The stylistic developments which occurred in Dvořák's music during the preparations for his visit to the United States and, in particular, during the first year and a half of his stay there are striking. Though different in many aspects of detail, these changes mirror the shift of emphasis seen in his work in the early to mid-1870s when, in a matter of three years, he moved away from the highly experimental compositional stance he had adopted towards the end of the 1860s towards the more moderate and approachable manner that characterised the music which brought him national and international fame in the 1880s.

The phenomenal success of Dvořák's ‘American’ works certainly requires consideration, as does the generally held view that the Cello Concerto, although conceived and composed in America, marks a significant retreat from the stylistic features he adopted in the New World.1 It would be a mistake, however, to assume that Dvořák's ‘American’ style erupted on his arrival in New York. Before he set off for the United States on 15 September 1892 Dvořák had already prepared a work for his inaugural concert. This was not the cantata The American Flag suggested by his American patroness, Mrs Jeanette M. Thurber, but the Te Deum (op. 103, B 176). Mrs Thurber was not only set on Dvořák providing a work that was suitable as the composer's introduction to New York, but also one that was appropriate to the Columbus celebrations of 1892.