»Der Sommer 1893 in Spillville«. Eine musikalische Lesung mit der Autorin Barbara Ortwein

In the organizer's words:

The author Barbara Ortwein, who comes from North Rhine-Westphalia and now lives mainly in Prague, has written extensively about both the emigration of Germans and the emigration of Bohemians to the USA. In her book "The Summer of 1893 in Spillville", she describes the journey of the world-famous composer Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904) and his family to their former Bohemian compatriots, who settled west of the Mississippi in the US state of Iowa, in an informative and entertaining way. The small town, which Dvořák, who was working in New York at the time, got to know through a friend, still advertises its German founder and the Czech settlers to this day. The Czech national saint Wenceslas is still the patron saint of the Catholic church there(www.spillville.org). Antonín Dvořák once took the opportunity to play its modest organ. The composer's interest in the Bohemian settlers, their history and their new living conditions inspired him to write his "American" works, which combine Bohemian and American elements. His 9th Symphony in E minor, op. 95, which was partly written in Spillville and subtitled "From the New World" and premiered in New York shortly before the end of 1893, the year it was composed, is world-famous. Since then, it has been part of the repertoire of all major symphony orchestras worldwide. If you would like to listen to it, you can do so with the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Adam Fischer (""here is the direct link).

Former music teacher Barbara Ortwein plays and sings German, Czech and American folk songs that the Bohemian settlers brought with them from Europe or got to know in their new homeland. Short excerpts from Dvořák's "American" works demonstrate the impact of his stay in the USA (1893-1895) and a small exhibition about the locations and historical background of the book also complements the reading.