info@dvoraknyc.org
About Us
DAHA, the Dvorak American Heritage Association, was founded to rescue from demolition the 1850s row house on East 17th Street in Manhattan's Stuyvesant Square neighborhood where Antonin Dvorak and his family spent three notably productive and adventuresome years (1892-95). While living in the house Dvorak composed the "New World" Symphony, the "Biblical Songs," the most famous of the "Humoresque"s and the Cello Concerto, among other works, and met with students and important musical dignitaries. The rescue crisis was one of the most bitterly fought battles in the history of New York City's Landmarks Law. Through the extraordinary efforts of DAHA and the Stuyvesant Park Neighborhood Association, the Dvorak House was officially designated as a cultural landmark in early 1991; this was overturned later that year in an unprecedented move by the New York City Council, and the house was immediately demolished by its then owner, Beth Israel Hospital. Fortunately, several artifacts were removed and stored, and DAHA turned its efforts to finding other ways to perpetuate and commemorate Dvorak's American legacy.
In 1997, after six years of concerted efforts, DAHA oversaw the naming of an appropriate portion of East 17th Street as Dvorak Place, and the installation in Stuyvesant Square Park of a life-size bronze statue of Dvorak — within sight of where the Dvorak House stood. The unveiling of the Dvorak monument, designed by the distinguished sculptor Ivan Mestrovic, generously donated by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and placed on a base designed by the Czech-born architect Jan Hird Pokorny, was a festive civic and musical occasion that reminded all those involved of their ties to the Czech-American musical tradition — whether through Dvorak's creative life in America or through the Czech heritage that many of DAHA's members share and to this day strive to honor and commemorate.
It became clear that DAHA had a permanent mission, to tell future generations the amazing story of Dvorak's American adventure: his witnessing the 400th anniversary of Columbus's discovery of the New World; his summer sojourn in a small Czech-speaking village in Spillville, Iowa; his triumphant appearances at the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 and at New York's Carnegie Hall; his musical achievements as well as his work with students, who in turn became the future teachers of the American musical giants Ellington, Copland, and Gershwin.
In the late 1990's DAHA began to focus its activities on the long-sought restoration of the Bohemian National Hall (Narodni Budova, 1895/97) on Manhattan's East 73rd Street, for which Dvorak himself helped raise funds. Designated a New York City landmark by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1994, and sold for the nominal fee of one dollar to the Czech Republic by the Bohemian Benevolent & Literary Association (BBLA) in 2001, the building has been stabilized and restoration work is progressing in stages. Already available for use is a state-of-the-art recital hall, and a larger auditorium is under construction.
DAHA is introducing an annual concert-lecture series to highlight the music of Dvorak and the masterworks of his American students and followers; its first event, in December 2006, featured the Orion String Quartet and the jazz saxophonist Jimmy Heath. The artifacts from the Dvorak House — the mantelpiece from his living room and the marvelous commemorative plaque placed on the house in 1941 by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia — are already in their new home at the Bohemian National Hall, the
former installed in the Dvorak Room, and the latter to be placed nearby. Part repository of Dvorak memorabilia, part library and audio-visual space, part meeting place, the Dvorak Room will house artifacts from Dvorak's years in the United States, and especially New York City.
DAHA has dedicated itself to illuminate the story of Dvorak in America, and invites all to participate in its exciting future.
For more information, please contact us at info@dvoraknyc.org.
DAHA Website Project Coordinator: Majda Kallab Whitaker
Music Advisors: Maurice Peress, Karen Burke, Michael Beckerman
Graphic Designer: Traian Stanescu
Copy Editor: Jack Taylor
Website Developer: Hana Sloukova
Left image: Antonin Dvorak Statue by sculptor Ivan Mestrovic, Stuyvesant Park, New York City. Photo courtesy Traian Stanescu.
Right image: 327 East 17th Street, New York City. Façade of house where the Dvoraks lived from 1892-95.
In 1997, after six years of concerted efforts, DAHA oversaw the naming of an appropriate portion of East 17th Street as Dvorak Place, and the installation in Stuyvesant Square Park of a life-size bronze statue of Dvorak — within sight of where the Dvorak House stood. The unveiling of the Dvorak monument, designed by the distinguished sculptor Ivan Mestrovic, generously donated by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and placed on a base designed by the Czech-born architect Jan Hird Pokorny, was a festive civic and musical occasion that reminded all those involved of their ties to the Czech-American musical tradition — whether through Dvorak's creative life in America or through the Czech heritage that many of DAHA's members share and to this day strive to honor and commemorate.
It became clear that DAHA had a permanent mission, to tell future generations the amazing story of Dvorak's American adventure: his witnessing the 400th anniversary of Columbus's discovery of the New World; his summer sojourn in a small Czech-speaking village in Spillville, Iowa; his triumphant appearances at the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 and at New York's Carnegie Hall; his musical achievements as well as his work with students, who in turn became the future teachers of the American musical giants Ellington, Copland, and Gershwin.
In the late 1990's DAHA began to focus its activities on the long-sought restoration of the Bohemian National Hall (Narodni Budova, 1895/97) on Manhattan's East 73rd Street, for which Dvorak himself helped raise funds. Designated a New York City landmark by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1994, and sold for the nominal fee of one dollar to the Czech Republic by the Bohemian Benevolent & Literary Association (BBLA) in 2001, the building has been stabilized and restoration work is progressing in stages. Already available for use is a state-of-the-art recital hall, and a larger auditorium is under construction.
DAHA is introducing an annual concert-lecture series to highlight the music of Dvorak and the masterworks of his American students and followers; its first event, in December 2006, featured the Orion String Quartet and the jazz saxophonist Jimmy Heath. The artifacts from the Dvorak House — the mantelpiece from his living room and the marvelous commemorative plaque placed on the house in 1941 by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia — are already in their new home at the Bohemian National Hall, the
former installed in the Dvorak Room, and the latter to be placed nearby. Part repository of Dvorak memorabilia, part library and audio-visual space, part meeting place, the Dvorak Room will house artifacts from Dvorak's years in the United States, and especially New York City.
DAHA has dedicated itself to illuminate the story of Dvorak in America, and invites all to participate in its exciting future.
For more information, please contact us at info@dvoraknyc.org.
DAHA Website Project Coordinator: Majda Kallab Whitaker
Music Advisors: Maurice Peress, Karen Burke, Michael Beckerman
Graphic Designer: Traian Stanescu
Copy Editor: Jack Taylor
Website Developer: Hana Sloukova