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New World Symphony Largo on the ocarina

The Largo of Dvořák's New World Symphony, the tune later sung as Going Home, opens with E, G, G, then steps down through E and D to C, played slowly by a solo cor anglais (English horn). Here are its first 12 bars in C major, from C up to high E, exactly the range of a 6-hole pendant. It uses only C, D, E, G, A and B, so there is not a single sharp or flat to finger.

Updated 2026-10-29Public domainMedium66 notes · 12 barsC major · 4/4Fits 12-hole and 6-hole
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What are the notes for the New World Symphony Largo on the ocarina?

The New World Symphony Largo, played here in C major, 4/4 time, bar by bar: E, G, G, E, D, C | D, E, G, E, D | E, G, G, E, D, C | D, E, D, C, C | A, high C, high C, B, G, A | A, high C, B, G, A | A, high C, high C, B, G, A | A, high C, B, G, A | E, G, G, E, D, C | D, E, G, E, D | E, G, G, high C, high D, high E | high D, high C, high D, A, high C. Pick your ocarina to see its fingerings. To hear the tune, press Play in the player further down.

CoveredOpen

Goes up to high E, so it does not fit a 4-hole.

    1. E
    2. G
    3. G
    4. E
    5. D
    6. C
    1. D
    2. E
    3. G
    4. E
    5. D
    1. E
    2. G
    3. G
    4. E
    5. D
    6. C
    1. D
    2. E
    3. D
    4. C
    5. C
    1. A
    2. high C
    3. high C
    4. B
    5. G
    6. A
    1. A
    2. high C
    3. B
    4. G
    5. A
    1. A
    2. high C
    3. high C
    4. B
    5. G
    6. A
    1. A
    2. high C
    3. B
    4. G
    5. A
    1. E
    2. G
    3. G
    4. E
    5. D
    6. C
    1. D
    2. E
    3. G
    4. E
    5. D
    1. E
    2. G
    3. G
    4. high C
    5. high D
    6. high E
    1. high D
    2. high C
    3. high D
    4. A
    5. high C
The 9 notes here, on a 12-hole
NoteHoles to coverPicture
ECover every main hole but the right ring and right pinky
GCover every main hole but the right index, right middle, right ring and right pinky
DCover every main hole but the right pinky
CCover every main hole
ACover the left pinky, left middle, left index, left thumb and right thumb
high CCover the left pinky, left thumb and right thumb
BCover the left pinky, left index, left thumb and right thumb
high DCover the left pinky and right thumb
high ECover the left pinky

What is the hardest part of the New World Symphony Largo?

The second-to-last bar, where the opening phrase suddenly climbs past G to high C, D and E, the highest notes in the piece. On a 12-hole, the New World Symphony Largo goes from G to high C: you lift the left ring, left middle and left index.

On a 6-hole and a 12-hole alike, high D and E are played by lifting the thumbs, so practise the climb slowly: G, high C, D, E. Give the high E a little more air than the notes below it, then let the last bar settle back to high C. Almost every bar has the same dotted figure, a long note and a quick one, three quarters of a beat and then a quarter: at this slow tempo count four beats in every bar and keep the short note short. The middle four bars start on A and repeat one two-bar phrase; breathe after each long A.

Which ocarina can play the New World Symphony Largo?

A 4-hole ocarina cannot reach high D and high E, so play the New World Symphony Largo in this key on a 12-hole or 6-hole ocarina in C. On an ocarina in G or F, use the same fingerings: the tune sounds in a different key, which is fine when you play alone. Each linked chart has every fingering for its ocarina, and you can check your notes with a tuner such as our free ocarina tuner.

Is Going Home (Goin' Home) a spiritual?

No. Going Home, published in 1922 as Goin' Home, is this melody with words added by William Arms Fisher, a former pupil of Dvořák. The tune is Dvořák's own, from the slow movement of his Symphony No. 9, From the New World, written in New York in 1893. Our tabs follow his own piano duet version, published by Simrock in Berlin in 1894, which prints the theme at the pitch the cor anglais sounds, in D-flat major; our tabs move it to C. We checked it against the full score. Dvořák died in 1904, so the tune is public domain. We show the melody only. Music: Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904), the cor anglais theme of the Largo of his Symphony No. 9, From the New World, 1893.

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