The piece
Dvořák wrote his Symphony No. 9, known as “From the New World”, in New York, where he was director of the National Conservatory of Music; it was first performed at Carnegie Hall in December 1893. In the second movement, Largo, the English horn sings a slow melody above the muted strings; it has become one of the most famous tunes in orchestral music. This easy version, written for Noctave after the Simrock edition of 1894, keeps the whole song, moved down a semitone into C major so that it reads without sharps or flats.
The right hand plays the melody, with its gentle dotted rhythms; the left hand holds the bass of the strings, one or two notes, often for the whole bar. Play very slowly and very softly, joining each phrase as if you were singing. In bars 7 and 8, the left hand walks down note by note while the right hand repeats its phrase; hold the last note to the end of the pause.
