About this edition
Antonín Dvořák's Slavonic Dances, Op. 46 are among the most exhilarating works in the orchestral repertoire — a suite of eight dances that capture the rhythmic vitality and melodic warmth of Czech and Slavic dance traditions through entirely original melodies, in the style of folk music rather than borrowed tunes. Composed in the span of a few weeks in 1878, the set moves through furiant, polka, sousedská, and skočná rhythms with a colorist's ear for orchestration, alternating stamping, exuberant energy with passages of tender lyricism. It was this very score that lifted the thirty-six-year-old Dvořák from provincial obscurity to international celebrity almost overnight, and it remains a cornerstone of the concert repertoire and a perennial audience favorite to this day.
This edition reproduces the first edition of Dvořák's own orchestration, published by N. Simrock of Berlin without a printed date but datable to 1878 (plate numbers 8050–8051). Simrock had first issued the dances in a version for piano four hands that sold out almost immediately; encouraged by Johannes Brahms, who had championed Dvořák's music to the firm, Simrock commissioned the composer to orchestrate the set that same year. This Simrock orchestral first edition, engraved to the exacting standards for which the house was renowned throughout German-speaking Europe, established the authoritative text of the score and remains the foundational historical source for the work as Dvořák first presented it to the world.
About this edition:
- Full orchestral score
- Page size: 8.5 x 11 inches
- Reproduced from a public domain historical source
- Published by Purple 4R Publishing
Because this historic Simrock score has long since entered the public domain, we're glad to bring it back into print in a clean, readable edition — making Dvořák's irresistible dances freely accessible to conductors, orchestral musicians, students, and scholars alike.
