An emotional one

I am fond of Dvorak, and of his Ninth Symphony. There's a bit of mistaken belief that he based the slow movement of the symphony on either "Native American" or "African American" spiritual songs. (Actually, I think he wove in a few hints of folk melodies into the symphony, but as likely they are European ones).

But the song has been....you might say, retconned?....into a sort of spiritual by having words added. I've heard it occasionally but it never really struck me until I heard it this summer, after two of the big losses I experienced, how moving it is.

Yes, it does make me cry. Lots of things do now. I don't know if I'll regain my tough-as-nails past self or not.



(A UK friend of mine tells me she cannot hear this tune without thinking of a bread advert - apparently the Hovis brand used it as background music in a number of their ads. Funny how different cultures see things through a different lens; I know it almost purely as a classical piece and admit I'm slightly annoyed when it's used in an advertisement here to convey "emotion" - I think there was an ad recently that did just that, maybe some cell phone carrier?)