Artist: Antonin Dvorák
Author: Antonin Dvorak
Year: 1893
Second movement from his 9th Symphony, Op 95 (New World Symphony), created by the New York Philharmonic under Anton Seidl. The theme seemed to have been inspired by spirituals but it was the other way around. In 1922 William Arms Fisher, one of Dvorak's pupils, used this melody for his hymn Goin' Home, which took root as a gospel and jazz theme while also becoming the state song of Iowa and a funeral hit (Presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Gerald Ford).
Covers:
Reinald Werrenrath [first recording as Goin' Home]
Jan Clayton [idem; in film The Snake Pit]
Art Tatum [swing version]
Paul Robeson [as Goin' Home at Carnegie Hall, the same room where Dvorak's Largo was created]
Van Morrison-Lonnie Donegan-Chris Barber [o The Skiffle Sessions; all as Goin' Home]
The first movement of this New World Symphony inspired Serge Gainsbourg; see: Symphony N°9 in E minor. Not to be confused with three other original Goin' Home's (see there).
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