Location: 323 South Main Street, Spillville, Iowa (in the same building as Bily Clocks Museum)
This Museum does Charge for Admission, Visit for https://www.bilyclocks.org/ for Pricing
The glaciers may have missed the Driftless area, but this world-renowned Czech composer sure did not. In May of 1893, Antonín Dvořák and his family visited Spillville, Iowa for the summer. When a person of such immense regard inserts themselves into a small community, all eyes are going to be on them, and their visit will surely go down in history. Yet, questions still remain about Dvořák’s summer vacation in Spillville, as it was not without a few weird occurrences. For example, Dvořák was known for memorizing the town map before coming and he knew most peoples’ names upon arrival. Was this endearing or weird? That’s up to you to decide.
Spillville was where Dvořák wrote two of his most famous pieces – the string Quartet No. 12 in F Major and the String Quintet No.3 in E flat major – both of which are allegedly inspired by the sounds of the Turkey River. Additionally, Dvořák supposedly made final changes to the largo of the New World Symphony in Spillville as well. Perhaps this was when he was at the peak of his career, but it is a bit odd that a global composer of such fame composed their most famous works in the Driftless area of all places.
During his time in Spillville, Dvořák was fascinated by the local Haudenosaunee tribe, which he dubbed “the medicine men.” Dvořák was specifically interested in their songs and instruments, so it can be assumed that the musical stylings of indigenous peoples likely influenced Dvořák’s music that came out of Spillville. Dvořák kept many photos from the Haudenosaunee. In his memoir about his summer in America, Dvořák’s son Otakar writes of how these photos that Dvořák acquired from the Haudenosaunee were some of his father’s most prized possessions. It is clear that Dvořák felt a close connection to the indigenous peoples in Spillville, so why is one of the leading rumors of Dvořák’s departure from Spillville that one of his daughters fell in love with a member of the Haudenosaunee tribe?
Despite having been in Spillville for only one summer, Dvořák’s legacy lives on. The original pipe organ that Dvořák played in St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church still remains, and the former home of the Dvořák’s is now an exhibit in Spillville’s Bily Clock Museum. The Bily brothers made an homage to him by crafting a violin clock with his portrait engraved on it, which resides in the museum. But like all clocks in the museum, you cannot view the clocks without a tour guide to ensure you do not touch them.
Located on the second floor of the Bily Clocks Museum, the Antonin Dvořák is accessible via stairs. With a sturdy railing, it is accessible to cane users, but it remains inaccessible to wheelchair users.