Dvorák’s "American" and "New World" works arose during the composer’s sojourn in the United States in the early 1890s. He was uneasy with American high society and retreated to a small, predominantly Czech town in Iowa for summer vacations during his stay. However, he did make the acquaintance of the pioneering African-American baritone H.T. Burleigh, who may have influenced the seemingly spiritual-like melodies in the "New World" symphony and other works. Throughout the years of his residence in New York, Dvořák, subsequent to the completion of Symphony no. 9 in E minor, composed a Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in B-minor, Op. 104 in 1894-95 to encourage a cellist composer, who was his teacher colleague at the National Conservatory of Music in New York directed by Dvořák, and who, as a member of the city philharmonic orchestra, also performed during the premi?re of the New World Symphony.