DVORÁK, ANTONÍN. FINE CABINET PHOTOGRAPH SIGNED, SHOWING THE BEARDED COMPOSER WEARING A SUIT, WAISTCOAT AND TIE

showing the bearded composer three-quarter-face, wearing a suit, waistcoat and elaborate tie by W. Spiess, 54 Second Avenue, New York, 6 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches, laid down on paper mount, [1895]

Dvorak was in New York between 1892-1895 as the Director of the National Conservatory of Music. He wrote the Cello Concerto and the Ninth Symphony (“From the New World”) in the city. This image must have been taken in his last months in America. The photographer Spiess, possibly also of Bohemian descent, had a photographic studio in Second Avenue from 1895-1900.