Dvořák in Iowa
plough.com
Dvořák in Iowa
1–10 of 35 posts
Re: Dvořák in Iowa
#2I was introduced to Dvorak and the New World Symphony through the anime Shin Sekai Yori (From the New World).
My favorite part of the New World Symphony is the largo, and found some of the background in this article interesting.
> Dvořák was also moved by the tale of Hiawatha, a founder of the Iroquois Confederacy. The largo is, in part, meant to describe the end of Hiawatha’s life. The old chief, weary from a life of labor, loss, and ardent service to his people, sits on the shores of the Great Sea Water and faces his own final homegoing.
Re: Dvořák in Iowa
#3I never thought I would see something about my hometown of 300 people in rural Iowa on Hackernews. There are several Dvořák murals in town as well as a museum for handmade grandfather clocks made by the Bily brothers. One of their descendants was my bus driver growing up and my grandfather grew up speaking Czech and English in the home. Kolaches are also a town staple and there are many fundraisers for Schools/Churches that include baking obscene amounts of them.
Re: Dvořák in Iowa
#4I never thought I would see something about my hometown of 300 people in rural Iowa on Hackernews. There are several Dvořák murals in town as well as a museum for handmade grandfather clocks made by the Bily brothers. One of their descendants was my bus driver growing up and my grandfather grew up speaking Czech and English in the home. Kolaches are also a town staple and there are many fundraisers for Schools/Church…
My dad and his cousin got their deer processed at the Spillville Locker a couple times. Went to see the Bily clocks one time with my grandma. Good times. Small world.
Re: Dvořák in Iowa
#5I never thought I would see something about my hometown of 300 people in rural Iowa on Hackernews. There are several Dvořák murals in town as well as a museum for handmade grandfather clocks made by the Bily brothers. One of their descendants was my bus driver growing up and my grandfather grew up speaking Czech and English in the home. Kolaches are also a town staple and there are many fundraisers for Schools/Church…
My dad and his cousin got their deer processed at the Spillville Locker a couple times. Went to see the Bily clocks one time with my grandma. Good times. Small world.
Definitely a small world. I worked at the locker in highschool and was sad to see it close down a couple years back.
Re: Dvořák in Iowa
#6I never thought I would see something about my hometown of 300 people in rural Iowa on Hackernews. There are several Dvořák murals in town as well as a museum for handmade grandfather clocks made by the Bily brothers. One of their descendants was my bus driver growing up and my grandfather grew up speaking Czech and English in the home. Kolaches are also a town staple and there are many fundraisers for Schools/Church…
Nit: s/ancestors/descendants.
Also, I had some friends from Cedar Rapids who made Kolaches. I never knew how to spell the word. I’m guessing it’s a Czech thing given how many Czech people are in CR.
Re: Dvořák in Iowa
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
My dad and his cousin got their deer processed at the Spillville Locker a couple times. Went to see the Bily clocks one time with my grandma. Good times. Small world.
Definitely a small world. I worked at the locker in highschool and was sad to see it close down a couple years back.
What? The Bily clock museum closed down? That's a tragedy.
Re: Dvořák in Iowa
#8I grew up just a short distance north of Spillville, Iowa. Even in those days, the town was very Czech. In Dvorak's time, it was as Czech as San Francisco's China Town was Chinese. In Dvorak's day, the brewer delivered a bucket of beer to your front door every morning, as was custom in the old country. (Somebody start that business in Sunnyvale :)
Spillville and Protivin were so Czech even when I was in school that I had bilingual classmates, because their grandparents spoke mostly Czech, still. And I can tell you this.... when you are a substitute teacher for a 2nd-grade class where one third of the kids have vowel-challenged names, oh the misery. Before you are half-way done taking attendance you will have suffered so much derisive laughter for the mispronounced names that you will have lost control of the classroom for the rest of the day.
Anyway, Dvorak felt very much at home in Spillville. During his day, Czech was the language of main street and the neighborhood.
Re: Dvořák in Iowa
#9I never thought I would see something about my hometown of 300 people in rural Iowa on Hackernews. There are several Dvořák murals in town as well as a museum for handmade grandfather clocks made by the Bily brothers. One of their descendants was my bus driver growing up and my grandfather grew up speaking Czech and English in the home. Kolaches are also a town staple and there are many fundraisers for Schools/Church…
Hello from Kendallville.
Re: Dvořák in Iowa
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
Definitely a small world. I worked at the locker in highschool and was sad to see it close down a couple years back.
What? The Bily clock museum closed down? That's a tragedy.
My bad. It was the meat locker that closed down. I worked there in highschool. The Bily Clocks Museum is still open.