goofballs

This is, like many things on this blog, a glancing overview. I think that one of the best pieces of Americana, one of the most influential and greatest works reflecting the then more than 100 years old Union (after having endured its Civil War) was authored by a Czech composer by the name of Antonín Leopold Dvořák. Let's just call him "Tony D" for the sake of saving my keyboard and/or clipboard from those funny Czech characters. Tony D was the Director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York City from 1892 to 1895 through a set of circumstances too varied to cover just now; but during his tenure he made an astounding amount of money ($15,000 per year in 1892 compared to my starting salary at a San Francisco start-up of $42,000 or so in 1996, nevermind what my father made at a Cleveland law firm between 1969 and 1975 when he made partner, the year I was born). Was Antonin Dvorak worth that much? The debate during his tenure finally compelled him to leave Conserv...