaked into the spirit of the work? This cannot be ruled out, but in any case, it did not happen at a conscious level, since the central elements were already in Dvořák's head and drafts before setting foot on American soil. The mere fact that there are melodic motifs with pentatonicism (a five-note scale) does not make them American, and the development of the work has no other points of contact with the supposed influence of the local environment. The New World Symphony is an outstanding work for what it arouses in the listener, and perhaps this myth around its genesis influences its appreciation.